Mostra had opened up a new location up north in 4S Ranch...
So glad that she drove. Traffic wasn't so bad either. It was not a weekend either. These parts are pretty far for both of us, ha ha. Mostra took over a Coffee, Bean and Tea Leaf spot. As you saw earlier, they offer curbside pickup. You can order online and they can deliver your drinks to you and you don't even have to get out of your car. Not with us.
We wanted to go inside (with masks on of course; which is also required) and ooh and ahh over the new space. Designed by James Malone, one of the owners of Abnormal Brewing. He is also the husband of one of the Mostra owners, Sophia Jelynn Malone.The space is simply put, beautiful. One of the nicest coffee shops I've seen. It's definitely not sparse and devoid of personality but tastefully decorated.
I loved this fish scale patterned tile...
The mural with the logo as well as this mural was designed by @charmsg who was assisted by @phishcam and his wife @elyzah and local artist/educator @thekwentothesis. The mural and lettering were done by hand, sketched, taped, and painted by these individuals who form part of @theeastsidecollective, a group of Filipino Americans creatives based in Paradise Hills in SE San Diego. I thought it was quite apt for them to do this especially since Mostra is Filipino American owned and operated; I am just so thrilled for their success as well as having won Roast Magazine's 2020 Micro Roasters of the Year (more info linked at the end of this post; this award is not local, but an INTERNATIONAL award).
It was nice seeing a few familiar faces from the Carmel Mountain Ranch spot. There was no line during our visit. We were there around 8:45'ish. The space is so big and full of light. It is as impeccably designed as their other location. Since we could not enjoy our drinks indoors, we ended up sitting on a shaded ledge near the strip mall fountain. The only outside table we saw was already occupied.
Their menu had their signature drinks, some with Filipino flair like the bibingka creme brulee latte.
That's my cold brew in the photo above. I liked that they framed a Kalsada Coffee bag too. It is intentional and also meaningful because Kalsada coffee is from the Philippines.
Below, just some of Mostra's collabs with various breweries.
Our three drinks. Yes three. Two were mine.
My Neapolitan cold brew - using their Brazilian roast beans. Very rich and flavorful. This was a very potent drink! I was happy that the drink was available. That particular flavor was sold out at their other location during a recent visit.
This is their set up for their specialty drinks. There are some that require toppings (graham cracker crumbs and marshmallows for their campfire latte, turbinado sugar for their creme brulee latte's, etc) . You will see the torch which they use to brulee their drinks.
KD's Bibingka creme brulee latte. Because a paper cup had to be used, the exposed surface area is smaller than normal for this type of drink (another reason why I dislike paper cups especially if drinks normally have latte art). My friend really likes this drink but for this visit, she wasn't a fan because the coffee had cooled down by the time she drank it. She enjoys her coffee piping hot.
This was my other drink, the Turon cappuccino. Turon is basically a fried banana fritter; sometimes jackfruit is in the turon. For Mostra's version, they had jackfruit syrup in the drink, bruleed the top and added crunchy banana chips. It really was like drinking a liquid version of turon. If you have a sweet tooth, you would enjoy this drink. I liked that it was a cappuccino size as well. The size of lattes are overkill to me.
That being said, we enjoyed our drinks. I ended up saving my cold brew for later. I usually freeze whatever is left at home to enjoy the next day.
Articles:
"Mostra Coffee is finally caffeinating 4S Ranch" SD Reader, July 7, 2020
"Mostra Coffee debuts North County Cafe" Eater San Diego, June 30, 2020
"Beloved San Diego coffee company to expanding to 4S Ranch and Mira Mesa
" Times of San Diego, June 21, 2020
"Mostra Coffee embarks on expansion journey" Eater San Diego, March 13, 2020
Plus Roaster of the Year news:
"How Mostra went from coffee newbies to roaster of the year" SD Union Tribune, Jan. 29, 2020
Mostra Coffee
10550 Craftsman Way #187
San Diego, CA 92127
www.mostracoffee.com + the Five (so far) reviews from that four lettered site
IG: @mostracoffee
As I've lamented before, we need a coffee shop of this calibre in the Chula Vista area. There is NOTHING south of the 54 that even comes close. NOTHING.
It was a fun morning drive to one of our favorite shops. KD has more vacation days left than I do before we both start work again.
2 comments:
Whoa two coffee drinks....especially with a cold brew, that's some major caffiene; glad you saved some for later. Birdrock is doing one use growlers for their cold brew now, but I feel guilty getting it since it's such a waste of plastic containers and such....
Hi Kirk
I like to live dangerously! JK!
My reasoning is, if we were going to drive up this far, I didn't want to go just for one measly drink. I also want to say up front that this was a birthday treat from my friend since we didn't do our normal birthday food crawls. So, I took advantage and got too and even if it wasn't a treat, I would have gotten it myself.
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