As Brentwood first pour over coffee spot, family-owned Chill Tea & Coffee has spent the last eight years not only serving coffee, but building connections.
From hosting car meets that double as fundraisers to creating a space where regulars become family, their mission to continue growing as a business, providing the locals with authentic brews, and giving back to the community has never gone astray.
After spending the entirety of their adult lives in the corporate world and moving to Brentwood, CA in 2014, where they had to commute to Silicon Valley, CA daily for work, Yvette Gomez and Sal Gomez decided it was time for a change.
“We learned a lot throughout our careers, and had a lot of fun, but the time came where we wanted to just sit down and re-evaluate our quality of life,” explained Sal Gomez. “Being closer to home, not commuting, spending three hours on the road every single day. We sat down and wanted to see what we would like doing, what was right for us.”
Coming from San Francisco and Hayward to Brentwood, Yvette Gomez shared they felt like they were missing out on the specialty coffee shops that the Bay Area offers.
“So, we said, well gosh, we already are passionate about our coffee and tea, and we felt that void here,” Yvette Gomez said. “We wanted to be the first specialty coffee shop, and first and only pour over style in Brentwood.”
After the decision to pursue their coffee shop was made and opening in May 2017, they utilized their prior experience in operations and sales, but faced the challenge of getting their business’ name out there.
“We were really big on not shoving it down people’s throats and saying we’re the best or we have good coffee,” Yvette Gomez said. “We really believed in proving ourselves through our product, through the people we are and the team that we built, so we’re big on word of mouth.”
Yvette Gomez and Sal Gomez said that they wouldn’t be able to make it all happen without the help of their sons, Junior Gomez, the now general manager and co-owner of the Brentwood Streets location, and Jayden Gomez, who photographs and DJs some of their events.
“Jayden actually got us our first customer,” Sal Gomez said. “Day one, he stood outside on a little stool with little flyers and he got our first customer.”
Despite the difficulties of starting a new business and gaining recognition, the Gomez family continued to work together to provide the community with a menu and service that Sal Gomez said is “authentically us.”
“Pour over style is a little bit different than espresso and drip coffee, before we opened, there was no pour over here,” Junior Gomez said. “And introducing pour over coffee was something that we knew we wanted to introduce to the community, we love expressing our passion and showing people the art of actually making one cup at a time.”
Jayden Gomez said that his favorite part about his family’s business is the positive name they made in Brentwood.
“I get to brag about that to my friends, all my friends love coming here because they know this is a good place,” Jayden Gomez said.
The Gomez family said that when the time comes, the “torch will be passed on” to Junior Gomez and Jayden Gomez.
In pursuit of keeping their menu unique and consistent, they worked in unison to develop their menu that Yvette Gomez said is “constantly evolving.”
“We knew we wanted to equally offer coffee products and tea, and so it just went from ‘what do we love’ and ‘what do we kind of want to take a spin on,’” Yvette Gomez said. “Because nothing on the menu is really like something that you can find anywhere else.”
Sal Gomez said that an example of this are the products they offer with the ingredient Ube.
“Before we started introducing it in our pastries and drinks, there was nothing like that around here,” shared Sal Gomez. “We’re just so passionate about making products with consistently high quality.”
Yvette Gomez said that to maintain the quality and consistency of their beverages for their customers, they measure every ingredient of their drinks to the exact amount needed per recipe.
Within four months of their Eagle Rock location opening in 2017, Yvette Gomez said that the Napa fires were happening and they were able to turn their shop into a hub for donations. Since then, they have constantly strived to continue giving back to the community. Currently, they are a part of the Brentwood Police Activities League, where they have the opportunity to help the youth of the community with fundraising events and provide a coffee cart at Adams Middle School for the special needs classes.
“There’s been so many things that we’ve been able to help and give back, it was part of our plan even before we opened,” Yvette Gomez said. “That’s been really special and near and dear to our hearts.”
Charles Martinez, Senior General Manager of The Streets of Brentwood and The Veranda in Concord applauded them for giving back to the community.
“The Streets of Brentwood loves to see Chill Tea and Coffee supporting the community and hosting fun and imaginative events, like Hogwarts Afternoon Tea, and partnership with Brentwood Police Department over the holidays. Kudos to the Chill Tea and Coffee team,” said Martinez.
Sal Gomez said that one of his proudest accomplishments with their business is the team culture that they have built.
“Our chosen family, our Chill family, we’re just a bunch of goofballs, we like hanging out with each other, we get along really well, so that’s been really fun for me,” Sal Gomez said.
With the desire to give back to the community as many ways as they can, and Sal Gomez’s love for exotic cars, they began hosting monthly car meet ups that are linked with fundraising events. He said that with so many exotic car shows being hosted in the South Bay or in Los Angeles, CA, that he jumped on the opportunity to host cars at their shop, providing a space for local car enthusiasts to showcase their cars.
Yvette Gomez said that they are always eager to tie any fundraiser to their car meet-ups and help wherever they can.
“I love this town so much because it really is all about supporting each other and that falls right in line with what we want to represent,” Sal Gomez said.
As a small business, in competition with big corporations and the hopes of expanding down the road, Yvette Gomez and Sal Gomez said that the most important thing they believe is important for their success is rolling up their sleeves, working, and continuing to focus on quality and customer service.
“We really do value our time with our customers and every day is a new chance to share a story,” Junior Gomez said. “We really love that connection.”
The Gomez said they are content with their two locations, but that expansion is always on the radar in hopes of being able to provide their team members with more opportunities.
For now, they plan to focus on the growth of their current locations and maintaining their ability to give back to the community as a family and team.
“We’re working as a unit, we grow stronger everyday, and we learn from each other. It’s been a real fun journey in the last eight years,” Junior Gomez said. “Time is passing really fast and weirdly enough, it feels like we’re just getting started, but we’re really excited for all the new things coming up.”
On July 13, they are hosting their next Cars & Chill meet at their Eagle Rock location, where Sal Gomez said one of their regular car enthusiasts will be revealing a big project and Jayden Gomez will be DJing.
In the week following, on July 20, they will be hosting their monthly high tea at their Brentwood Streets location, with a Harry Potter theme that Yvette Gomez said has been rapidly selling out.
Chill Tea & Coffee is located at:
- 60 Eagle Rock Way Ste A, Brentwood CA &
- Streets of Brentwood: 2545 Sand Creek, Suite 100, Brentwood CA
- Website: Chill Tea and Coffee
