After a long time as a profession bartender, from Hawai’i to Alaska, New York, and Los Angeles, Joshua James stop consuming and determined to discover a brand new aspect of hospitality. He opened Ocean Seaside Café in January 2021, one block from the seaside and two blocks from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. And whereas the café does certainly serve lattes and sandwiches, the raison d’être for James is his expansive number of alcohol-free drinks, from NA beers and wines to purposeful elixirs and mixers. James offers us a glance inside his day evangelizing for the spirit-free class.
7 a.m.
My physique naturally wakes up round 7 or 7:30 daily. We’ve the very best espresso roasters in San Francisco, so I grind some beans and make a pour over. That takes me proper to my pc. Answering electronic mail is sort of my trauma place, however with the assistance of AI, I can sort out it fairly properly. For nearly three years, I used to be the open-to-close enterprise proprietor; it was tremendous gnarly, however an essential time of my life. However I lastly have my enterprise to a spot the place I don’t must be there. I’ve an amazingly proficient group—about 16 folks now.
10 a.m.
I come down and work on my laptop computer generally, however I inevitably get distracted as a result of there’s all the time curious folks coming in. We name it “getting caféd.” However persons are simply visibly curious and excited after they are available in, so I prefer to pattern them on issues and make them drinks. Collaborating in that interactive expertise is by far probably the most fulfilling half as extra persons are consuming much less. They’re eager to really feel higher or have extra wellness of their lives—no one can smash on that.
Midday
We do a ton of occasions, collaborations with different bars, and pop-ups with eating places. We did an occasion for Asian American Pacific Islander Cocktail Week and served 800 cocktails. We spent eight hours prepping for it—juicing honeydew melon and Asian pears. We partnered with Aplós, which is a model I like as a result of it’s purposeful with hemp and adaptogens. It’s tremendous fragrant and provoking to make a cocktail with, so we infused seaweed into one of many expressions and did a coconut oil wash on the opposite. Occasions are my means of getting out and letting folks know what’s happening within the class.
2 p.m.
Quite a lot of manufacturers attain out to us, and I strive many new issues. At present, we feature round 60 manufacturers, many with a number of expressions. After I began exploring in 2020, there wasn’t a lot in the marketplace. Coming from a profession of geeking out on spirits and beer and wine, I used to be actually explicit. So we’ve a wide array, but it surely’s very curated. As of late, I really need one thing that has some operate to it, and I feel that’s indicative of what we’ll be consuming in two years: adaptogens, nootropics, nervines—issues that de-stress the system or assist with cognitive operate. Give me some lion’s mane, or some rhodiola, one thing that has advantages for my physique and isn’t simply making an attempt to repeat alcohol. That’s additionally the place the most important want is for training and consciousness amongst bartenders. However I all the time have choices for everyone. I would like merchandise that tick all of these containers, and I could make it right into a two-ingredient cocktail. That means, when folks purchase from a retail bottle store, they know precisely easy methods to use it after they get dwelling.
5 p.m.
We hit a turning level within the late afternoon. Folks get off work and are available store for bottles or to have a drink. As a bartender, I needed a nonalcoholic bar, but it surely doesn’t appear like a standard bar. It’s positively heavy on the café vibe and I’m okay with that as a result of cafés are nice social areas. However we even have the bottle store, after which within the again I’ve my full bar. It’s arrange like a daily bar with wells, glass-front fridges, and a very cool again bar show. It has 4 seats and that’s the place we make all of the cocktails. I devoted my life to drinks and hospitality, and my favourite factor is attending to blow folks’s minds and present them an incredible time. Now I get to do this very same factor, however in a model new means.
