We roast 240 lb a week on a 1972 Probat UG-15 in the back of the shop. Cup it on the bar before it leaves, never any darker than a Full City. Bags are dated; the freshness is the whole point.
We opened on the ground floor of an old textile building on Olive Street in 2016 with one La Marzocco, one Probat, and a list of farms we trusted. We still buy from the same five farms — Halo Beriti in Ethiopia, La Esperanza in Tolima, Pulcal in Huehuetenango, Karatu in Kenya, and Ipanema in Brazil for blends.
We don't wholesale to chains. We don't roast past Full City. We tell you when the bag was roasted, and we'll grind it for your brewer at the bar if you tell us how you make it at home.
Bergamot, lemon zest, jasmine on the finish. Brews best as V60 at 1:16.
Cocoa nib, dark cherry, brown sugar. Espresso-friendly; sturdy with milk.
Stewed apple, raw honey, walnut. Kalita lovers — this one's for you.
Black currant, tomato leaf, juicy on the back end. Brew lighter.
Pick a frequency, pick a brew method, and we'll grind for you. Skip a week any time. Free shipping on 3-bag orders in California; flat $4.50 elsewhere in the US.
A 75-minute small-group tour led by Hiroshi or one of our roasters. Six people max, $30 a head, includes a 12oz bag of whichever origin we cup that morning.
Book a tour →$30 per person, six people max. Coffee and a small Japanese rice cake at the start. We start sharp.
A full 14-minute roast: charge, drying, Maillard, first crack, drop. Hiroshi narrates by temperature, not opinion.
Same recipe, four origins. Score by acidity, body, balance. Bring home the bag you score highest. No prior experience needed.
Hiroshi spent eight years on the sourcing team at Blue Bottle, traveling six months out of twelve. He left in 2015 to do it smaller and slower — one shop, four farms, a single Probat his uncle Atsuya helped him pick out at a roastery in Hayward.
The shop opened on Olive Street in March 2016 with one employee — Hiroshi. There are now eleven, two of whom started as regulars. "Coffee is a deeply slow product," he says. "The faster I push it through, the worse it gets. So I just don't."
We work with 18 partners across LA and the IE. We won't supply you if you have more than three locations or if you want a custom roast we won't drink ourselves. We'll come train your bar team on a Wednesday morning.
Roasted Tuesday, shipped Wednesday, in your hands Friday or Saturday in LA. Coffee tastes best 5–18 days off roast. The roast date is printed, not a "best by".
At the bar, yes — for V60, Kalita, AeroPress, Chemex, French press, espresso, and Moka. For shipping orders we strongly recommend whole bean. Buy a Comandante if you can.
We roast to Full City — past first crack, before second. Beyond that, you taste the roaster, not the farm. We pay $6–$11/lb green for these coffees; that's the part we want you to taste.
Yes, and we'll take 50¢ off. We don't have a stamp card; we don't have an app; we remember your name on the second visit.
The shop is busy 8:30–10:30am weekdays. After 1pm it gets calm. Saturdays are loud start to finish. We don't take laptop reservations.
| Monday | 7:00 – 3:00 |
| Tuesday | 7:00 – 3:00 |
| Wednesday | 7:00 – 3:00 |
| Thursday | 7:00 – 3:00 |
| Friday | 7:00 – 3:00 |
| Saturday | 8:00 – 4:00 |
| Sunday | 8:00 – 4:00 |