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A new Sunnyvale cafe is mixing espresso with Coca-Cola, topping drinks with Cookie Crisp and even serving rainbow-colored, birthday cake-flavored lattes.
Home Coffee Roasters, a San Francisco-founded coffee chain since 2015, has expanded down the Peninsula with its Sunnyvale cafe. The June 27 opening marked the fourth cafe for the local chain and the first outside of San Francisco. Created by husband and wife In Heo and Annie Cheng, Home Coffee Roasters is a specialty coffee shop that roasts its own beans and also offers a variety of unique flavors.
“All the specialty coffee shops that were around, they always only had a specific menu with just the basic items, but we don’t want to eliminate the people that come in for fun, creative drinks,” Heo said.
Roasting out of its Clement Street location, Home Coffee Roasters uses its Sunset Blend for its espresso-based beverages. The Sunset Blend is composed of 40% Colombian, 40% Peruvian and 20% Ethiopian beans and has notes of brownie, toffee and grapefruit. If you order cold brew or drip coffee, the cafe uses its Richmond Blend, which is 40% Colombian and 60% Guatemalan beans and has notes of strawberry jam, guava and rose.
In addition to its two signature blends, Home Coffee Roasters sells three single-origin roasts – Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Koke, Peru Organic Cajamarca and Decaf Colombia Royal Select Water Process ($18-19.50 for a pound).
While Heo usually drinks a cappuccino himself, other favorite drinks include the Hangover, a double shot of espresso poured over sparkling water ($6.75), and the sea salted caramel latte ($7.25). Customers can adjust sweetness levels by selecting regular, lightly or extra sweet when ordering. Home Coffee Roasters also offers seasonal beverages, currently offering both caffeinated and non-caffeinated UBAE lattes, made with homemade ube sauce ($7.75).
Heo noted that consumer preference at Sunnyvale has been different from San Francisco. Speculating it may be due to warmer weather, he said that the iced Cookie Monster latte, made with speculoos cookie butter and topped with Cookie Crisp ($7.50), and Coke Tastic, made with a double shot of espresso, Coca-Cola and vanilla ice cream ($7.50), have been performing particularly well in the new location.
For food, three varieties of avocado toast ($11.75), including one with spicy kimchi, and two varieties of sweet milk bread toasts are available ($7-$7.50). Pastries, such as vegetable curry donuts and Hokkaido double cream buns, are sourced from Andersen Bakery, and Heo hopes to eventually introduce Third Culture Bakery’s signature mochi muffins to the Sunnyvale location as well.
The Sunnyvale cafe is smaller than the other three Home locations, offering just five seats. The interior features blue-gray and burnt orange tiles and a cheery yellow La Marzocco espresso machine.
Heo had previously owned two restaurants and a bar before transitioning into the coffee world. The inspiration for creating Home Coffee Roasters came about when Heo began dating Chen, who was an executive recruiter.
“We wanted to do something together so we could spend time together, instead of going to work and then coming back to see each other for an hour or two,” Heo said.
Thinking fondly of all the coffee dates they’d been on together, they decided to open their first coffee shop. They had noticed that coffee shops they’d been to with excellent coffee had mediocre service, and mom-and-pop stores often didn’t have great coffee, despite a warm and friendly ambiance.
“We wanted to bring something with both, that has specialty coffee, really good coffee, but also a welcoming environment where everybody’s accepted, and we’re able to provide good service and make sure that people feel at home, which is why we named it Home,” Heo said.
Two years after opening their first location on Noriega Street, they opened their second cafe. Two years after that, in 2019, they opened a third, this time in Chinatown. The couple hopes to open two or three more locations of Home in the South Bay, Heo said.
“We’re going to be here for a long time to serve coffee and bring happiness every day,” he said.
Home Coffee Roasters, 200 W. McKinley Ave., Suite 100, Sunnyvale; Instagram: @homesf. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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