A Greener Shade of Single-Serve
It is oddly nostalgic and reassuring to walk into the tiny little coffee shop hiding at the very back of a strip mall plaza in Simi Valley and order a cold brew vanilla oat latte. It is in the site previously occupied by Rivalry Roasters, co-owned by Sean Adler, one of the local heroes who died protecting others during the Borderline Shooting in 2018.
“I feel really fortunate to be in this space,” says Julie Jacobs, owner of The Kitchen at Single Serve Co. “I used to frequent the shop and always enjoyed having conversation with Sean. Rivalry was doing really great things for our coffee community and, though I didn’t know him well, I was saddened to hear of his passing and the subsequent closing.”
Jacobs, who describes herself as a “constantly curious, wondering wanderer,” didn’t start with the idea to open a coffee shop, though. In late 2019, using her working knowledge of small businesses, she partnered with a friend to market a CBD Cold Brew he had developed. Things were just starting to pick up when the pandemic stopped all forward progress.
“We didn’t have enough traction to make it through,” she says. “Failure is never easy. But as they say, flowers grow from manure.”
She couldn’t save their business, but the loss inspired a desire to help the small coffee businesses who were struggling to stay viable.
“40% of all Americans have a single-serve [coffee] machine in their home or office. Yet, small coffee companies have largely been shut out of this market due to high minimum order quantities,” Jacobs says. “On top of that, the waste that comes with the single-serve pods is a huge concern.”
As a solution and as a culmination of all of her life’s experiences, she started Single Serve Co. “We primarily package compostable single-serve pods for other small coffee companies and roasters. We have no minimums and all of our products are able to be custom branded. We do everything in-house and made-to-order, which keeps costs low and product quality at a premium.”
Each package sold also includes pre-addressed compostable envelopes for customers to return the used pods to Single Serve so they can be properly composted. Though they currently compost in Montana, Jacobs eventually wants to have a fully functioning industrial composter on site. “I want to turn all those pods back into soil and then sell that nitrogen-rich soil back to our customers with seed packets,” she says.
In June, Jacobs opened The Kitchen on Tapo Street, serving ethically sourced coffee and tea without an espresso machine in sight. “All of our teas are organic and tested for toxins, including our bestselling, certified-herbalist-formulated Jade Immune Defense,” she says.
Her indispensable operations manager, Chris Balay, is in charge of all things coffee, small-batch roasting directly sourced fair trade coffee and then long brewing it cold with a nitrogen infusion to preserve the coffee flavor and freshness.
“When I roast coffee, I strive to bring out all the unique flavor characteristics and profiles that are specific to each type of bean, resulting in a low-acid coffee bean that is never burnt,” Balay says. “The goal is to keep as much of the natural moisture and sugars that are inside the bean as possible, contributing to its end texture and flavor once brewed, cold or hot.”
Jacobs says, “This business is built to be a community asset. I want small coffee businesses to feel supported. We want to provide packaging, formulation, roasting, cold brewing, direct bean sourcing ... the list is long.”
As for The Kitchen, “I like to think we have an angel on our shoulder,” she says. “I hope that we always pay homage to the people who have come before us.”
For more information and to order visit SingleServeCo.com and follow @thekitchenatssc.
