First off, congratulations brother. Here is my concept for a name, -sorry for the ugly mockup but I drew it with my fat finger on a tiny iPhone screen. No Wave Coffee: Name is kind of a double entendre. The logo represents three layers: sand, smooth water, and sky. It references a mellow, placid place to hang out. It reinforces coffee as a relaxing ritual when you already are or promises to get you closer to that when you're hectic and on the go.That's the top level. "No-wave" is also a tongue in cheek reference to all of the third-wave coffee shops that have been popping up all over the country (that have been both praised for their dedication to great coffee and ridiculed for going over the top in this by haters). On this level you're saying "I'm not a third wave, or any wave shop. I'm just here making good coffee." This lets you do two things: 1. It gets a nod from the haters because you're bringing the concept of a coffee shop "back down to Earth" so to speak, but at the same time, you're completely speaking to those people who do care about third-wave shop's dedication to the best product. By referencing third-wave you're telling all those people "Yup, I know what's up, don't worry, I got you covered." You're not going to reference the third wave movement in your name then turn around and serve shit. You message both camps at the same time and give then what they want. Everybody else (vast majority) doesn't even realize you're doing this and just views it at the surface level. Logo might be better with an orange half-sun setting on the ocean part. Orange would work in the color scheme. All in all, No Wave Coffee stands for the best coffee you can get without pretense. Edit: It could also work on a third level as a lot of people don't know this, but there actually is surfing round Portalnd. Why not.
Maybe more a logo like this. I actually love a bunch of No Wave artist and I like the double entendre (suicide is definitely one of my top five bands of all time). It's way edgier than I ever considered but maybe I don't mind, turning it around in my head. Place would end up with a way different color scheme than I thought it would. Plan on having a record player on the end of the counter that customers can pick and choose records and what not (the choices curated by me). Like the idea of the whole thing being a bit defiant of normal operating procedures. And fuck it, I'd still play a Greatful Dead album if that's what I'm in the mood for, not like there would be a playlist that mandated the playing of Lizzy Mercier Descolux albums.
To be in the roasting game in this town you pretty much have to go to the farms you buy from, meet the farmers, watch the plants grow and smell the manure. If you just buy beans from some commercial distributor and roast them up without sitting at some farmer in Peru's table you are a chump.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14672413/NoWave_Mockups.pdf Here is a look at some of the logo designs.
The second one has energy, the first is fat. Go with the second one.
I'd go with one of the first two. I don't like the W on the third (too big), the fourth looks a bit cheesy / cheap and the fifth has a really irregular font. Do add the chip-in from the original, where the V overlaps the E, but on the first or the second logo design.