Welcome to The Early Shift, a series about people who make the most of their mornings before the workday starts. Mornings aren’t just a hurdle to get past, they’re the foundation for success, fulfillment, and balance. Through this series, we explore how the time before work is just as vital as the work itself, and how intentional mornings fuel passion, build community, and shape a meaningful life.
In our first episode of The Early Shift, we talk with Ray Orate, co-owner of Interim Coffee about his morning routine. Ray shares how surfing and coffee aren't just passions, but intentional practices that set him up for a positive and successful day. He emphasizes the importance of community, family, and staying driven. Join us as we uncover how Ray's early hours shape not only his work at Interim Coffee, but his entire life.
Q. Can you give us a quick introduction?
Ray - Hi. My name is Ray Orate. My business partner John and I are the owners and operators of Interim Coffee based here in Carlsbad.
Q. How did you get into surfing?
Ray - Let's go back. So I got into surfing around 10 or 11 years old. My dad actually was the one who got me and my brothers into surfing. It was something he had done when he was younger, but he did more body surfing and whatnot. And surfing just kind of alluded him for 15, 20 years before me and my brothers were around. So it was something that a friend of his got him back into and he just quickly shared it with us. In all honesty, when he did, it just became, almost an immediate passion and something I got to do with my pops and my brothers. Yeah, since 10 years old.
Q. What was it about the ocean and surfing that drew you to it?
Ray - I think, for 1, to start was just doing something with my family that we were all hyped on. I was always kind of the kid that was into nature and playing outside and wanted to do, yeah, just be outdoors all the time. So when you got us into surfing, that was just an instant love. I could be in the water, you know, sea creatures, sand, beach, and whatnot.
And, there was just it's kinda hard to put into words, like, what actually how to explain that feeling you get when you first start surfing and just this – not adrenaline, but just kind of this joy that you're chasing after that first experience. I think because of chasing that experience constantly, it just brought it into a realm where I was like, this is something that I'm so hyper focused on attaining again, that I became, you know, became very passionate about doing it.
Q. How did you get into coffee?
Ray - Well, coffee maybe goes as far back as learning how to surf, but that would have been out of a styrofoam cup with some, you know, artificial sugars out of my dad's church. That was my first coffee experience, drinking a cup from my dad's coffee that he left on his desk in his office. Just wanted to taste what he's sipping on. I'd have to say I wasn't too pleased with my first sip, but quickly learned. I enjoyed the ritual of it. I learned from an early age how my dad went about his day coffee first in the morning before work. You know, that was just his little time of devotion, coffee, and then on with the day. You know?
I enjoyed the ritual of that, and that is what drew me into the world of coffee. There is something so innate about how surfing brings together community and coffee brings together community. Like, you enjoy sharing a good cup of coffee with other people and catching waves with other people.
Q. Can you expand on that thought of how you see community as a central theme through your passions of surfing and coffee?
Ray - With coffee and community, I think that for myself, I've seen coffee be something where it incites conversation. Right? So it's easy. I find it easy to sit down and have a cup of coffee at any coffee shop and comfortably engage in conversation with a stranger, whether it's a long conversation or short one – or one that involves a lot of debate where, you know, someone's saying something you don't necessarily agree with. For some reason, coffee kind of balances that out to where you can still have a common ground to come back to no matter what that conversation is about. It's just the enjoyment of the coffee and that kind of time out to just sit, reflect on your day, or have that conversation with somebody.
And that's something I've looked into, like, many years ago when I got into coffee. Some of the earliest coffee bars, right, were around these huge decisions being made between, you know, politicians or local statesmen. Like, these were the guys that were deciding, oh, we need to make these laws or make these changes. Those were some of the first happenings in coffee shops where that was free to happen.
In the surfing community, I think it’s really about sharing a common interest and experiences. However, a lot of surfers I know – we thrive on our community, but when we're in the water, it's not so much about community. It's more personal and what's happening with you as an individual in the water. But because of those experiences, I mean, the surf community that I'm involved in, you know, I got a lot of love for the friends that I have that I surf with. I find I draw a lot of inspiration from them, you know?
Q. How does surfing affect your well-being?
Ray - Diving into that personal experience through surfing. From a well-being and mental health standpoint, surfing is a very solid foundation to keep myself positive. I feel that with surfing, you have a time to reflect on what's going on personally in your life. You know, in between sets, not being so much of a competitive person. My mind's not driving like, oh, I can't wait for this next set to come through. And these tricks I'm gonna do. You know, there's this interim period right between the swell where, you know, I'm thinking, okay, “What am I gonna do today with my kids?” You know, I'm getting this time to reflect and really set myself up for success during the day.
Surfing, it's just so cool how it's played in my life to keep this positive driven attitude. And, you know, being that it's something I do first thing when I wake up other than drink my coffee. Right. Get ready for the day. And I'm like, I'm so focused on, I just need to get in the water and set my day up. Whether it's a good surf or bad, just being in the salt water is something that is just, it's a cleansing every day. And it's a reminder too of how good life is to be able to jump in the ocean and have those experiences. It's so hard to go out back into the world and be an ass, you know, and be upset and find the negative. It's just yeah. It's constantly pushing me in a positive state of mind.
Q. What does your typical morning look like?
Ray - Well, typically, it's waking up, looking out the window, and seeing which way the flag's blowing. That's, like, number 1. If you got offshore winds or it's onshore, you know, check that. But, typically, I get up before I surf, make my coffee. I kinda squeeze everything into this 20 to 25 minute window of when I'm gonna land in the parking lot or on the sand, suit up, and get out. So there's kind of a mad dash of making the coffee and as my pour over is finishing its final drip I'm grabbing a sweatshirt, putting shoes on, take 2 sips of coffee, run out to the garage, assess what board I'm going to ride, throw that in the car, and go.
That's pretty much what my morning routine looks like before I hit the water. After the surf, then it's a mad dash. I get to work depending on how good the waves are. There's been plenty of days where I’m eager for another good wave and time's ticking away. I get out and, like, cool. I got that 20 minute window now to get to work.
On those good days, it's just nice to be able to get into work. My mind's already cleared and set and ready to engage with my customers and kinda keep sharing that positivity just through serving the coffee. But, yeah, I get to the shop, set up, dial in the espresso. That's the main thing that has to happen. Get that thing queued up so it's good. And then open the doors and go. Yeah.
Q. How did you get into working in the coffee industry?
Ray - I have been in the coffee industry for about 14 years now. In the beginning, obviously, it was all learning. Just learning how to deal with volume and customers. Really just there's so much involved in the preparation of drinks and, understanding, flavor nuances, processes, how this coffee is gonna actually deliver to the customer, what's it gonna taste like? So in the beginning years, it was just more like boot camp for the first three years of coffee. I worked for Pete's Coffee, and then I worked with another, smaller roaster where I had the least experience.
It was good, but it was also very intimidating to be around baristas that were throwing down some crazy latte art and just well versed in the processes and flavor of coffee. About 4 years into it, I dove heavily into the education side of coffee, and I wanted to know more about the harvesting, the processing, how the exporting and importing happens, where's the farmer growing this, you know, stuff that's really important that gets overlooked a lot, especially, like, in the the harvesting and the farming of the coffee. So I did a deep dive into the SCA, which is the Specialty Coffee Association, and they offered some courses. I started piling up all these courses so I could get my roasting certificates, barista certificate, and brewing certificates.
I even went as far as, coffee buying certificates. I took all these courses and really into it. Then I was trying to figure out who I would work for next. And that journey took me to a company that definitely deserves mention, which is Zumbar Coffee and Steve Rayle is the owner. And he was one of the first micro roasters in San Diego.
I got hired to work at his shop in Sorrento Valley. He was real meticulous about how one would move through his shop, their skill levels, and how he would place them correctly so that everything would be efficient and run smoothly, all while still educating his employees through the process.. So as I did that deep dive into that education world, Steve did nurture a lot of that and allowed me to manage his cafes and do the training and and learn a lot about his business other than the roasting. The one thing he guarded was that position, which I respect him for that because after all the years in coffee, I realized I didn't actually want to be the roaster. Spent a lot of time doing it. But, you know, it's this coveted position that you feel is at the top of the chain if you can get to that.
So, that journey with Zumbar was really cool because everything that I've done for this business that I have now, I'll have to say about 90% of it, if not more, I learned from watching Steve run his own business. That even goes to how he expanded and had 4 shops at one time, and now he’s just back to 1. Full circle. You kind of just need to keep it small, quality, and good people, and that's what's gonna work. So that journey over the last 14 years. Then it's really just come to this point now of the last 3 years doing this. And within the last 6 years of me and my business partner John having our roasting business – tailoring it to exactly how we want our business to run, and how we want to push our brand, how I want to stay in the coffee industry, and make our mark where quality is number one. Everything else is just a really super fun add on.
Q. So tell me how Interim Coffee came about?
Ray - Interim Coffee was something that, in a way, was forced. The name was somewhat used jokingly when we came up with it. To really give you the full understanding, I’ve got to go back to when John and I were working for a roasting business down in San Diego.
This roasting company was owned by an investment group that had about 40 businesses under its umbrella. The owner, Gina Champion-Cain, got popped for a $450 million Ponzi scheme. She used high-interest loans to get money from investors and promised quick returns. She was using liquor licenses and applicants as a way to raise that money. But what she really did was fabricate all these applicants, take the investment money, and launder it through businesses. She played with these large amounts of money for about 12 years.
John and I were working for this company, and I had only been there for about a year. The whole time, I had a weird feeling about what was going on. I was hired for operations management, so I had access to the P&L statements for the coffee business and also ran their wholesale department. On top of that, I was getting paid a salary that no one in coffee gets unless you’re working for a big corporate company. That was my first red flag. I couldn’t understand how, with just two locations, she was able to allocate these salaries and justify the pay. But I didn’t question it—I was getting paid really well.
Still, things kept happening that seemed fishy. I’d see money missing from the books with no line item, no indication of where it went. Then, in 2018, it all came crashing down.
One morning, around 7 a.m., I came to work at the main office down off Sports Arena Blvd. As I turned the corner, I saw it—marked vehicles everywhere. I took another glance and realized the FBI had the warehouse surrounded. No guns drawn, but at least 20 agents were outside every entrance, locking the place down.
John was already inside roasting. When I saw his car, I gave him a buzz. I asked what was going on, and he was just like, “We’re all good. However, yeah… Gina got popped.” I came inside and got the full rundown. The FBI and SEC investigators were there, scheduling meetings with everyone in higher management. They told us that within 20 days, everyone would be let go. No one would have a job. They were seizing all the assets, properties, and business equipment to try to recoup some of the investors’ money—and, of course, the government’s cut.
Knowing that, I acted fast. I scheduled a meeting with the head investigator to make sure I was legally able to take the book of business we had built at the roasting company. We were doing about $1,000 a week in sales through that business, which is substantial for a coffee roaster. The investigators looked at me and said, “You don’t have to sign anything. We’re here for assets only. If you have somewhere else to roast that coffee, take it.”
So emails went out, and I got everyone on board to switch over with us. I had a friend in Oceanside with a roaster where I was already doing some side business, so we moved everything over there overnight.
Within the first month, this is where Interim Coffee comes in. We had a few corporate accounts we were roasting for, and as the year was ending, they started asking for tax IDs, business information, and ACH payment setup. The problem was, at the time, John and I were operating out of our houses—him down in the Barrio and me in Oceanside. We were ping-ponging back and forth, roasting coffee each week, sending out orders, and making deliveries. About half of our orders—around $400 to $500 a week—were single-bag mail orders. That process was a lot of work: stickering the bags, filling and sewing them, packaging, setting up boxes, and getting them to the mailbox.
One morning, we were at John’s house, going over an email about ACH payments. We looked at each other like, we gotta come up with a name. We needed a tax number and all the legal stuff set up. We started throwing out ideas. Since we had been in coffee for so long, we each had different names we’d wanted to use for a business.
Then John’s roommate walked into the kitchen. He was making breakfast, listening to us go back and forth, clearly annoyed. Finally, he just said, “You guys are overthinking this. Just call it Interim Coffee.”
We both paused. “Call it what?”
He looked at us and said, “Interim Coffee. It’s the time in between. You guys are in between jobs. Just call it Interim Coffee.”
We laughed. I thought it was funny. I jumped on GoDaddy, and sure enough, every domain was available. We bought what we needed and just ran with it.
At first, we thought it was just a placeholder name, something temporary. But as Gina Champion-Cain’s story unraveled, we realized we couldn’t ditch it—it was too good. We were forever tied to this $450 million Ponzi scheme.
Then, as more news about Gina came out, it just got crazier. Turns out, she’s in prison now—she got 15 years. But recently, she exposed a prostitution scandal in the prison she’s in. The warden of the prison was running it. Now he’s in prison. And Gina? She might get out early. Her lawyers are already positioning her for a reduced sentence because she “helped” expose one of the biggest prostitution rings in the California prison system.
Oh, and this lady? She bragged the whole time that her life was going to be a Netflix movie. I’m not kidding. Even when she got caught, she was like, “Oh, it’s all good. This is gonna be in the movie.” And you know what? She’s probably right. She’s gonna make more money off this whole thing.
And that’s the story behind Interim Coffee.
Q. Tell me about the shop. How did you find the space and how did you build out the aesthetic?
Ray - The interim cafe. It was right after the pandemic. When we were roasting those first years, obviously, the pandemic was part of that. It affected our business through the way it affected other businesses we were roasting for. We didn't have to shut down the roasting, but we weren't roasting for accounts whose shops weren’t open.
So we started filling this dent, starting to hit our volume. And, you know, myself and John have been in coffee for so long, and we both also have this hobby of picking at estate sales and whatnot. Over my years in coffee, with being into the picking world, anytime I left a coffee job or had an opportunity to get equipment, I did.
Our espresso machine that we use here in the shop—I had that for eight years prior to opening. So now, over 11 years, I've actually owned the machine, but that was because it was a great deal. You know, I was like, “Oh, I could buy this from Fleming's Steakhouse for $300. I don’t think they know what they have.” Right? It’s a $15,000 machine.
So anyway, with all that, John and I had coffee equipment ready to open two cafes. As the pandemic was playing out, we realized we should probably start looking for a retail spot to either set up a friend or, if it was the right one, then we’d jump in and start running the retail ourselves.
I was looking around, but my partner—she was like a little fire under my ass. She was like, “You guys really need to start looking for something. It’s a good time right now.” A lot of businesses had left their leases and whatnot, and I had probably spent maybe a week and a half emailing different property managers about the space I needed or desired. It’s so hard to find 300 square feet available in a retail setting for rent, right? When you do, they’re so odd. You're like, “Well, I don’t want the closet space behind this warehouse.”
This space was such a unique find that when I saw it on a listing, I didn’t believe it was real—for a lot of reasons. It just didn’t make any sense that there was a spot like that a block from the beach in Carlsbad available for rent. It hadn’t been available for the last 35 years because it was a hair salon. Come to find out, when I applied for it, the listing had just gone up two days prior.
So it was a godsend. It just kinda landed right in front of us. We applied and presented what we were going to do with the space—we’re a coffee shop with just to-go coffee, no sit-down service. The owners of the property were so into it that they made sure we were the ones to get the space. They bumped us in front of, I believe, seven other applicants that were trying to get it. They just felt a coffee shop was what needed to be there. They catered to everything we asked about setting up the lease.
After opening the shop, I found two things that have really stood out within this community. First, there are a lot of locals who love supporting small businesses. And by locals, I mean people who have had families here for 30, 40 years—who watched their kids grow up here, or the offspring of those people. They don’t want to see things change. So when they come in, it’s like a breath of fresh air or a refresh for them.
They’ll say, “Oh, this is how Carlsbad used to be.” You know? Local surfers owning their shops, deciding, “If the surf’s good, we’re gonna close early or come in late.” They also like what I’ve done in here with the surf culture—preserving it. I love surf heritage and the history of surfing, and that’s something this community has a lot of.
Not only do I get strong local support, but the people in the surfing community are huge here. Some of the biggest influences in surfing are in San Diego alone. Mike Henson is someone I would often see between Encinitas and North County areas. And, man, that’s iconic. Mike Henson. Endless Summer. It will never not be something I think about when I think about good waves and surfing. I always see the same images of Robert August and Mike Henson sliding in Africa, right? And then meeting them in this community—it’s so crazy.
Over a lifetime of surfing, getting to meet heroes and then serving them here in the cafe is really cool. And that’s just one name that’s brought a lot of influence. Skip Fry, another big name, is here in town. Well, San Diego, but still—there’s just so much rich culture around here.
I feel like the community I’ve become a part of through this coffee shop is just blessing me with more and more information. Because of the picking, people tell me, “You gotta come check out my family’s estate” or whatnot. I’ve had access to people’s family possessions—things they’ve had for so long—because they see what we’re doing here, and they’re ready and willing to pass the torch.
A good example would be a couple of 1930s surfboards I got last year from a family that was coming in here. That’s huge—something nearly 100 years old that they’ve preserved. And because they met me and saw that I actually have a love and passion for this, they were like, “You’re the right person to bring this over to and support.”
Q. Where did your passion for picking begin?
Ray - I would say my love for picking began with record collecting and music. Early on in life, I was really into music and playing music and big in the punk scene. And all the DIY stuff I saw in that scene. Didn't really have much to do with picking, but it was more of, like, utilizing tools that have been around for a while or whatnot.
So through record digging, I would always find myself in scenarios of seeing other things that were valuable and cool. And at an early age, I realized I was like, okay, I have these things that are cool and valuable. So how much do I actually want it? Then in the early years when I let go of a lot of my records, that's what first got me into it.
Because when I let them go, I found money to go buy more surfboards. And then my surfboard collection went bonkers for years. Just within the last, like, 10 years, though, I feel like my picking has become more, what's the right way to say it? Like, I have more purpose now, like, as I pick I'm looking for the preservation of things, not just the monetary flips on stuff. That's one way to say it. But I don't know. I kinda start off on that one.
Q. How do your passions for surfing, working in coffee, and family all fuel one another?
Ray - Between work, surfing, and family. I feel for myself, all three of those things, they fuel me in a way that as I find these small accomplishments along the way, like, sitting down with my son and playing the guitar. Like, that's such a pure thing to hold on to and seeing the joy that he has and time together that we spend.
And sometimes it's really short. Sometimes you get some good things out of that. And surfing and work and all that, there’s all these little accomplishments I pull from them. Not only does it fuel me, but it fuels my joy. It fuels my want to see my family happy, chase more waves, and get better in the coffee scene.
But really, coffee and surfing are just add-ons to what my main focus is, and that is my family. You know, I have 3 children. My youngest daughter is gonna be 3. My son's turning 9 at the end of the month. My oldest daughter is 11. My wife as well. You know, these people depend on me for so many things that if I become unfilled or negative in those or in any of those places, it shows. You know it shows in the quality of our time at home. It shows in the quality of service here, or it shows in a bad attitude in the water. Right?
I'm constantly looking at all these little things that happen in our lives. You just gotta hold on to the best of them. My 3 children show that to me all the time. It's so easy to walk around the house, and the kids are doing their thing. Like, oh, I'm gonna check Instagram, or I'm gonna get on my phone, and you have this child like, “Daddy. Daddy, look. Daddy, look.” And it's nothing other than just some crazy face they wanna show or little project they're working on.
Those things are the moments where it's that reminder. Everything's shut down. Like that's the most important thing that's happening. And the more I'm engaged and get into those things, that fuels everything. Because it's just a constant of - this is what life's about.
This is about being positive and having these moments that you can't replicate. You know? It's just like they're in the moment. So I think it's just all those things combined that make for a good life. And there are things that I enjoy doing. It's like all these passions in one, and it eliminates so many other distractions. You know? So that's definitely how it fuels me.
Q. Any final thoughts you want to leave us with?
Ray - I think if I had anything to leave it on, I'll quote Skip Fry. “Keep it clean.” I think those are wise words to live by. “Keep it clean.”
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Learn more about Interim Coffee here: https://www.interimcoffee.com/
Visit Interim Coffee: 2943 Carlsbad Blvd, Carlsbad, CA 92008
