Caffeine Hunter

San Diego · Encinitas

Ironsmith Coffee Roasters

The black Ironsmith Coffee Roasters sandwich board on the pavement outside the blue painted shopfront on South Coast Highway 101, with a bistro table and folding chairs beside a turquoise mural

Ironsmith Coffee Roasters is a small batch roaster whose flagship shop on Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas is an industrial space with a garage door, a few blocks from the beach, where the roasting happens in the back. The team believes there is more to coffee than consuming it, and travels to the source in Africa, Central and South America and Asia to walk through the trees and meet the farmers whose stories end up in the cup.

Once the coffees are chosen they are brought to the shop and roasted there, with current bags from Guatemala, Kenya and Ethiopia, among them a Guatemala called The Problem Solver. The shop serves espresso, cold brew and baked goods, takes pre orders for pickup, and opens at six on weekdays, seven on Saturdays and eight on Sundays.