Old Cal Coffee (San Marcos, CA)
The Bean Journal #10
Where: Old Cal Coffee, 1080 W San Marcos Blvd, San Marcos, CA 92078
Open: Daily 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM
What: Batch Brew of Ascend Roasters Costa Rica House Coffee
Roast: Medium
Tasting notes: Milk chocolate, grapefruit
Price: $3.50+tax
What Iām listening to: Dawes, āAll Your Favorite Bandsā
The most important note you should take away from this Bean Journal column is that the Old California Coffee House and Eatery in San Marcos is still open. Yes, there is aĀ proposal for the redevelopment of Restaurant Row, but the future is murky. Until then, Old Cal Coffee is still serving coffee, gelato, tea, pastries, wraps, sandwiches, and acai bowls. I mentioned coffee, didnāt I?
There is still wifi and patio tables shaded by trees and bright red umbrellas thatāwith a light breeze passing throughāremind me of tailgating Wisconsin football games. Inside, there are plenty of tables for remote workers to set up laptops under worn wood ceiling beams. A new, hipster cafe would covet the glossy sheen of wear on those beams, but here it has come honestly. Old Cal Coffee has been in business since 1990.*
The walls are covered in mechanical gear-inspired artwork and framed prints of vintage hot air balloons and trains. The iconic, theatre marque-inspired Old Cal Coffee sign is lit up over a vintage couch that offers an alternative to the table tops. Silhouetted in the light of the letters is a gentleman clicking and clacking on a laptop. On the morning Iām visiting, all the doors are wide open, blurring the lines between indoors and out.
Co-owner of the cafe, Erin Nenow, also roasts the cafeās featured coffee. After fifteen years in the coffee business, she launched Ascend Roasters during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. The batch-brewed drip coffee Iām drinking this morning is a Costa Rica coffee appropriately named āHouse.ā Itās a medium roast that I would proffer leans a bit darkājust a little bit. Ascend Roasters does a great job of meeting the needs of their customers with more traditionally roasted beans.