Santa Paula Coffee Farm Tour

Rancho Filoso in Santa Paula is an 86-acre citrus and avocado ranch that swapped 1.5 of those acres for coffee in 2016. California Coffee Collective, which the ranch's owner runs with the owners of Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters, sells tours and tastings here. You can't just drive up: every visit is a pre-scheduled date, posted on the events calendar when one is available.

What's Worth Seeing

A farm visit is a tour of the coffee trees plus a hayride, and when the fruit is there you can taste a coffee cherry. Kids are welcome. The farm holds these tours in summer, while the coffee is ripening.

Tastings come in the winter and spring, once there's coffee to pour. They're cuppings, a way of evaluating coffee by tasting it, and spots are limited, so the farm suggests booking early. A smaller reserve cupping for up to ten people takes place at the estate, with a farm visit and a two-hour session. Recent ticketed dates have also paired a cupping with a farm tour. The tasting page has the options and current prices.

The farm says the name is Spanish for Sharp Ranch. The Sharp family has farmed in Ventura County since 1882, and three generations of women have worked this ranch. Ragamuffin roasts the beans.

If the calendar is empty, the farm's mailing list is how it announces new dates. It also says harvest events depend on the weather and can be cancelled, with a refund.

How to Get There

Santa Paula is on Highway 126, which runs between I-5 at Castaic Junction and US 101 in Ventura. From LA, take I-5 north to 126 and head west. The older two-lane stretches between the county line and Santa Paula have a long record of head-on crashes, so don't push it. The freeway part of 126 starts east of town and continues to Ventura.

California Coffee Collective lists its location as Santa Paula, California 93060, so the map shows the town. Its site doesn't publish parking or meeting instructions, so confirm them when you book, or ask at info@californiacoffee.com.

Nearby

• The Agriculture Museum at 926 Railroad Avenue covers the region's farming and ranching history, with old tractors and a living beehive.
• The Murals of Santa Paula are on the city's list of 11, with subjects like family farms and citrus.
• Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters is the farm's roasting partner, with shops in Newbury Park and Oxnard.