True Love Coffee
Curator’s note
Lee Lizotte cups and sample-roasts every lot before he will commit a production batch, which is more process than a cafe this young usually bothers with. Eighteen wholesale accounts have decided it is worth buying, Sqirl among them: the roasting reputation arrived well before the room did.
True Love's signature blend, tuned to hold up to milk in a latte, mixes Guatemalan and Ethiopian lots for floral, sweet, delicate flavor.
The coffee
All of it is roasted in San Juan Capistrano under founder and head roaster Lee Lizotte, sourced through importer Hacea Coffee Source: the range tops out with an Ecuador La Noria Gesha from the ChocoVilcaMundo cooperative, credited with first place in the 2023 Cup of Excellence. Product pages print farm, varietal and process, but carry a roast-level selector where a roast date would go.
- Rwanda Muhororo Nyamasheke Washed
- Medium-light
- Red Bourbon
- Washed
- Muhororo Washing Station
Dried Apricot · Cola · Black Tea
- XO Blend
- Medium
- Mixed
Floral · Sweet · Delicate
- Rwanda Muhororo Nyamasheke Anaerobic
- Medium-light
- Red Bourbon
- Anaerobic natural
- Muhororo Washing Station
Mulled Wine · Green Apple · Streusel
- Mauricio & Armando Gomez
- Medium-light
- Bourbon, Typica
- Washed
Lemon Meringue · Marzipan · Cacao
- Decaf Rwanda Muhororo
- Medium-light
- Red Bourbon
- Natural - SWD
- Muhororo Washing Station
Medjool Dates · Black Cherry · Chocolate
- Chiroso Natural
- Medium-light
- Chiroso
- Natural anaerobic
- Finca Las Brias
Black Cherry · Cinnamon Roll · Lavender
- Ecuador La Noria
- Light
- Green Gesha
- La Noria
Prosecco · Creme Anglaise · Honeysuckle
- Chiroso Washed
- Light
- Chiroso
- Washed
- Finca Las Brias
Papaya · Asian Pear · Mojito
- Colombia El Sinsonte
- Light
- Pink Bourbon
- Washed
Tangerine · Pink Lemonade · White Tea
- El Salvador Llano Grande
- Medium-light
- Pacamara
- Anaerobic natural
- Llano Grande
Fruit Punch · Nutmeg · Brown Sugar
The room
True Love shares one small unit with Freenote Clothing, so the cafe’s own surfaces stay modest and deliberate: plain painted walls with a die-cut heart sign, a wood bar with open shelving, and a mural commissioned from Miranda Moore. The good seat is the enclosed patio out back: red metal chairs on squares of turf, slat fencing and potted palms, string lights under the plaza’s stucco columns.
The vibe
Photos
People
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