Maru
Kenya Gatomboya. My favorite so far from Maru. Beautiful dried apricot and raspberry flavors. Sweet backdrop. Superb!
(Picture omitted. It looks a lot like the Ethiopia picture below except rotated 90 degrees.)
Ethiopia. My least favorite so far from Maru. For some reason, this coffee tastes hollow. Still, it’s pretty good.
Fairly lonely as what seems like the lone poster in the Seattle subforum since moving, but my favorites on the West Side were goodboybob (I dream of their house blend) and GGET.
Dayglow. Obadiah, Ethiopia Gelana. Excellent! A lovely rose flavor along with some elegant berry fruit. Reminds me of nebbiolo.
Dayglow. Guatemala espresso. Great! I love how this is not too roasty yet not too tart. Dayglow is great! And they have vegan donuts to boot (not that I’d ever waste calories on a donut).
I’m really enamored with Dayglow now. The Belleville Rwanda had delicious strawberry flavor. Dayglow’s own Ethiopia was the weakest of the three pour overs I’ve tried from Dayglow over the past two days, but still good. Love Dayglow!
Dayglow for pourover.
Best espresso-based milk-drinks barista in the city (Nicely, who helped open Intell Venice way back, then Menotti’s, then worked at Dayglow) just opened Hooked Venice. I’d go there for caps and cortados.
The Rareglow selections are usually amazing. The Apollon’s Gold they had in February was incredible.
Welcome to FTC! 
Welcome to FTC!!!
And the price isn’t instant either 
I got coffee in LA like a few weeks ago and damn $8?! And it doesn’t help that it’s extra for no diary options.
Huh completely forgot this thread existed despite posting once years ago. Resurrecting for a new LA coffee shop I just dropped by called Yihui, highlighting my current picks
New coffee shop in Monterey Park called Yihui Coffee: https://www.instagram.com/yihuicoffee/. Multi-roaster that stocks primarily local roasters. The ones I recall him talking through were Lumen, Civil, and Coffee Sensory. I believe he said Coffee Sensory came out of some folks who were at Boy and the Bear. He also mentioned something coming from Houston but I can’t recall the name. All the named are LA-based.
Pourovers ranged from around $6 to $9. Sets come with a small snack. I didn’t have a chance to see how he brewed due to my angle but did spot Hario Switches resting, which was cool to me as that’s what I use at home. He provides a card with the drink including tasting notes and brewing process, similar to what I recall of specialty coffee cafes in Japan, which is another nice touch. I know some others in town do similar but not sure who besides Moim during Cafe 2001 pop up days (not sure if they’re still doing that at their current Solar C location). It’s a nice, neat, modern looking space with good amount of seating. He also sells retail and the price ranges from $20ish low end to mid-$30s and up for rarer lots and Geshas.
The plaza is called the Garvey Landmark Plaza and there is parking in the back you can only access from S Moore Ave. There are technically two lots and you pass through the first one to access the plaza parking lot. I believe you can enter from the back (I did at least) but the back entrance is unmarked. The spaces are labelled by letter and Yihui’s is C.
Enjoyed my pour over but based on what I had I did have a question which I’ll mention downthread. Beyond that, I’m excited to see a specialty coffee place setting up in the SGV. I plan to visit again and hope they succeed. They also have fun drinks for that crowd.
On coffee shops in general, my favorite is still Endorffeine. Went there afterwards and boy was it bustling late afternoon on the holiday. Despite the bustle, the pourover I had with Kieni from Coffee Collective was just amazing. Beautiful at all ranges of temperature from hot to room. I’m an Endorffeine fan but I was really impressed.
Other thoughts are Moim pop up at Solar C brewing, Mandarin coffee in Pasadena, and Re Ca Phe in Fountain Valley.
If any of you somehow made it past all that, for the pour over coffeehead folks: what are your guys thoughts on temperature? I’ve been experimenting/eyeballing with what I expect are lower temperatures and really enjoying what I get. Sounds like the standard rule of thumb is 200F or even higher for light roast? What have you all been doing or thinking?
I’m a pourover/coffee snob and love Endorffeine. Any place that only has 1 or 2 options on pourover is where you want to be.
For temp, it really depends on the bean. If you want to become better/consistent with your pourover you should find a base recipe that gets you good enough for every bean, and dial it in from there. Don’t read about everyone’s variation that works for their one specific bean or how they got a fancy new dripper. For me I have a standard bloom + 2 pour recipe that gets me pretty close for most beans and then I tweak parameters (only one at a time) for subsequent brews. For example brew at 212, if it tastes bitter maybe next time I’ll grind more coarse, if it still tastes muted maybe lower temp to get more acidity, etc.
For some beans, I find that I need a cooler temperature (i.e. 200) helps to bring out more of the fruity notes, but for other beans I can keep it at boiling and still not overextract. I mostly drink light-roast FWIW.
If you have more specific coffee q’s happy to help with what I know, although I’m no pro.
Appreciate the advice! You’re probably right about serious shops. Are there any you like or trust right now?
I’m using the Hario Switch and doing the hybrid method, started with a medium roast and now moving entirely into light roasts. I think I’ve recently had surprisingly good results for my standards purposely going for a lower temp. Not measuring but definitely well under 200 I expect. Hoping to get a kettle later in the year so I can actually iron out that variable. The amazing cup I had at Endorffeine Jack told me he did at 185F and I was surprised to hear that.
I will say though that I enjoy the “sourness”/acidity a bit much so I’m not sure where the line is between underextraction vs the nature of light roast. Is it just more dialing in for your own personal preference? Do you have a rule of thumb for when you think you’ve found something “right”? Or is this just so subjective that I should stop caring about it lol. For my own home pours, I’m just generally happy when it’s not muted and doesn’t taste all roasted. Always nice to get another nuanced opinion (just as it is with food)!
Coffee shops I like/trust: Endorffeine, Ondo, Mandarin
Shops on my list to try: Wynd, Moim, Loquat (I tried it once when it opened but need to go back), Regent
That makes sense for your medium roasts especially. Typically the darker the roast the easier it is to extract (beans become more soluble/porous as they continue to roast) = need less power via hot water/agitation to get the flavor out. I use a hario switch too! I mainly use it like a v60 but occasionally I use the hybrid style.
Some beans naturally have more fruitiness/sourness than others, for example beans from different origins or processed differently (i.e. washed vs natural) have different levels of acidity. It is definitely up to personal preference but there’s some general rules of thumb (if your coffee tastes bitter/dry=over, if your coffee is either completely muted or oddly sour=under). This isn’t always true but most of the time. After that it does become more subjective if you like expressing the more fruity notes of your coffee or you want it to be more tea-like. For example, I like acidity but I also like when my coffee is more tea-like so I’ll sometimes brew with slightly more water to have a “weaker” flavor. Not weaker as in less extracted but just more water to coffee ratio. I would generally just follow your taste though cause everyone has a different palette. General rule of thumb is like I mentioned find a base recipe that you can use for every bean so you have a starting point and then tweak one variable at a time (temp, grind size, pour speed, etc.)
Sorry for the info-dump, wanted to hit all your questions, and I love talking coffee!
Excited to try Moim as well.
@infinitemeridian Thank you for all the info and appreciate you sharing your thoughts! 
Yes, I do like tea-like coffees as well though it’s always interesting to hear the differences in individual taste. At the Mandarin 2 takeover, I had the Moim pourover which was an 80/20 blend of two different Moim beans. I found it tea-like but I offered it to family and they described it as bitter. I thought it was closer to a nice Chinese green tea in some aspect but perhaps that is actually a kind of bitter. 
To both you and @JeetKuneBao, I’ve enjoyed Moim and have definitely heard positive remarks from others, particularly during their Cafe 2001 residency. I am curious how their beans feel to more experienced coffeeheads, especially since he’s a local newer micro-roaster. Definitely worth a try.
I want to retry Wynd and sit in. I had Glitch coffee there and it came out… overly perfumey for me? A bit much for me and I think I want to try them with a different roaster. Unfortunately, it looks like they’re in a bit of a pop up phase and just kind of all over.
It’s so nice to have so many options to try in LA. I just wish it was all a little more convenient. 
Maybe once this heat is over with haha.
an interview with Jack from Endorffeine
