Davis coffee shops offers opportunities for community engagement

Owners and customers share their experiences with local coffee culture 

By Savannah Vela — city@theaggie.org 

Whether patrons are college students cramming for their midterms or community members gathering around jazz performances, coffee shops in Davis have become a space for more than coffee.

In a college town like Davis where coffee shops open, close and change ownership frequently, building a lasting place in the community takes more than a good drink.

Coffee shops can offer a sense of belonging on a smaller, everyday scale. For Emilia Rodriguez, a second-year international relations major,local coffee shops have provided her a way to explore her community. 

“[My friends and I] cafe hop from shop to shop, and we study there, spend time there after church or just create plans of things when we're there,” Rodriguez said. “It’s like a bucket list. We basically have tried all the coffee shops in Davis, and now we’re trying to complete Woodland and Sacramento.”

Rodrigez also expressed how Davis coffee shops have also become a staple in her conversations, helping her create new connections.

“The amount of times I asked other students about their favorite coffee shops, and then we spend hours discussing them is so crazy to me,” Rodriguez said. “It’s like everyone knows what I’m talking about, and it’s something everyone has an opinion about.”

Jacqueline Siefker, co-owner of Volt Coffee, Tea, and Taps, shared why it is important to her to cultivate a special environment for customers.

“People can make coffee at home,” Siefker said. “So you're really selling an experience and building that community.”

Building community stretches beyond everyday simplicities. Volt’s weekly trivia nights grew out of a regular customer’s desire to host the events outside of his house, where his friends used to play. 

“He brings his normal crowd and opens it up for the rest of the Davis community,” Siefker said. 

Cloud Forest Cafe, located on E Street, shares Volt’s philosophy that coffee shops serve more than just coffee. Owner Tzannhour Fang has watched the shop evolve from a traditional coffee shop into a gathering place for students and longtime residents since taking over in 2014. 

Today, Cloud Forest Cafe uses every inch of its building differently. On its porch, local musicians gather to play in the fall and spring. Any available wall space displays artwork for sale. The seating area is split in half, with one side providing a technology-free zone to build connections and the other a space for students to bring their laptops and study. 

“All we can do is cater our space [and] our room toward the goal to encourage people’s connection, instead of being very isolated,” Fang said.

The updated use of space following Fang’s ownership grew out of the relationship Cloud Forest Cafe has developed with the university and larger Davis community. Fang expressed how the support the shop receives is motivation for them to innovate.

“The community and the school nourishes us,” Fang said. “So we need to feed that back, right?”

With the recent closures of Delta of Venus and Peet’s Coffee, the Davis coffee scene is changing. Siefker shared her observations on the many shifts the local coffee scene has undergone over the years.

“Some exciting, some sad, like some of my older stores that I used to work in that aren’t here anymore that I learned a lot from,” Siefker said. “But it’s cool to see different types of coffee cultures in the same community.”

Written by: Savannah Vela— city@theaggie.org