Team Caffeine

When Southern Californians Mark Kelly and Ginger Lucero moved to Seattle, they joined the city’s small army of street-corner espresso vendors who sell cups of the steaming beverage from pushcarts. But when Seattle’s gray, rainy weather drove them back to Orange County, they found local regulations against street vendors, especially those selling food and beverages, made it impossible to ply their trade.

“In Seattle, pushcart espresso vendors are part of daily life. There’s one in front of almost every bank, post office and corner market,” Kelly said. “But here, there are laws against it. So we gave up and opened a coffee house instead.”

On the way back from scouting out a site in Long Beach, the two spotted the answer to their dilemma--an abandoned photo-processing kiosk in a mini-mall parking lot, right off Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. They took over the structure 10 months ago, named their business Team Caffeine and started offering busy commuters drive-up espresso and “motor munchies”--muffins and pastries customers can grab and eat on the go.

The concept caught on. And now their devoted clientele keeps Kelly and Lucero brewing nonstop from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m., when the work traffic lets up.

“The day begins with construction workers who start work really early, and after that we get all sorts of people,” said Kelly. “Business lets up around noon, so that’s when we close.”

Kelly and Lucero have fun with the customers, but it’s been a real project to get Team Caffeine up and running.

“We’ve had to do a lot of consumer education. People didn’t know the difference between espresso, cappuccino, mocha and latte ,” Kelly said.

But repeat customers have learned the lingo and are now asking for double non-nons (double shot of decaffeinated espresso with nonfat milk), quad lattes (four shots of espresso added to milk) and octagons (eight shots of espresso added to milk).

“We make an effort to learn our customers’ preferences. We know which ones like a little sugar, which ones like a lot,” Kelly said.

Team Caffeine has already outgrown its tiny kiosk, so Kelly and Lucero plan to build a larger drive-through structure on the same sight. They also want to open three additional locations this summer, one in Orange and two more in Huntington Beach.

“We have Diedrich’s, one of the best coffee suppliers around, right here in Orange County, so I think it’s time for people to enjoy good coffee every day,” said Kelly, whose company motto is “Life’s Too Short for Bad Coffee.”

“There’s an art to brewing it well, and when too many coffee houses pop up, the quality suffers. I hope my customers will insist on high standards everywhere they go,” said Kelly.

Hours: 5 a.m.-noon, Monday through Friday; 6:30 a.m.-noon, Saturday and Sunday Address: 17220 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach Telephone: (714) 842-3317 or (310) 592-1996 Miscellaneous Information: Prices range from 50 cents for a cup of brewed gourmet coffee made from fresh-ground beans to $2.25 for a cup of vanilla-almond latte . Motor munchies start at $1.25.