Badfish Coffee & Tea Upholds Sac Area's Dietary Needs

Badfish Coffee & Tea is more than just that, it literally focuses on their business goal of making it a place for anyone’s diet and making them feel welcome.

Vegan? They have it. Keto? There’s a drink and food for it. Gluten free? They have it as well. It may seem trendy to have all these options but Badfish Coffee & Tea truly believe in catering to their customer’s life styles so they feel welcome at this chill spot.

Badfish's Loaded Coffee made with "Drip coffee, grass fed butter, coconut oil, cinnamon, heavy cream. blended to create a smooth, frothy, healthy fat coffee. Served hot."

“We like to have something on the menu for everyone: vegan, vegetarian, keto. Whatever your dietary restriction is we want them to come here and be able to order something that doesn’t sucks but something good,” explains Pearl Grace Spencer, co-owner of the café.

She and her husband Mark Eister have run the café for over seven years after deciding to go into business together. Working together at another café previously partially inspired them to want their own and to reflect their lifestyle of intentional eating and wanting others to feel welcome.

Their most poplar food item, a vegan avocado toast proves one thing as Spencer states, “You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy it.” Good food is good food, and it is in the ingredients. Spencer and Eister took the time to try to source everything local especially their coffee and pastry products.

The Cafe's most popular food item, the vegan avocado toast, made with "mashed whole avocado, hemp seeds, mixed microgreens, lemon pepper, extra virgin olive oil with a choice of sourdough english muffin or Gluten free toast."

“We use Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters, and they are in Sacramento, and they have won several national awards for their coffee… the award is called the Golden Bean which they have won,” says Spencer. Like any contest, coffee has their own national competitions where it is taken very seriously like beer breweries that focus on the taste, quality and execution of the product.

One of their most popular drinks is a cold brew that is strong and smooth due to the specific drip system used. It feels like the most serious coffee drinkers appreciate it for being true to what coffee can be, not just a hot beverage.

Giving back to the community

When customers walk into the café, they will notice various types of artworks on the wall.

The café usually hosts three artists at the same time and it happens to be one of Spencer’s most favorite parts of the business. She feels the art is not only better than decorations but represents their mission statement to stay local.

Local CBD oil that they not only sell to their customers but use themselves as the staff.

The artwork changes every three months and is displayed in hopes to sell it so the artists can make profit on their work. The rules are simple: the artists submitting must be local, and their work must be family friendly. Spencer explains that the art must be family friendly since families are the heart of the customer base.  The café only takes a small percent of the profit if it sells and if it doesn’t it is given back to its creator and no money is taken from the space it has occupied.

In March 2022, Badfish Coffee & Tea did something different by showcasing a local elementary school’s artwork from first to eighth grade. Not for sale but purely to shine light on the art program happening at the educational establishment. Later in the month, the café hosted an event for the students and their families to observe their work.

In Orangevale it is a small place but mighty for sticking together as small businesses and the neighborhoods are experiencing a much-needed resurgence. The town is located next to Sacramento, California and can easily blend in with other small towns. Spencer explained that when Badfish Coffee & Tea first opened, the neighborhood wasn’t what it was now. Not only did the neighborhood get a makeover but so did the building that the café currently resides in. Eister and Spencer have another café location but it is located in Fair Oaks, California and the store has a different vibe.

If not the art, the café offers merchandise that pushes their brand including offering CBD oil they use themselves and offering free coffee grounds for compost.

Either way, everything is local and thought out. Come visit Orangevale and see if you can find this café for their food items and interesting drink combos. It is worth noting that a business that chooses to cater to their customers’ unique lifestyles and make them feel welcome no matter their age, creed and vibes.