Santa Clara is getting a caffeine boost. 1 Oz Coffee will soon open its fourth location across from the Santa Clara Caltrain station.

The soon-to-open Benton Street location (affectionately called “4 Oz” by the team) is 1 Oz’s second in Santa Clara, and the grand opening is expected to take place in about two weeks, manager Kaycee Aull said. 1 Oz’s newest cafe will offer a similar menu to its other locations: both classic espresso drinks and modern specialty beverages using coffee beans from local micro-roasters Vertigo Coffee Roasters and Soul Work Coffee, as well as pastries from Neighbor Bakehouse in San Francisco and Midwife and the Baker in Mountain View.

“A lot of people like to call us a coffee boutique, so you can find coffee from different regions, and that’s why we’re still focusing on coffee,” said owner Yulia Kolchanova. “So anyone who knows us will still find wonderful cold brew, pour overs and espresso, but at the same time, our food is a little different and the difference in ambience will only be the color. But everything else in style is pretty similar.”

Kolchanova, who lived in Santa Clara for 13 years before moving to Irvine, where she currently lives with her husband and three children, said she chose the Benton Street location because of its proximity to Santa Clara University as well as offices such as ByteDance and PayPal Park.

Kolchanova moved to the Bay Area from Siberia in 2008 for her husband’s job and didn’t speak a word of English. She had a background in cartography and her only experience in the coffee world was as a barista during college. But a deep longing for the coffee from home drove her to open her own business.

“I was searching and so frustrated that I couldn’t even drink coffee for a year and a half because nothing tasted the way I was used to,” Kolchanova said.

She enrolled at Foothill College to take English and geography courses (to improve her English, as she already had a good grasp of the subject) as well as business courses (to help her with her future cafe). Then in 2012, she found the perfect location for her cafe in downtown Mountain View, but became pregnant with her first son and decided to open 1 Oz as a catering business.

“As the baby was growing in my belly, I was trying to set up my first catering business,” she said.

Kolchanova managed several real estate ventures, one of which offered 1 Oz a space as a tenant in a new office building in Santa Clara. In 2016, Kolchanova opened her first retail store on Tasman Drive.

“I was about to deliver my second baby when we discussed the (Tasman Drive) location,” she said. “By the time I had my baby, the Santa Clara location was ready for me. So my baby was almost a year old when I started.”

About a year later, the Mountain View location she had originally eyed became available again, and in late 2017, she opened 1 Oz’s second location downtown. During the pandemic, Kolchanova and her family moved to Southern California.

“I also dreamed of a cafe on the beach, imagine it with my cup, overlooking the sea and the beautiful sand, so we made it come true,” she said.

Kolchanova opened her third 1 Oz location in Huntington Beach in October and said there is a distinct difference between the coffee scene in Northern and Southern California. She said her customers in Northern California are very interested in comparing the notes of different beans, understanding how the same bean tastes different when prepared as an espresso, a cold brew or a pour over, and they are eager to learn the science behind coffee. Her customers in Southern California are more interested in beautiful, aesthetic-looking beverages, she said.

“Coffee is not only a source of energy… but also something that gives you moments of joy and happiness,” Kolchanova said. “It’s five minutes a day when you can be completely alone with yourself or with your wonderful friends… As a mother, I need five minutes for myself.”

Kolchanova said she is proud that 1 Oz is run and operated by women. Aull, the manager of all four locations, is also a mother and her daughter Maya is known as “1 Oz Baby.” Almost all of 1 Oz’s assistant managers are also women.

“I also think it’s great to see that we’ve been able to help girls and women empower themselves,” Kolchanova said. “Unfortunately, most small cafes can’t afford to have a young mother working, so we try to be super flexible with our team so they can participate in work, learn something and do something, and have their babies at the same time.”

Kolchanova said she will wait to open more 1 Oz stores and instead focus on catering.

“We’re just excited about it because it helps us bring this service and this product and a nice piece of happiness wherever people need us,” she said.

1 ounce coffee549 Benton St., Santa Clara; Instagram: @1oz_coffee.

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