[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]as Lilas is an upstart coffee operation in Inglewood founded in 2017 that is forging a unique niche for itself in small-batch cultivation: an entirely integrated and family-run company that has been growing coffee for 150 years. And most important, the beans are exclusively from a single farm in El Salvador.
The other day I dropped in for a by-appointment coffee tasting, or “cupping,” at Las Lilas. Their roasting operation sits in an industrial park not far from the runways at LAX. The roaster is part of a percolating scene of single-source Salvadoran coffee makers in Southern California, a novelty in a place far more familiar with coffees from other countries.
“Coffees from El Salvador are mostly thought of as blender coffees,” said Las Lilas founder George Poppe, referring to the process of blending beans from various sources for mass distribution. “But we’re actually growing it and processing it, shipping it. We’re 100 percent integrated, and not too many coffee companies out there are actually doing that at all, whether it be from Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala.”
El Salvador, as writer and L.A. Taco contributor Karla Vasquez has pointed out in this space, is not nearly as well known as some of its neighbors for its single-source arabica coffee industry. Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica, and the southern states of Mexico are far more ahead in production and brand recognition as continental coffee powerhouses.