About Bird Rock Coffee Roasters

Named after Bird Rock in La Jolla, where it was first discovered that sea-birds drink espresso, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters is one of the best cafes in San Diego, and an essential part of the cafe culture in this city. With multiple airy, open locations (as of this post – eleven and counting) they have the area covered well for San Diegans.

All of the coffee at Bird Rock is direct trade, organic certified, and supports living wages for the farms and producers that supply their beans. Perhaps it is the humanity that goes into making the coffee from seed to sip, but the end product is some of the best coffee you can get in San Diego. Order a fresh single origin coffee or blended roast, or purchase whole bean coffee to-go, including a limited edition “Blue Label” roast featuring a premier coffee bean. Their light roast cold brew is approximately as addictive as tobacco.

If you’re inspired to elevate your own coffee game, they sell high-end espresso machines and other equipment to get you going. They also host coffee cupping events, where you learn more about the coffee roasting process and how to properly taste coffee through a (vigorous) sipping method.

If you’re not often in San Diego but are craving Bird Rock you can sign up for one of their coffee subscriptions to receive your favorite coffee at home.

Best Parts

• Best cold brew in San Diego
• Supporting a cause
• Mini breakfast burritos called Lil Dippers

Behind The Counter

Founded by Chuck Patton, the first Bird Rock cafe opened in 2006. Since then they have received numerous accolades, including Roaster Of The Year in 2012 by Roast Magazine, and they are internationally recognized for their roasting skills and efforts to support responsible coffee trade. Purchased by Jeff Taylor in 2017, he and his wife Maritza are both coffee experts and serve as CEO and Director of Quality Control, respectively. The Head Roaster and Production Manager is Tony Gomez, a coffee connoisseur from Mexico who grew up in San Diego.

Bird Rock works directly with small coffee farms around the globe to supply top tier coffee beans for their cafes and to have a direct and positive impact on the quality of life for the coffee farmers and their communities. These farms are in the top coffee growing regions of the world including Guatemala, Colombia, Panama, El Salvador, Ethiopia, and Brazil.

To stay in the know, Bird Rock has a great written blog and video blog sharing stories about coffee farms, ongoing projects, events, and news on international coffee trade and its challenges and successes. They really go the extra mile at Bird Rock and you can feel it in that first sip. It feels good.