May 22, 2024 – “We want people to have a really pleasant experience and know that they are appreciated, and that’s really important to us,” says Rick Reeves, father and cafe owner, “We’re not just here to sell a product, we’re here to make a difference.”
If you go to Two Cities Roastery more than a few times a week, the Reeves family probably knows your name and your usual order.
Though the line can stretch out the door, people will wait for great service and great coffee.
For their meticulous taste-testing and picky product selection, and their great service and great tasting coffee, Two Cities won the annual award for Best Local Coffee Shop from the Fresno chapter of the California Restaurant Association.
“It was just our turn,” Reeves says, “There are a lot of good cafes out there, so we’re just thankful that they chose us.”
The business started in 2013 as a farmers market booth, to help fund their daughter Chelsea’s mission trip. Back then they were Amber Avenue Coffee, after the color of espresso in a cup, but in 2016 they found the name wasn’t as relevant as they wanted it to be, and rebranded to Two Cities.
“We knew we were Fresno-Clovis, so Two Cities just kind of came about,” Reeves says, “and then as our business has grown and now that we ship our coffee– it’s gone as far as Europe… now it’s from our city to your city.”
The roaster they use is hand-made by Reeves himself, something you don’t see every day. “I was working in the manufacturing industry… and we did all kinds of fabrication, so that was my trade at the time, so it only made sense,” Reeves says. He did his research and combined the designs of a few different roasters he liked, to make his own.
“I think I finished the roaster in 2014 and it’s just been going strong since.”
The main focus of the business is coffee, of course, but within that, wellness.
Two Cities only roasts certified organic coffee beans that are fair trade or relationship sourced, making for coffee that’s better for the consumer as well as the farmers and the farm workers.
“I’ve never roasted anything other than organic in the roaster, I just want to keep it that way”
The Reeves family is as picky about the flavor of their coffee as they are the source. The process seems simple, but requires an advanced palette for coffee– something the whole family participates in. “We sample all of our coffees before we ever decide to roast and sell them, and we’re pretty particular about flavors that we like,” Reeves says, “There are people that like to do all light roasts, and there are people that like to do all dark roasts, well what we like to do is, when we get a coffee in, we test each roast level and then whatever that coffee sines at is what we produce it at.”
“So, [we’re] really bringing out the best of the natural coffee, in its own self,”
They’re certainly not coffee purists to the end. True, Two Cities cafe offers a menu full of traditional milk, foam, and espresso combinations, but they also offer a list of flavored lattes.
Lavender, maple, cardamom, and chile mocha shine when combined with their specialty coffee. The flavors are intentional.
“We’re pretty strict,” Reeves says,” because before we put anything out the door, we test and test and we refine our flavors… so it goes through a pretty diligent process before we ever say it’s good enough.”
Aside from coffee, they also offer a specialty matcha, which of course went through the same meticulous tasting process. “You have to start with the right matcha, and you have to prepare it right, you have to use the right ratios, the right water, you have to mix it right, and some matchas are just not good.” Two cities serves only premium organic Mizuba matcha in their cafe, and Reeves says it’s been really popular.
“We use the best ingredients we can, because we know that the best ingredients are going to make the best products.”
From start to finish, from fresh beans to your latte, the people of Two Cities want everything to be good for everybody.
“We want to make sure that we greet everybody, that we get to know everybody, to let people know that they are important,” Reeves says, “We’re not just in it for sales, we are in it for the relationships. We are looking for people to be blessed when they come in and when they leave.”