hopper & burr santa ana california cafe coffee multi-roaster sprudge

Orange Countyโ€™s Hopper & Burr has fled the nest of itsย pop-up space at the former Little Sparrow in Santa Ana, California. Coffee guru and Barista-featured Truman Severson opened a spaceย for the cafe on December 10, just a few blocks awayย in the hip enclave of Santa Anaโ€™s Artists Village.

Hopper & Burr, whichย Severson launched after years spent at Portola Coffee Lab, opened inside Little Sparrow in February 2015 with the intention of finding a permanent place later. A quaint hub for OC coffee enthusiasts, the space had limited weekday hours of operation in cooperationย with the eatery.

hopper & burr santa ana california cafe coffee multi-roaster sprudge
Truman Severson sets the plate at Hopper & Burr.

Its new permanent space, aย former jewelry store-turned-cafe, stands proudly on a corner of Fourth Street, as a sort of clean white palace of coffee and neighborhood interactions. The way itโ€™s situated, just the right amount of natural light poursย in without oversaturating guests, whileย massive glass walls on either side create the illusion of a much bigger, wide-open space.

Severson and his team have taken additional measures to be similarlyย open and welcoming with customers. Inspired by Bostonโ€™s Drink, a menu-less cocktail bar, Severson embraced that landmark’sย philosophy of communicatingย with people over beverages rather than about them. At Drink, everything isย made using ingredients and glasses that areย under the counter, rather than above, and Severson does the same at Hopper & Burr.

hopper & burr santa ana california cafe coffee multi-roaster sprudge

hopper & burr santa ana california cafe coffee multi-roaster sprudge

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โ€œRather than trying to have a bunch of flashy equipment out or doing pour-overs or anything like that, rather than having interactions with people about coffee, weโ€™re trying to have interactions with people over coffee,โ€ Severson affirms.

Hopper & Burrโ€™s bar layout is designed towards simplicity and a feeling of openness. Nobody lugs gallons of milk onto the counter. No oneย has to tiptoe to peer over stacked cups on their espresso machine to talk to you while steaming. Everything but the espresso machine is underneath the counterโ€”pitchers, cups, and brewing equipment. All milks are served on tap fromย three-gallon kegsโ€”and lightly nitrogenatedโ€”keeping it cold, fresh, and long-lasting. Every counter in the cafe is of uniform height, too. Thereโ€™s no high bar orย low barโ€”everything from counter space for guests to the pastry case is at the same level.

hopper & burr santa ana california cafe coffee multi-roaster sprudge

The coffee program is also designed forย simplicity. As mentioned earlier, there are no pour-overs or manual brewing equipment, but rather a meticulously controlled FETCO. The shop’sย La Marzocco Linea PBย is volumetric, meaning there are no external scales or shot timers to clutter up the machine. As a result, baristas are more freeย to interact with customers over coffee.

hopper & burr santa ana california cafe coffee multi-roaster sprudge

โ€œOur joke is that we do all of the work that only people can do, like making sure the coffee tastes good and is appropriately extracted and all of the sensory stuff, but then we export the rest of the work to the robots,โ€ Severson says. โ€œIf youโ€™re going to make a pour-over while having a conversation with someone, either the coffee is going to suffer and the customer service will be maintained or the human being is going to get ignored so that the coffee can be good.โ€

I can assure you theย coffee Hopper & Burr serves is damn good. The multi-roaster currently works with Michigan’sย Madcap Coffee and Colorado’sย Color Coffee Roasters, the latter supplying an Ethiopia for H&B’sย drip. The coffee gets served in thick, white, handle-less cups on tasteful white oak trays. Robots may be doing theย brewing, but the baristas are doing the tasting and making sure the coffeeย stays dialed in.

To say Severson is pleased with recent developments would be an understatement.

hopper & burr santa ana california cafe coffee multi-roaster sprudge

hopper & burr santa ana california cafe coffee multi-roaster sprudge

โ€œItโ€™s kind of like going from living with roommates to moving into your dream home,โ€ he saysย excitedly. โ€œItโ€™s really cool to have ideas for years and years, things that [my coworker] Andrew and I have talked about that were just like, ‘Oh that would be cool if that happened one day’โ€”and now theyโ€™re real.โ€

Hopper & Burr is located at 202 West 4th Street, Santa Ana, California. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Katrina Yentch is a Sprudge contributor based in Los Angeles. Read more Katrina Yentch on Sprudge.

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