Who the heck is SUR Coffee?

You might be starting to see the name SUR Coffee show up and wondering… wait, what happened to OB Beans?

Fair question.

Back in 2015, we started OB Beans with a dream — to use coffee as a vehicle to do as much good as possible, from farm to cup. That was the idea from day one. If we were going to build a coffee company, it had to stand for something.

So I did something a little crazy.

I went all in — sold my house, my Jeep, basically everything I owned — to open our shop on Newport Avenue. Me and the guys built this place with our bare hands. It was a labor of love, driven by mission from the start.

Over the years, this community helped turn that into something real.

Together we've partnered with dozens of nonprofits, supported local schools, sponsored surf and skate contests, backed middle school and high school surf teams, hosted countless community events, and built relationships with farmers and producers around the world. We've worked hard to move toward direct trade and doing coffee the right way — not just the easy way.

OB Beans became more than a shop. It became a place people believed in.

Then in February of 2020, we opened our second location and gave it a name that felt like where we come from — Sur Coffee. Spanish for south, rooted in Southern California and the culture that shaped us.

About 30 days later… the world shut down.

The pandemic hit, and like everyone else, we were thrown into the deep end. There were moments where we didn't know how it was going to play out. But this community showed up, our team showed up, and somehow we made it through that season.

And during that time, we started to see something clearly:

OB Beans was the foundation.

But Sur Coffee was the brand that could grow.

Not because it was different — but because it could carry everything OB Beans stood for into something bigger.

So recently, we made the decision to roll everything under Sur Coffee.

And I want to be clear — this isn't about leaving OB Beans behind.

It's about building on what it created.

Same people.
Same coffee.
Same mission.

You'll start to see Sur Coffee more — on bags, sleeves, and in the shop — and we'll be updating signage over time. But we're doing it in a way that keeps the local Ocean Beach feel that made OB Beans what it is.

Because that matters to us.

If you walk in, it should feel exactly like it always has.

Because it is.

And the goal moving forward is simple:

Keep making great coffee.
Keep supporting the community.
Keep building real relationships with producers.
And keep doing as much good as we can from farm to cup.

Because of what was built at OB Beans — with all of you — we now have the opportunity to grow this into something bigger than we ever imagined.

Today that looks like shops in San Clemente, Laguna Beach, and Huntington Beach. It looks like a roasting warehouse to support that growth and keep raising the bar on quality.

But none of that exists without OB.

This place, this community — you — are the reason any of this is possible.

So as you start to see the name SUR Coffee more, just know this:

It's still yours.
It's still us.
And it's still everything we set out to build from the beginning.

We're not moving on from OB Beans.

We're taking it with us.

OB Beans started the story.

SUR Coffee is how we share it.

 

Article by Mark Bell