Alan Morales

Co-founder of “Civil coffee” on Coffee and Filming in LA

This week, I sit down with Alan Morales, co-founder of Civil Coffee, to explore the unexpected intersection of specialty coffee and film production in Los Angeles.

Given LA's production crisis, I wanted to hear from someone on the ground: a small business owner in Highland Park who sees tons of filming and has thoughts on what producers and the city need to understand.

Alan shares the espresso shot that changed his life, why he dropped out of electrical engineering one course away from graduating, and how Civil Coffee grew from mobile carts to three LA locations with their own roasting program focused exclusively on Mexican beans.

We dig into the value chain from coffee farms to your cup, why productions understand craft services better than wedding clients, what it's like to visit Mexico for the first time as an adult after obtaining citizenship, and how LA's production crisis looks from street level.

Alan's perspective on fair location fees, the human connection that makes or breaks production relationships, and what keeps him optimistic despite the current political climate offers valuable insights for anyone building something that requires invisible work to make magic happen.

Tune in!

xx cg

“[Producers] are at the beginning of the whole storyline for coffee.”

- Alan Morales

Episode Transcript