Jenna Sue's Cafe: Where the Morning Crowd Goes in Boulder Creek

Jenna Sue's opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays, making it one of Boulder Creek's earliest confirmed doors. The cafe sits at 13090 Highway 9 in the middle of the downtown shops, and its own site calls it the place "where friends meet in Boulder Creek," describing its job in town as hosting the morning crowd.

The little place she always wanted

Jenna Sue Lupertino was feeding people long before she had a counter to do it from. She grew up in the San Lorenzo Valley, sold sandwiches to her dad's motorcycle club, and ran a Kool-Aid and candy stand with a friend that by her own account did well. She told Good Times in 2024 that what she had always wanted was her own little place. She opened it at twenty-two, around 2006.

The room was built to that scale on purpose. Local builders put it together using locally sourced redwood, and local artwork went up on the walls. The cafe's own site has always summed the idea up in four words, "where friends meet in Boulder Creek," and then more plainly still: coffee and friends.

The morning the regulars brought their own coffee

During the pandemic shutdown, regulars set up a folding table outside the building and brewed coffee themselves. Lupertino told Good Times in 2024 that the scene showed her the relationships that had formed around the cafe, and that she was proud of the place she had made.

As of that 2024 profile, Goldee, Jessica, Brooke and Jolena were the long-serving crew behind the counter.

The menu

This is a full coffee house, not a counter with a pot on it, and the food is breakfast and lunch built for people who are on their way somewhere. The cafe doesn't post prices online, so ask at the counter.

• Breakfast: biscuits and gravy, breakfast burritos, breakfast bagels, and something called the Astronauts Breakfast.
• Sandwiches: BLT, turkey club, hot ham and swiss, Reuben on rye, avocado and cheese, hummus, and whole wheat wraps, with bagels and soup and salad alongside.
• From the in-house bakery: the baking happens on site. Lori's coffee cake is named on the menu in its own right, and Dessert First Bakery shares the kitchen here, which is why some of its cookies and pastries turn up in the case even though the bakery itself has no shopfront.
• Coffee and drinks: espresso drinks run the usual range, americano through mocha, plus drip and cold drinks. The beans are Java Bob's, the Santa Cruz small-batch roaster, and you can buy them by the bag as well as the cup.

Where it fits in town

Boulder Creek has three morning rooms and they're not interchangeable. Bella's is the sit-down diner, a plate and a table. The Tree House is the larger cafe at the north end, redwoods growing through the floor and room to sit, work, and socialize. Jenna Sue's is the downtown one and the early one, a small shop with only a handful of seats, an in-house bakery, and food that outruns the square footage.

It's also a landmark for something other than coffee. The free grocery giveaway runs every Friday at 3 p.m. in the open lot next to the cafe, no sign-up and no questions, moving to Junction Park if it rains. If someone gives you directions to it, Jenna Sue's is how they will describe the spot.

Hours and menu items change. Check Jenna Sue's own page or call 831-338-7008 for anything time-sensitive.

The peacock on the south wall

The building carries one more piece of town history. Albert, the white peacock who wandered Boulder Creek for years and became a fixture after the CZU fire, lived next to Lupertino, and she has described him turning up at the edge of her hot tub in mating season. He was killed by a mountain lion in November 2024.

The mural is there now. Yeshe Jackson, who grew up here and painted the "Welcome to Boulder Creek" mural on the side of Johnnie's, put Albert in full plumage among redwoods on the south wall of the Forest Corners building, and it was unveiled on April 19, 2025. At more than 1,200 square feet it was the largest work he had done. Kevin Foster and the 2024 Boulder Creek Business Association board organized it; community donations paid for it, with help from E Clampus Vitus Branciforte Chapter 1797 and the San Lorenzo Valley Chamber of Commerce. Foster said the mural was about Albert and "really about the community and the people in it."

Frequently Asked Questions

What time does Jenna Sue's open?

Doors open at 6:00 a.m. Monday through Friday and 7:00 a.m. on weekends, and close at 2:30 p.m. daily. Those hours come from Jenna Sue's own page; call before planning around an early opening.

Whose coffee do they pour?

Java Bob's, a small-batch roaster based in Santa Cruz. Bulk coffee is sold by the bag as well as brewed by the cup.

Is it open on Monday?

Yes. Jenna Sue's posts Monday hours, which isn't true of most of the town's dining rooms.

Is this where the Friday free groceries are?

Next door. The giveaway runs from 3 p.m. until the food is gone, in the open lot beside the cafe, and moves to Junction Park in the rain. See our free resources guide.

Where is it exactly?

13090 Highway 9, downtown Boulder Creek, in the middle of the shops. Phone 831-338-7008.

Hours and details follow the cafe's own page. Where other listings disagreed, the cafe's own page was used.

For the rest of the town's coffee and kitchens, see where to eat breakfast in Boulder Creek and where to eat in Boulder Creek. Browse the food and drink listings or the business directory. Something out of date? Tell us.