Based in downtown Los Angeles, California, Pasquini Coffee Co. is a family-owned and operated business specializing in the sales and service of home and commercial espresso machines, as well as the hand-roasting of our own line of coffees. Since 1957, the Pasquini experience has been a one-of-a-kind staple in Los Angeles. Our focus is—and always has been—on maintaining long-lasting relationships with our customers by providing high-quality products and services.
The second generation of Pasquinis in the family business, Guy is a coffee legend who bleeds espresso. A technical advisor who loves working with cafes, Guy offers his expertise on everything from beans, pricing, and machines, to training, service, and workflow. He was born right here in Highland Park and started working with his dad shortly thereafter. Guy has lived in Italy, where he worked at the Cimbali factory learning everything about machine assembly, design, and electrical. He prefers nutty coffee beans like Gusto, Crema Bar, or Soave, and thinks espresso is a treat, and therefore best served with two sugars.
Officially, mama to Brendan and Jonathan, but really mama to us all. Along with being the kindest person we know, Jill runs the back of house for the business: the accounting department, web orders, payroll, billing, and procurement. She loves cycling and Pilates, but her true passion is animals. She has her posse of orange kitties and Koa, the Pasquini pup. Jill also has a keen interest in mental health; her goal is to one day develop a project that will see 100% of the proceeds of a private label coffee benefit a mental health non-profit. Her favorite coffee bean is Ritual 02 and her favorite coffee drink is an affogato.
The third generation of Pasquinis to run the family business, Brendan handles most of the day-to-day operations and deals with our Italian imports. He officially started when he was 16, packaging in the roasting room, before earning a business degree at Loyola Marymount University. His favorite coffee is Portioli’s Gusto for its heavy body and rich crema, and he loves a good pour-over or Americano. His pro tip: learn to love your grinder. He often hears from customers frustrated with their grinders, but he’s willing to bet that most of them have perfectly fine machines, they just don’t have them set correctly!
The youngest Pasquini in our working family, he’s been doing all the shipping and packing for the web orders since we moved to Frogtown, but he’s been around the family business for as long as he can remember. Believe it or not, Jonathan’s favorite bean is decaf! He loves it prepared as a latte with regular milk, or as a cold brew (although his favorite cold brew is made with Cafe Top). When he’s not packaging orders, he’s studying psychology at LACC and playing the guitar. His pro tip: clean your machine after each use because the buildup of gunk is harder to clean the longer you let it sit.
A certified aerospace engineer, Rob’s been with us as a service technician since 2014, so there’s not much he doesn’t know about fixing your machine. If your commercial machines need repairs on the weekend or after hours, he’s your guy. His life outside of coffee includes his love of fostering cats and his passion for gardening and fruit trees. His favorite coffee is Gusto and he loves it prepared as a double breve (a latte with half and half). He’s also a fan of single-origin beans—especially Ethiopian—because of their natural sweetness and the balance between the chocolate and fruity notes.
Colin can be found helping Jill in the back office with invoicing, coordinating with the technicians, and taking photos for the website—he does a bit of everything. His favorite coffee bean is Portioli's Bar prepared as an Americano. He digs cold brew too, and his pro tip for taking care of your machine: change the filter! If you don’t, you’ll slowly destroy your machine (check out more details about water and filters). When he’s not here doing everything at Pasquini, Colin is a writer and voice director; in fact, he produces his own podcast: an audio drama called The Loyalists.
In 1957, Italian newcomer Ambrose Pasquini opened Moka D’Oro—one of L.A.’s first espresso bars. Moka D’Oro was Pasquini’s way of bringing an authentic piece of his Italian homeland with him to California. Over time, both his cafe and the Faema espresso machine he used garnered much attention from locals. Popular restaurants and hotels started inquiring after the magical machine used to make the espresso and foamed milk. As demand from other cafes grew for these high-powered espresso makers, he collaborated with Faema to broker deals with his new clients to sell and service their new espresso machines.
After the success of Moka D’Oro, and with his new importing business flourishing, Pasquini opened his first restaurant, Via Veneto. Shortly after, in 1962, he opened his original namesake cafe in St. Vincent Court. Located within the famous Bullock’s department store, this was the first place that Angelinos could experience espresso in the true Italian tradition. In 1967, the Pasquini Cafe expanded to a second location in the South Coast Plaza in Orange County.
With his 25 years of knowledge and experience in the cafe service industry, Pasquini conceived of, and created, his own name-branded espresso machine for the home. The Livietta was first released in the mid-1980s and was dubbed “the Rolls Royce of home machines” by Bon Appétit magazine. Not long after the release of the Livietta, Pasquini followed up with the popular Livia 90, which fulfilled his dream of providing his customers with a commercial-style machine fit for home use. The Livia 90 remained popular for over two decades.
Building on Ambrose Pasquini’s ingenuity, hard work, and his gift for treating every customer like an old friend, the Pasquini family continues to proudly guide their namesake company into the 21st century and beyond.
