Civil Coffee is the work of the Morales brothers, Alex and Alan, born in Mexico and raised in Los Angeles. They introduced the city to their coffee from “a humble red Toyota truck”, then a coffee cart, and over ten years have grown that into three cafés and a roastery. Its motto is “Born in Mexico, made in L.A.”: Civil sources exclusively Mexican coffee, meets the producers, walks the farms and mills, cups at origin, and roasts once a week, on Fridays, so that every bag ships at peak freshness. The word for its quality promise is Calidad.

The coffees come from Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero and Veracruz: a natural anaerobic from the Herbadera co-op in Guerrero, a washed lot from the forested communities of Ángel Albino Corzo in Chiapas, where pine shade slows the cherry, a washed Oaxacan from San Isidro Zoquiapam, the La Unión blend of washed and natural lots in a filter version and an espresso version dialled for ristretto, and a Mountain Water decaf from Chiapas. Civilian 2.0 is the brothers’ cafecito blend, built to taste like breakfast with the family. Civil also sells organic ceremonial matcha and hojicha from Kagoshima.

The Highland Park café is where it began, on the old Route 66 corridor, with hand-laid Mexican stone tile floors, a floor-to-ceiling marble wall, a mirrored espresso bar, a patio and local art exhibitions. The Studio City café sits in the Sportsmen’s Lodge, a light-filled bar inspired by CDMX café culture that opens through a glass storefront onto a courtyard, with matcha, house-baked goods and a full brunch kitchen. The Downtown café in the Fashion District is a bright room of floor-to-ceiling windows and curving gold accents that serves the stylists and photographers of the district.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Civil Coffee