Cat & Cloud was created by three friends who believe experiences and connection shape our lives.

Every interaction you have with another person, no matter how small, is an opportunity to leave them in a better place than we found them.

That's why we made it our mission to...

Inspire connection, by creating memorable experiences.

The values are our north star, the guiding principles that help us achieve our mission and stay true to who we are.

They are the tools that help us make decisions when we show up to work by providing us with a framework to operate in.

  • Hospitality

    We make people feel taken care of.

  • Artistry

    We view all the work we do as an art form.

  • Ownership

    We take responsibility for everything in our world.

  • Teamwork

    We work together towards a common goal.

  • Actively Pursuing Better

    We work to be better every day.

Our Owners

  • Jared Truby

    Jared believes in the adventure and joy of connecting to others through the work we do. That true magic happens when people come together, and use their individual gifts to make something larger than the sum of its parts.

    Jared has experienced this joy by helping found and support other companies, winning barista competitions and contributing to a wider global coffee culture with his voice.

    His hope is that through coffee, craft & hospitality more people will lean into the process of pursuing who they are while helping create an amazing culture alongside him.

  • Chris Baca

    Chris is a former Regional Barista Champion, three-time United States Barista Competition Finalist, and Coffee Fest Latte Art Champion.

    He’s served on the Barista Guild of America’s Executive Council, spoken at the Specialty Coffee Association’s annual conference, taught at the Let’s Talk Coffee conference, and was featured on the cover of Barista Magazine and Fresh Cup Magazine. He has also been featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

    Chris believes we all have gifts to share and that the world would be better off if we were brave enough to share them. You can find his blog, newsletter, and more of his work (educational coffee videos, books, and other projects) here:     chrisbaca.com

  • Charles Jack

    Charles’ background is a mix of high-finance, travel, international business and coffee. He spent his 20s as a Wall Street investment analyst and portfolio manager. Leaving New York for Africa in 2010, Charles discovered coffee while spending time working in Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan as part of TechnoServe's East Africa Coffee Program.

    At Cat & Cloud, Charles specializing in the areas of Green Coffee Buying, New Store Development and Financial Operations.

    Charles has a passion for building relationships in the coffee industry, and for working toward livelihood sustainability, both on the roaster and producer sides of the industry.

Where we came from and the things that make us who we are are incredibly important to us. They are things that we don't to forget as, the more we look back on them the more we are reminded that we didn't do anything without the support of others.

2015

We had an Idea

Instead of a business that exists simply to make money, we set out to create a culture where the human element was first and foremost, because we believe experiences and connections are the foundations of our lives and memories are the most precious souvenirs.

Roasting coffee & a web store

Before we had a location we set up a web store with limited coffees and merch. Our friends at Dune Coffee Roasters in Santa Barbara let us use their roaster after hours. We hand-wrote labels and dropped everything off at the post office by hand.

A Podcast

We’ve always been passionate about sharing information and learning from others. The podcast was an opportunity to share our journey and have conversations with industry professionals.

A Spot In Our Dream Neighborhood!

That year we signed a lease and broke ground on our first cafe at 3600 Portola Drive. Just blocks from the beach in East Side Santa Cruz, the building needed a lot of work but from the get-go, it felt like home. 

2016

Kickstarter

We started Portola with a small SBA loan and approaching the home stretch it became clear we were going to run out of cash. We launched a Kickstarter to help pay for our roaster and get us across the finish line. With the help of our supporters, we were able to raise $34,423 and finish our build-out!

One of the perks was having your signature on the side of our espresso machine, and to this day it's an incredible reminder of what's possible when people come together.

Pop-ups

While building out Portola, our friends at Companion Bakeshop offered us their space every Monday for a pop-up. Connecting face to face and serving what we’d been roasting and selling on our web store was a huge energy boost for us. 

Day 1 - September 30th 2016

Ready or not, we opened our doors in late september of 2016, and haven't looked back since.

Extra Curricular Activities

In our first year we carved out time to engage with the industry in several ways. We were featured on the cover of Fresh Cup Magazine, did a month-long residency at the La Marzocco Cafe in Seattle, and presented to a packed house at the Specialty Coffee Association annual conference. 

Expanding

2017 - Opening Abbott Square

A year after we opened Portola we opened our second location Abbott Square Market in Downtown Santa Cruz. A shared space, Abbott Square gave us a taste of what it felt like to scale our culture and serve more of Santa Cruz.

2018 - Moving the Roastery

We quickly outgrew our small roasting space at our Portola location and began shopping for a space that would fit our needs. We found the perfect match on the Westside of Santa Cruz in a building that would later house our flagship retail location. 

2019 - Opening Aptos

3 years in and opening our third cafe. With a much larger footprint than our previous two locations, Aptos was our first shot at building a standalone space from a clean slate. Inspired by Palm Springs and Miami energy, Aptos is bright and vibrant. And yes, we have a full-size functioning Street Fighter II console!

2020 - Opening Swift Street Cafe

In the same building as our new roastery, Swift Street was our first location with a full kitchen. Now famous for the Cat & Cloud breakfast burrito, Swift gave us the chance to pair amazing food with our coffee and hospitality for a one-stop magic shop. We opened two weeks before the pandemic of 2020 shut many businesses down. Thanks to your support and our team, we made it out the other side.

Roastery Move (Again)

In 2023 we moved our roastery into the unit directly behind our Swift Street location. This doubled the size of our roastery and allowed us to add another roaster to the mix. We added “Junior”, a roaster that is three times the size of “Frankie”, our original roaster.