Back in 1989, Jilla and Shallom Berkman met a coffee farmer named Jorge from a farm in Peru producing organic, heirloom coffee.
Intrigued by Jorge’s mission, the Berkman’s would launch America’s first exclusively organic, heirloom coffee company named Urth Caffe.
Using the old Welsh root spelling of Earth and the Italian word Caffe for coffee, the Berkman’s opened the first Urth Caffe in Manhattan Beach, California.
The Berkman’s then moved to a larger space on Melrose Avenue and by 1997, hired an Italian Executive Chef to bake all their own signature ancient grain breads and desserts in-house.
So popular, the cafe would open more Urth Caffe in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Downtown LA, Pasadena, Laguna Beach and most recently in Las Vegas. The Berkman’s would then look towards opening Urth Caffe’s in Tokyo (Daikanyama and Omotesando locations in Shibuya) and Kanagawa (Yokohama and Shonan area), Japan and Riyadh.
Urth Caffe sells organic coffee. As coffee is one of the foods contaminated by chemicals due to synthetic petroleum fertilizer, which slowly destroys the soil’s nutrition, Urth Caffe only utilizes chemical-free beans.
Also, natural coffee trees do not grow in direct sunlight and grown in densely populated rain forests. Urth Caffe believes in protecting the Earth and all coffee is certified as organic and is 100% organically grown.
All Urth coffee is purchased at an amount more than three times the highest market price of conventional coffee.
Urth Caffe would like all customers who drink coffee to know the passion and effort the workers who are involved in the cultivation of Urth Coffee and that will lead to fair wages for coffee farmers and a better living environment.
With that being said, people are purchasing quality coffee, may it be Espresso’s and Organic Tea’s. Also, blended ice drinks, coffee and cocoa and at the Omotesando location, you can also choose from a variety of tea with boba (average price of blended tea or coffee is around Y720).
As for food, Urth Caffe in Omotsenado sells burgers and & quesadilla, deli sandwiches and signature salads and also waffles for breakfast. It’s important to note that the lowest priced item is the quesadilla at around Y1,188 while you can expect to pay around Y1350-1600 for a burger or salad. While the popular grilled cilantro chicken with pesto sandwich goes for Y1274.
It’s important to note that while stores are similar in menu, they each also offer something different. For example, the Daikanyama store offers tuna melts and egg dishes, while the Yokohama location offers steaks and pasta dishes and the Shonan store offers a mix of what can be found at the Tokyo Urth Caffes.
Overall, if you want a cafe dedicated in protecting the environment, providing fair wage to coffee farmers and selling organic coffee and teas, will definitely want to give Urth Caffe a try!
