![\"Interior](\"https:\/\/www.metrosiliconvalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2024\/10\/msv2444_WhatCoffee_interior.jpg\")
<\/a>An army of croissants line up on the shelves beneath this wonderland of doughnuts, including pistachio, almond, plain and chocolate. Unexpectedly, the chocolate croissant\u2019s filling was flecked with walnuts. Sun, who is a second-generation caf\u00e9 owner, told me that the adjacent case of cakes fuses French baking techniques with Asian flavors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because WhatCoffee is currently in its soft opening phase, only one of the pretty desserts was labeled: chocolate mousse + chocolate caramel inside ($10.50). But the company\u2019s social media account has posted enticing photos of a coconut mango mousse and espresso bean mousse cake, a bright orange mango cloud cake and glazed raspberry and mango doughnuts, which were sadly not on display at the time of my visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sun is also slowly rolling out a savory menu featuring salads and sandwiches. \u201cWe\u2019re at a super early stage so there\u2019s many loose ends we need to figure out,\u201d she said. When we spoke on a Sunday morning, WhatCoffee had sold approximately ten sandwiches by noon. They\u2019ve introduced a weekend brunch menu too. Initially sales indicate that croissants are the hot ticket item. They\u2019re freshly baked in-house every morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WhatCoffee\u2019s beans are sourced from Sumatra, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Colombia and Brazil and are roasted on site. Customers can purchase whole beans, ground coffee or brew bags. And the caf\u00e9 also serves a few specialty coffee drinks like the increasingly ubiquitous matcha latte and a coconut matcha latte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The caf\u00e9\u2019s name, WhatCoffee, implies a question that, Sun explained, is meant to pique people\u2019s interest. A sideways question mark caps the logo. \u201cWhat beans do they use? What will be on the menu tomorrow? All of that I wanted to spark people\u2019s creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sun describes opening her own caf\u00e9 as a dream she\u2019s held onto since she was young. \u201cWhen I was helping at my family\u2019s roastery and bakery, that was the foundation for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sun hired the artist Mary Jhun to paint Ebb & Flow<\/em>, a mural on the caf\u00e9\u2019s main interior wall. The rest of the space is made up of clean, white walls, glass cases and tall glass windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jhun\u2019s \u201cfuturistic\u201d vision appealed to Sun. When Jhun explored the space, she fell in love with the windows and the way the light hit \u201cin these solid straight lines\u201d along the mural wall. The image features coffee leaves, coffee cherries, lavender flowers and a whisk to symbolize the bakers. Sun felt that the mural faithfully represented \u201cwho we are, our creativity, as well as the products we produce.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although her family shut their business down due to the pandemic, Sun had no reservations about opening her own roastery and bakery. \u201cIt\u2019s the right time for me and I learned so much from their business,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the Bay Area, I know that it\u2019s really hard to run a small business but the model I\u2019m going for\u2014we\u2019ll be able to produce everything as a one-stop shop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n WhatCoffee & Bakery, open Monday 7am\u20133pm, Tuesday\u2013Saturday 7am\u20137pm, Sunday 8am\u20135pm. 1002 Monroe St., Santa Clara. IG:@whatcoffeeandbakery. whatcoffee.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The combination of coffee and doughnuts is a dream made real at WhatCoffee, Rain Sun\u2019s caf\u00e9 on Monroe Street in Santa Clara.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14789,"featured_media":20177762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[1691],"tags":[14331,14679,17853],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>