About Bonito

OUR BEGINNINGS 

Carlos Ramirez was born and raised in a small town in Nicaragua. He was raised in the culture of coffee - both the economic logistics of growing, farming, harvesting, and distributing the beans, and the exceedingly personal experience of coffee as a connecter, a ritual, an integral glue in a family.

When Carlos came to the states in his twenties, it was to be a short trip, just a few months exploring Los Angeles before he would return home to a coffee farm of his own. But there were other plans at play. Carlos fell in love, married and had three beautiful children. He had shifted to the corporate world, yet always, there was the hovering thought of returning to coffee.

In 2016, when his family abandoned city life after falling in love with the magical Ojai Valley, Carlos found himself again connected to the land and hearing the siren’s song. The time was right. He returned to Nicaragua to visit the farms, to touch and smell the beans himself, to find quality product worthy of his vision of farm to cup coffee. He began importing, and Bonito Coffee Roaster was born in the shed behind his house.

In 2018, Bonito opened its roasting room on Bryant circle, and thought the facilities may have grown, Carlos still handles each and every small batch roast himself.