Mostra Coffee
Curator’s note
Two of the founders worked it out while volunteering to build houses in the Philippines: the help that lasts is a farmer paid properly for the crop already in the ground, and the crop happened to be coffee. Mostra has brought specialty-grade Philippine coffee to market since 2015, and a cut of every retail bag still goes back to the growers for infrastructure and schooling, which is slower than writing a check and the reason there is a company here at all.
Ghost Bear espresso layered with vanilla syrup and house-made coconut bibingka milk, topped with torched turbinado sugar and bibingka powder.
Made with real French Brittany butter and imported French ingredients, baked fresh daily.
The coffee
Everything is roasted in-house on two San Franciscan machines named Feli and Franny, which get a full tear-down once or twice a month, and the retail lots come named to the farm: a Caturra off Fabian Acevedo's family plot in Providencia de Geshua, high in Colombia's Huila, at roughly 1,750 meters. The filter option at this counter is a daily batch rather than a manual brew.
- Ghost Bear Espresso Blend
- Medium
- Pulped natural and washed/wet
- Sitio Belis Coffee Estate
Dark chocolate · Stone fruit · Caramelized sugar
- Philippines Legacy Microlot
- Dark
- Wet, honey, and natural processed
- Kalsada partner producers (Ibaloi farmers), Sitio Belis
Dark fudge · Candied walnuts · Warm spice finish
- Mexico Women Power Zongolica
- Medium
- Hand-cranked de-pulped, washed, dried on patios for 15 days
- 20 women farmers of the Nahuas indigenous community, NKG BLOOM program
Shortbread · Guava · Milkyway
- Brazil Oberon
- Dark
- Mundo Novo, Catuaí
- Pulped natural
Chocolate · Caramel · Nutty
- Ethiopia Daye Bensa
- Natural
- Shantawene Village, Daye Bensa
- Colombia Providencia de Geshua
- Light
- Caturra
- 24-hour cherry oxidation, 36-hour fermentation, 15 days raised-bed drying
- Fabian Acevedo family farm, Providencia de Geshua
Orange soda · Pink Lady apple · Manuka honey
- Philippines Heritage Microlot
- Medium-dark
- Washed, dry fermented 24 hours then wet fermented 24 hours
- Kalsada partner producers, Sitio Naguey
Chocolate · Baking spice · Nutty finish
- Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Konga
- Light
- Washed: pulped, fermented 24–36 hours, dried 1–2 weeks on cloth beds
- 2,400 smallholder farmers, Konga Cooperative
Dried mango · Sweet cream · Darjeeling white tea
- Thailand Golden Triangle
- Dark
- Chiang Mai, Typica, SJ133
- Yellow honey: selectively harvested, partial mucilage removal, raised-bed dried
- Doi Pangkhon, Merlaeku family (Akha hilltribe)
Black forest cake · Rock tea · Cherry wood
- Mama Bear
- Medium-dark
Dark chocolate truffle · Buttermilk pancakes · Raspberry mimosa
- Son Of Ghost Bear
- Medium-light
- Natural
Mixed berries & cream · Orange marmalade · Acacia honey
- Papa Bear
- Dark
- Cool Beans
- Medium
- Washed/wet processed
Milk chocolate · Nutty · Citrus
- Vietnam Lotus
- Medium
- Washed/wet processed, Penagos-machinery pulped
- Regional lot from about 100 farmers, LIFT sustainability program
Dark chocolate · Date · Baking spice · Butterscotch
The room
William Hezmalhalch Architects drew this 1,247-square-foot suite as an English Industrial room meant to mimic the quality and process of Mostra's own operation. The espresso machine is a Mavam sunk into a lower bar top, the only one in San Diego when this room was new, and a bar dropped that low turns the espresso work into something the room can watch.
The vibe
Photos
People
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