Carlos Ramirez
Carlos Ramirez is the owner of Ojai-based coffee roasters Bonito Coffee. He talks about his childhood in Nicaragua, the intricacies of cupping and why coffee is best enjoyed slowly
Carlos Ramirez of Ojai’s very own Bonito Coffee roastery
“The best way to drink coffee is the way you like it,” says Carlos Ramirez, owner of local Ojai coffee roasters, Bonito. “I drink mine black because that’s how you can really taste the true essence of the coffee.” With his wild, unkempt hair, a scruffy white T-shirt and a defiantly happy-go-lucky attitude, Carlos doesn’t seem take himself or life in general too seriously. But when it comes to coffee, it’s a different matter.
As we meet at the Bonito coffee roastery in the industrial part of downtown Ojai, he introduces me to cupping, the coffee equivalent of a wine tasting ritual. He places meticulously measured quantities of coarsely ground coffee into cups, tops them with boiling water, leaves them to brew for exactly four minutes and, using two flat spoons, carefully skims off the foam that’s formed on top. We continue to talk as he allows the coffee to cool and mentions of second and third waves of coffee drinking habits, innovative fermentation processes, Q Grading and new, high quality instant coffee brands make it clear that coffee runs through Carlos’s veins.
And then he hands me a spoon and unsure of what I’m supposed to be doing, he demonstrates by dipping his spoon into the dark liquid and rapidly (and loudly) slurping it up and tasting it before spitting it out again. I follow suit, struggling to slurp at the same speed or noise level but as I make my way around the table, repeatedly sampling the three different coffee varieties he’s prepared, I start to get what it’s all about. “Cupping is how coffee is tasted to check the quality of a batch and to see if there are any inconsistencies,” Carlos explains. “But you’ll also really notice how different each variety tastes.” Indeed I start to pick up subtleties in flavor, one coffee being fruitier with a notes of citrus, the other sweeter with hints of dates and cola, and one so intensely dark and bitter, I’m glad I get to spit it out. Eager to find out which is my favorite, Carlos is thrilled to learn that I prefer a more traditional Nicaraguan blend over the more modern, anaerobic coffee. “I think from now own, I’ll only cup with you,” he jokes.
Carlos Ramirez cupping coffee at the Bonito Coffee roastery in Ojai.
Carlos grew up in the city of Ocotal in Nicaragua, a coffee growing region comprising a valley he says is similar to Ojai. His grandfather worked as a coffee mechanic going around coffee plantations fixing broken equipment. “He would take me with him to the jungle, where the coffee was grown, and that’s when coffee culture started to become engrained in me,” he says. “It was then that I decided that I wanted to own my own coffee plantation when I grew up.”
He went on to study busines administration in Nicaragua before moving to the US to study agriculture and food marketing at Cal Poly in 2006. After graduating, he joined produce giant Dole working in quality assurance and traveling all over the country as part of his job. “But I very quickly realized that corporate life was not for me,” he admits. “I knew that I wanted to start something on my own.”
Living in LA with his wife Katie and two young children, the couple decided to move to Ojai in 2016 wanting to escape the hecticness of the city. “We were always in the car, and it just got too much.” Ojai not just reminded him of his home but also brought back the memory of his childhood dream of owning his own coffee plantation. So he returned to Nicaragua to do just that. A great friend and coffee wholesaler showed him a farm high up in the mountains. “It was absolutely beautiful and just $5,000 for 10 acres,” Carlos enthuses. “But when I went to send the money, the family decided not to sell. After that I had caught the coffee bug, though, and I knew I had to get into it.”
He and his friend struck a deal to export the locally grown coffee beans to Ojai, where Carlos would start his own roasting business. “Initially I was roasting in the old laundry house at the back of my home and giving my coffee away to friends and family,” he recalls. But when he applied for a business license, the city refused to grant it, telling him to move his operation to the industrial part of town. He started renting a unit in Bryant Circle and Bonito Coffee was born.
Today, Carlos sells a small selection of his unique coffee blends, which combine the beans from his home in Nicaragua with other growing regions such as Ethiopia and Mexico. His signature Pacamara is a complex single origin varietal from the Finca Los Congos plantation in Ocotal and combines flavors of citrus and caramel with subtle floral notes. A seasonal blend called Bourbon meanwhile is from a single producer in Apaneca in western El Salvador, bringing together strong notes of marzipan, cinnamon and chocolate. Bonito Coffee also has an espresso and a decaffeinated blend and is currently available in three Ojai stores, local hotels and a coffee shop in Montecito.
What sets Bonito Coffee apart is not just the care Carlos takes in procuring and roasting it but also the small producers who have grown it. Indeed some of his beans come from nano lots as tiny as a few acres, where careful stewardship of the coffee plants and meticulous sorting of the beans result in a truly exceptional product. His business remains small, just him and a coffee apprentice, but he’s gearing up for growth and hopes to expand both his team and operation very soon. “We can roast up to 350 pounds a day,” he adds.
As I ready myself to leave, a bag of Pacamara in hand, my last question is about how Carlos prepares his coffee. “I like a pour over, not just because of the taste but also because of the ritual of preparing it,” he says. Because when it comes down to it, to Carlos drinking coffee isn’t really about a specific fermentation, blend, roast or brew. “Coffee isn’t about being snobbish, it’s about taking a moment to really appreciate, taste and enjoy it. That’s why we’re called Bonito. Because coffee is about bringing people together and about the beautiful moments you share.”
Bonito Coffee is available at Ojai’s retail stores and hotels
You can order Carlos’s coffee online at the Bonito Coffee website or buy it at local Ojai stores including Westridge and Rainbow Bridge. His coffee is also served at many of Ojai’s hotels and at the Merci coffee shop in Montecito.
