Casa Libre at Mercado González in Costa Mesa. Photo by CARVINGBLOCK Studios, courtesy of Casa Libre.
Specialty coffee is joining the celebration of Mexican food and culture inside the sprawling 70,000-square-foot Mercado González food hall and supermarket in Costa Mesa, California, with the opening of Casa Libre.
Open since Sept. 24 among the food stalls, tortillería, bakery, restaurant and fresh-produce displays, Casa Libre occupies 500 square feet, including 200 square feet dedicated to the onsite roastery. According to the founders, three additional Casa Libre coffee shops are also coming soon to Southern California.
Guests at Mercado González can watch Casa Libre Director of Coffee and Head Roaster Steve Cuevas, a decorated coffee professional, brown exclusively Mexican-grown green coffees through a Loring S15 Falcon. Sourcing coffees through Covoya, Casa Libre launched with two coffees from Chiapas and one from Veracruz.
Steve Cuevas. Photo by CARVINGBLOCK Studios, courtesy of Casa Libre.
Those include coffee grown by Doña Duglas Molina and her family at El Cielo in Villa Corzo, Chiapas, sourced through Covoya’s Café Delas program, which supports coffee-producing businesses led by women.
“Casa Libre looks for quality and consistency, but also coffees that demonstrate the diversity of Mexico’s growing regions rather than conforming to a single flavor profile,” Cuevas told DCN. “The team prioritizes distinctive coffees from producers they can identify and stand behind.”
The roasting operation sits within a square structure framed by hacienda-style arches. Metal shelving holds retail bags of freshly roasted coffee, while burgundy tile fronts the bar. Gold-accent lighting and pendant spotlights add homey warmth to the space.
Photo by CARVINGBLOCK Studios, courtesy of Casa Libre.
“Our vision was to create a space that felt both elevated and welcoming… a space that feels inviting and familiar, yet intentionally designed to showcase the quality, culture and experience behind specialty Mexican coffee within a mercado,” Casa Libre Co-Founder Natalie Taormina told DCN.
Taormina and co-founder Jeremy Creighton collaborated with members of the González family, owners of the Northgate Market chain, to develop the new brand, drawing on the pair’s backgrounds in specialty coffee and branding.
Creighton, who is from Melbourne, Australia, and Taormina, who grew up in Orange County, were among co-founders of Long Beach-based Common Room Roasters and helped run the U.S. office of Melbourne-based branding agency Passport Brand Design. Later the duo launched another coffee venture called Freelance Coffee Project, a single-origin-focused roastery cafe attached to the branding agency in Newport Beach.
Photo by CARVINGBLOCK Studios, courtesy of Casa Libre.
Together, Creighton, Taormina and the González family developed Casa Libre around the motto “mi casa es tu casa,” with onsite roasting and Mexican-grown coffees central to the concept.
A three-group La Marzocco Linea PB espresso machine anchors the coffee bar alongside Mahlkönig E80 and EK43 grinders.
Signature drinks designed to highlight Mexican flavors include the El Jaguar latte with corn, cacao and chile syrup and the El Colibrí with café de olla syrup.
Casa Libre’s onsite roasting operation currently supplies the cafe and its online shop, with plans to expand whole-bean sales into Mercado González’s grocery aisles.
Photo by CARVINGBLOCK Studios, courtesy of Casa Libre.
“Casa Libre was created by bringing together the González family’s experience in grocery and hospitality with our experience in coffee and brand building,” Taormina said. “Casa Libre grew from that relationship and a shared belief that the quality, diversity and regionality of Mexican coffee deserved greater attention within the U.S. specialty coffee conversation.”
The Costa Mesa roastery is intended to support Casa Libre as it grows through additional cafes and sales channels. Plans include whole-bean coffee and canned cold coffee in Mercado González, while another Casa Libre cafe is planned for Stanton this fall, followed by Bellflower and Inglewood locations in 2027.
Photo by CARVINGBLOCK Studios, courtesy of Casa Libre.
Casa Libre is located inside Mercado González at 2300 Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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