I have always been a big fan of coffee, but spending almost the last year as a barista at a local coffee shop has really expanded my love and knowledge for coffee in general. This spring break, I took a trip to the City of Angels and you can bet your bottom dollar I spent a fair amount of time trying various coffee shops (as recommended by Steve Day).
Eightfold
G&B
Intelli
Blue Bottle
Menotti’s
Great White
Go Get Em Tiger
Neon
Commissary
Alfred
Dinosaur
Stumptown
Giorgiporgi
Verve
Tilt
Trinti— steve day (@steveday___) March 5, 2018
I started what I call the “Coffee Shop Crawl” almost immediately at a shop called Verve in Downtown Los Angeles – literally about ten minutes from my AirBnB. The outside of Verve was so beautiful, with many different plants covering the outdoor sitting area. The inside was just as aesthetically pleasing as the outside and it offered a very welcoming vibe.
As far as the coffee itself went, it was slightly different than what I was used to. The espresso was a bit on the sweeter side of things, but not in a bad way at all. It paired very nicely with the in-house vanilla syrup I got in my latte. Overall, it was a pretty good experience and definitely started my coffee journey right.
Photo of our lattes at Verve.
The next stop on the Coffee Shop Crawl was the next morning at a place called Blue Bottle. This was probably one of my overall favorites out of all of the ones I tried. The latte I ordered was one of the smoothest lattes I’ve had in my life. On top of that, it was a beautiful shop overall. The inside was very modern and clean looking, and there was an amazing wall with bookshelves on it that really added to the entire feel of the coffee shop. The only downside of this particular shop was that there was no public Wi-Fi, which would have been no big deal had we not gone to specifically look at available apartments online. Other than that small hiccup, it was definitely worth the visit.
Photo of my latte at Blue Bottle and the outside of Blue Bottle
After having Blue Bottle coffee, I figured it would be hard to top and I wasn’t necessarily wrong. That doesn’t mean the next stop, Great White, wasn’t amazing – it just means that apparently Los Angeles does a pretty amazing job with coffee. That being said, Great White was a beautiful spot. There was amazing natural light and it was very close to the ocean, adding to the chill vibe that was already very much present. I got a coconut latte here that wasn’t my favorite – the flavor was a bit too acidic, but my friend got a regular latte that was pretty amazing. Regardless of whether it was a really good latte or not, the spot was amazing and the staff was incredibly kind, making it all worth it.
Photo of my latte at Great White.
The next day we planned to have a day in Hollywood taking in the sights and we started it off in Silver Lake where I had my favorite latte of the entire trip. I got a vanilla latte at Dinosaur that I think I might be dreaming about for awhile to come. The atmosphere of both Silver Lake and Dinosaur were so comfortable that it was hard to get myself to leave the area because all I wanted to do was sip on my coffee while sitting outside, surrounded by utterly beautiful people. I loved this spot so much I didn’t even feel embarrassed when I dropped all of the forks I was carrying to the dish bin, and that’s how you know it’s real.
Photos of my coffee at Dinosaur.
After a long day of walking around Hollywood Blvd. and eating too much In-N-Out, we obviously needed to refuel with some more coffee, so I finally tried Philz Coffee. I have been wanting to try their coffee since finding out it was Paul Klein’s (from LANY) favorite spot to grab a cup of joe. My first thought about Philz was that I had no idea I was walking into a shop that pretty much specialized in drip coffee, rather than specialty espresso drinks. I decided to get the Gingersnap and it ended up being one of the most delicious cups of iced coffee I have ever tried. It was extremely creamy and the spices were evenly distributed, making each sip as amazing as the first. I would definitely recommend anyone who is going to the SoCal area to stop and check it out.
Photo of my Philz Coffee.
We ended this amazing coffee journey on our last day in Los Angeles by grabbing a latte from Tilt Coffee Bar. After walking five minutes past it, going the wrong way, we finally found it and it was definitely a hidden gem. It was in the center of this amazing outdoor area that had a lot of vegetation around it – it was like a peaceful sanctuary in the middle of the city. The espresso in the latte was definitely well-balanced and made the stress of a job search almost fade away with each sip. I think it is easy to say that Tilt was one of the cutest spots we hit on this very short, but amazing, coffee shop crawl.
Photo of my latte and the outside of Tilt Coffee Bar.
Every time I go to a new city, I love scoping out new spots to try coffee, so as you can imagine that this coffee shop crawl was like heaven. If you ever find yourself in the Los Angeles area in need of a good cup of coffee, keep this piece in mind because I can guarantee you will not be disappointed.