Roastmaster Adi Gegic Engages Us in Coffee Talk

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

Downtown resident Adi Gegic knows a thing or two about the local coffee scene. As general manager of Ox Coffee Roasters in Mission Valley, the ambitious coffee connoisseur, whose family fled war-torn Bosnia when he was a toddler, broke into the business as a barista nearly 10 years ago in Palm Springs.

While in the desert, he started his own company, which had him roasting coffee beans in his garage and selling brews at pop-ups and out of his car during the Covid pandemic.

Along the way, Gegic immersed himself into the educational aspects of coffee through training and internships at roasting houses. He moved to San Diego early last year, arriving with a keen knowledge about every aspect of the almighty coffee bean.

In our chat with this affable and caffeinated aficionado, Gegic shared with us a little bit about his Bosnian roots and talked about the latest coffee trends (good and bad) while objectively pointing out some cool coffeehouses around town.

Downtown Condo Guys: Where in the U.S. did you initially live after your family left Bosnia?

Gegic: We came to the U.S. in 1996 when I was one year old. It was a year after the Bosnian-Serbian war ended. My dad fought in the war. He was adamant that he wanted a better future for me and to live the American dream.

But it was a rough intake. We had visas and found cousins in New York, where we temporarily lived. Then we found ourselves in Memphis, where my parents bought their first house. After about 10 years, we moved around a little bit and ended up in California—in Ontario and Palm Springs.

Downtown Condo Guys: What ultimately brought you to San Diego? And when did you land the general manager job at Ox Coffee Roasters?

Gegic: I moved to San Diego in the beginning of 2025 from Palm Springs because I always loved it here. Ox Coffee Roasters is part of the Rise & Shine Hospitality Group. After applying for a position at one of their restaurants, a recruiter from the group suggested that I apply instead for the GM opening at Ox. It was a no-brainer for me because I was able to continue my passion.

Downtown Condo Guys: How did you originally get into the world of coffee?

Gegic: I tapped into the scene when working for a friend of mine who was the manager of a place in Palm Springs called Wildest Greens, an organic-healthy cafe. I was working there with the intention of being a bartender. But my friend’s passion for coffee rubbed off on me. He knew everything about it; how it’s grown and how the elevation and roasting affects the flavor profile. So the next thing I knew, I was on a learning quest and took every opportunity to take training courses and internships at different coffee roasters in Southern California.

Coffee has always kind of followed me. When I go back to Bosnia, coffee is huge. It’s part of the culture. When a Bosnian says ‘let’s go grab a coffee,’ you end up sitting there sipping from your cup for hours.

Downtown Condo Guys: How many cups of coffee do you consume a day?

Gegic: Not under four cups. [Chuckle]

Downtown Condo Guys: What kind of coffee business did you eventually start on your own?

Gegic: It was called Gleam Coffee Roasters. It was my next big step. I just woke up one day and decided that I wanted to start roasting my own coffee and to be that next specialty coffee source in the Palm Springs area. It was during Covid. I spent about $3,000 on a good manual coffee roaster that I used in my garage, and I also invested in insulated coolers. I made different flavored syrups too. I sold my beans and batch lattes to the community, doing house deliveries and selling at pop-up stands. I ran the business for about three or four years.

Downtown Condo Guys: Are you involved with the coffee classes at Ox Coffee Roasters that we see mentioned on their website, such as Pour Over Basics; Latte Art; and Espresso Extraction?

Gegic: Eventually I will be teaching some of them when the classes restart. We took a pause because of staffing. But I plan to not only start teaching the classes, but to also host latte art competitions and other events related to specialty coffee.

Downtown Condo Guys: Do the designs on top of lattes require an artful hand? Or are they achieved with stencils?

Gegic: We use freehand, not stencils. It’s all about the texture of your milk, and how you steam it and control the temperature. Too much or too little aeration are bad things. You’re aiming for a wet-paint glossy texture. Then we set the milk in the mug and from there we essentially draw the art.

Downtown Condo Guys: What coffee drinks do you see as being currently the trendiest?

Gegic: Espresso tonics, which is espresso with tonic water, a little raw sugar or syrup, and some herbal notes such as mint or citrus peel. Also ‘flat whites,’ which are basically miniature lattes that have a bit more aeration than what typical lattes have. They’re popular in Australia, where in some coffee shops that is all they serve.

Downtown Condo Guys: What is your take on mushroom coffees? Fad or here to stay?

Gegic: I’m kind of neutral to them. I’ve tried them, and I think they are beneficial from a health perspective. But would I replace it with regular coffee? No.

Downtown Condo Guys: What is the sweetest coffee drink that exists either at Ox or elsewhere?

Gegic: Probably the caramel macchiato at Starbucks, even though it isn’t a real macchiato. It’s a very classic and historic drink that the Italians created. Starbucks bastardized it with a lot of sugar.

Downtown Condo Guys: Name a few coffeehouses in San Diego that you feel are underrated.

Gegic: Gold Child Coffee Roasters in the Gaslamp because their coffee and customer service are amazing. They take details very seriously and have a wide variety of single-origin coffees—more than most places. Also the vibe and music they play are unique.

Also, Provecho Coffee near Barrio Logan. They’re located within an art gallery and pay homage to the Latin-American community, which is really cool. It brings character to them as a coffee roaster.

Another place is Easy Does It in Kearny Mesa. They have an interesting menu centralized around matcha as well as coffee.

But every coffee shop in San Diego has its own culture and identity.

Downtown Condo Guys: Are you seeing a surge in coffee consumption among Gen Z’ers and Millennials?

Gegic: Absolutely. A big part of that is because of cold-foam drinks, which I believe were started through Starbucks. They are visually appealing and incorporate crazy-flavored foams such as coconut-mango and banana-nut. You see them all over Tik Tok and Instagram.

Downtown Condo Guys: From an interior design standpoint, what would you consider a ‘no-no’ for anyone opening a coffeehouse?

Gegic: I find that shops with the simplest designs are the most attractive to coffee connoisseurs like myself.

Downtown Condo Guys: Finally, what would life be like for you if coffee didn’t exist?

Gegic: Miserable.