✱ Our story
"Malaya" means free.
When we opened Malaya in 2023, the goal was simple: bring the coffee we grew up with to the people who hadn't tried it yet. Cordillera beans pulled the way our titos and titas drink them — strong, slow, and shared.
Filipino coffee has a different lineage than the Italian-inflected lattes you find on most LA corners. The Cordilleras' Arabicas grow at elevation, harvested by smallholder farms whose families have been picking these cherries for generations. We pay flat-rate, direct-trade, and we name the farm on every bag.
The ice cream came later, when a regular asked if we could pair an espresso with ube. We churned a batch by hand the next morning, and it never came off the menu.
— Salamat. See you on Sunset.