Everbloom is the sunflower of Coachella Valley coffee shops: warm, bright, and welcoming, especially in the morning, when you’re starting the day and crave outsize human kindness alongside your caffeine. Now, a second location in downtown Indio makes that ritual even easier. The new shop adds ample room for tables, chairs, and conversation, along with the specialty coffees, matcha, and teas that regulars love.
Co-founders Matthew Ortega and Efrain Mercado invented the name six years ago. They gravitated toward “bloom” because it felt hopeful. “It signifies the deeper meaning of one of our slogans: ‘It’s never too late to bloom,’” Ortega says. “We want the environment to be uplifting. We tell our employees that even if you’re with a person for just a few minutes, what you say could totally make their day.”
Before building out their flagship shop on Highway 111 in 2020, Ortega and Mercado operated Everbloom as a coffee cart. The pair met in an economics class at College of the Desert and became fast friends, eventually dreaming up the idea for a specialty coffee shop in Indio.
Lacking startup funds, they built a coffee cart in Ortega’s parents’ garage. They planned to take the cart to catered events or pop-up locations, but their timing was wrong: February 2020. When the pandemic arrived, they both lost their regular jobs as servers. They decided to keep going with the coffee cart, and opened for business in an Indio parking lot in front of a sandwich shop and bakery.
“We were able to create this communal, safe place when people were seeking connection.”
Matthew Ortega, Co-Founder, Everbloom
By summer 2020, Ortega says, “we were extremely busy. It was all grassroots. People posted about us on Instagram. We were able to create this communal, safe place when people were seeking connection.”
Everbloom serves small-batch roasted coffee sourced from all over the world, plus housemade syrups including butterscotch, honey lavender, Madagascar vanilla, mocha, and honey cinnamon. Everbloom makes its own chai, too. “We grind all the spices and make a concentrate,” Ortega says.
The matcha is ceremonial-grade, which denotes higher quality. “It’s related to the position of the leaf on the plant,” he explains. “The top of the green tea plant gets more sun, so the leaves at the top are more vibrant and have a different flavor profile and color.”
Ortega recommends the butterscotch latte (made with caramel) and the honey lavender latte.
The original café is standing room only at about 1,000 square feet, and the new Smurr Street location nearly triples the space. Everbloom plans to add breakfast and lunch, making Everbloom a full-service café. “We want to make it simple, fresh, not trying to get too fancy, maybe baking our own bread,” Ortega says. Both locations serve pastries from local bakeries.
Because caffeine and sunshine are best served with sweetness.
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