Copa Vida - Sorrento Valley, CA

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Copa Vida - Sorrento Valley

Copa Vida is a team of baristas and tea lovers that have a close relationship with the community they serve and the farmers they work with. They strive on being transparent and sourcing quality materials. This means working with Direct Trade or Fair Trade roasters and tea companies. They are also members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Copa Vida has three locations in San Diego county, but today we will be focusing on their Sorrento Valley location (11055 Roselle St, San Diego, CA 92121).  The Sorrento Valley location is a little difficult bit of a challenge to find as it is located west of the Coaster tracks.  Looks for the sign.  :-)
Atmosphere
Pulling up to this location there is ample parking that it shares with a couple other businesses. Walking into the shop the room is large open space with a counter that wraps around. On the sides there are shelves with roasted beans and coffee brewing products for sale. The seating area is separated with a shelf unit, but there is a lot of seating including outside options. Large windows bring in natural light and its not dark like some coffee shops can be. I like the lighter colors, but seating is a little lackluster. This is such a huge space so I'd think more can be done inside.  It is to open and industrial for me.  The location is in a remodeled office building that has been updated, but the concrete floors, opening ceilings, and spread seating didn't appeal to me.  It didn't feel warm and inviting, it wouldn't be a place where I would open my laptop and spend time while sipping a coffee.  



Price
I noticed that the pricing is a little bit on the higher side for a coffee shop. A cappuccino will run you about $4 and a pour over will be more.  Even $4 for a cappuccino is on the high side for this town.

Coffee
I've been to this location multiple times and have tried a variety of drinks. The espresso based drinks are consistently good with nice textured milk and a quality shot pulled. It looks like they use a V60 for their pour over coffee and it has been tasty. The coffee comes out hot and the flavor changes as it cools.  We ordered the coffee for "here", versus "To Go", and got a nice little carafe of java.  Now this won't stay warm very long as it isn't isolated, but it was nice to have a two cup or so drink.  The coffee was good, lots of flavor and not overly bitter.  Their banked goods had a fair variety, but given we were there on a Saturday, maybe it was down.

Overall
If you are an avid coffee drinker who appreciates not only a good cup and ambiance isn't necessarily important, Copa Vida is a must visit.  I thought Copa Vida was okay.  The coffee is solid but the ambiance didn't impress me.  I would say go for the coffee and sit outside and enjoy the sunshine with your muffin.  







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