Loquat Coffee is a Los Angeles roastery with two cafés, in Cypress Park and Silver Lake, and the roasting side of the family behind Kumquat. Its motto is “Craftsmanship, Refined”. Loquat sends its own green buyers to origin every harvest season for early access to hundreds of samples, and commits to limited lots through what it calls a simplified trade structure that rewards producers directly. Most of its coffees carry the price Loquat paid per kilo and the cost after its own labour. The farms it works with include Hacienda La Esmeralda, Lamastus Family Estates, Janson Family Estates, Finca Nuguo and Los Cenizos in Panama, Herbazú, Las Margaritas 26 and San Isidro Labrador in Costa Rica, and Gesha Village and Abana in Ethiopia.

Every lot is stored at 19°C in a climate-controlled room and analysed for moisture, density and water activity before sample roasting and cupping. Loquat roasts from Nordic light to light-medium across tiers from Nano and Vantage, the rarest lots in 20 g and 60 g packs sold by roast date, through Deluxe, Superior and Prestige to Essential for the everyday single origins, plus blends: the QUAT everyday espresso, Taxi, named after Loquat’s black and yellow colours and used for drip across its stores, and a Fall 2026 seasonal blend. Single origins are built for filter and the blends for espresso. Loquat has four in-house Q-graders, and a week after each roast its cuppers sit down with the roasters, green buyers and café leaders to cup every production sample.

In the cafés the April Brewer is the house pour-over, chosen for how it handles 10 to 12 g doses of the rarer coffees, and Geisha espresso is pulled into a chilled glass to keep its florals. Loquat’s co-founder AJ reached the national semi-final of the 2024 US Brewers Cup, and the team served its coffees at the SCA Expo in Houston in 2025. Wholesale partners run from Korean Air’s LAX lounge to Noma’s Los Angeles residency, and its clothing line, made for wear behind the bar, is cut and sewn in Los Angeles with the workwear brand HELT Studio.

Partner cafés

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Loquat Coffee