Black Dog Coffee Roasters

Portillo roasts to order and returns to El Salvador several times a year to oversee his family's farm, and each of the eight retail coffees carries a region, varietal, and process. The house roast runs medium to dark on purpose, against the grain of most of specialty LA, and this address is a cart at a working roastery rather than a room to settle into.

• beans to take home
• watching the roast
• outdoor seating
• easy parking

Eight single origins roasted to order, from the family's Salvadoran farm to a washed Yirgacheffe and a honey-process Gesha, each one listing its region, varietal and process.

This is a roastery with a cart rather than a room: a unit in a Signal Hill industrial business park, serving from the lot, with a vintage blue VW van parked out front doing the work of a sign. The draw is standing where the coffee is roasted.