Our story
Two friends, one used roaster
We started roasting in a garage in South Park in 2019. Today we have a café, a roastery and the best regulars in San Diego.
How it started
Beach mornings, better coffee
Noemi Castillo grew up in Ensenada drinking café de olla at her grandmother's table. Ben Takahashi spent ten years as a barista in Portland and missed the sunshine. They met at a cupping in Little Italy and spent the next year roasting beans in Ben's garage and handing out samples at the Hillcrest farmers market.
In 2021 they found a former surf shop on 30th Street with a sunny corner and enough room for a roaster. They painted it the colour of the dunes at Torrey Pines and opened on a Saturday in June. There was a line around the block by nine.
We are still small on purpose. Twelve people, one roaster, and a menu short enough that we can make every drink properly.
We wanted the kind of café you walk to in flip-flops and stay at for an hour.
Sourcing
We know the people who grow our coffee
We buy most of our green coffee directly from four farms and two cooperatives, paying on average 2.4 times the Fairtrade minimum. Noemi visits at least one origin every harvest.
- Finca El Mirador, Huila, Colombia
- Hambela Wamena cooperative, Guji, Ethiopia
- Finca La Soledad, Acatenango, Guatemala
- Full price transparency report published every spring
The crew
Say hi next time you are in
Noemi Castillo
Co-founder and head roaster
Q Grader, origin traveller and the reason our Ethiopian coffees taste like blueberries.
Ben Takahashi
Co-founder and café lead
Ten years behind the bar in Portland. Invented the Dune Fog on a slow Tuesday.
Jade Morales
Head barista
Runs our barista training and our Saturday latte art throwdowns.
Come by for a cupping
Free public tastings every first Saturday at 10. Just turn up.