SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A small coffee shop in Carmel Mountain Ranch is now the world's best coffee roaster.
Mostra Coffee just won Roast Magazine's top honor as the 2020 Roaster of the Year.
"It was a really far fetched, big dream of ours to one day achieve one day," said Mostra Coffee co-founder Jelynn Malone. "So the fact we were able to achieve it in six years is mind-blowing to us."
Malone started the company with a few friends in a garage in 4S Ranch. They were looking for ways to help poor people in the Philippines and learned that buying coffee from local farmers can help provide money and jobs to the region.
"It was rooted in good and wanting to help," said Malone. "We just believed in our mission so much that we thought, you know, let's just go for it. What it's become now is just surreal and amazing."
Right now, Mostra Coffee has one shop in Carmel Mountain Ranch, but they have plans to expand. They're opening a second location in 4S Ranch in March and just signed a lease for a spot in Mira Mesa.
Malone said their passion for coffee is what's fueled their success.
"It's very similar to wine," she said. "It'll taste anywhere from peaches to chocolates, to tea leaf flavor notes to blueberry. There are so many different flavor notes you can get out of coffee that I don't think people realize, and you get to do that in specialty coffee."
In addition to the new locations, Mostra is expanding into the instant coffee business. They just launched a line of single-serve instant coffee packs.
"Now you can enjoy Mostra coffee when you're flying or camping or at work or rushing in the morning and don't have time to come into the store," said Malone.
Through all the expansion, Malone said they plan to keep the small-batch mentality that brought them this far.
"The community's been so supportive that I think people will really appreciate having more access to Mostra."
