This month we have selected Mostra Coffee from San Diego as our roaster. They have a unique origin story. 2 of their founders went to the Philippines with a non-profit and were struck by the poverty they saw. Being of Filipino background, they felt a strong connection with the people there and they began to look into how they might be able to help. After reaching out the non-profits, aid workers, and even local governments they decided the best way for them to help was to create ways to bring income into the country.

While the Philippines is in the coffee belt, it isn’t well-known for it’s coffee. Mostra set out to change that. They reached out to their families there and were sent a number of coffee samples of coffee from friends-of-friends. They had the coffee graded and were happy to see some of the coffee scored as high as an 86.

Mostra has grown significantly over the years and was recently awarded Roaster Magazine’s micro roaster of the year, one of the industries most prestigious awards. While they still import plenty of coffee from the Philippines, they also roast coffee from other origins.