Wayhome Coffee coming to West LA on Santa Monica Blvd. near Sepulveda (right below Sichuan Impression).
Again, I know nothing about coffee, but this might be of interest to some.
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Still loving Mandarin 2. Seating can run a bit low at times but typically lines aren’t too bad and they have counters where you can rest your drink while standing and enjoying a view of the mountains.
Endorffeine as great as always. Must admit when I’m sitting in that I’m amused to see people walk in and try to order a Matcha Latte without looking at the menu only to be surprised at its absence. I guess that tells you more about the LA consumer market these days.
I really made this post for a Yihui coffee revisit. First time in a while. The pour over I had the first time was a bit muted but I think he’s made adjustments since and my pour over of Ethiopian (Bishala) from Blendin Coffee Club was excellent. They also have Blendin for retail, though I grabbed the last Bishala Ethiopian and they only had one more of the other Blendin option.
For some random coffee trivia: Blendin is a roaster started by a Chinese guy who won the 2024 US Brewers Cup and they seem to operate out of Texas. Did some light reading and he apparently won that competition using a low caffeine coffee!
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Matcha and cream tops (or in some cases both) are all the rage right now in “coffee”. Even serious shops have at least one of the above
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If a co-ferment with pretty strawberry flavors sounds good (think Pinot), then try the new Rogue Wave at Dayglow Sunset. Really tasty.
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Blendin is terrific coffee. I frequent it every time I’m in Houston.
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Through the month of February, Wynd Coffee is doing a residency at an art gallery on the southern edge of the Arts District: https://www.instagram.com/wyndcoffee/?hl=en. They just updated their hours to 10 AM to 6 PM, Thursday through Sunday. I was able to check it out this weekend and really enjoyed it.
As with most of these pop ups/residencies, the menu is limited. I recall the Quat LA residency was espresso focused with no pour over available. This time, it seems they are pour over focused and I’m not sure if they have espresso. They do offer their yuzu coffee punch (which I really like too) along with Matcha Tea and Matcha Latte with a selection of milks. A few pastries were also still there when I showed up mid-afternoon.
The star in my opinion is their pour over menu. They had 4 offerings from Glitch, 2 from Tim Wendelboe, and brand spanking new off-menu options from a Korean roaster - 2 of them posted to IG and which they can tell you about in person (they added it on too late to include in their paper menus). I tried one of the Korean options and it was tasty.
The space itself is very nice. You can see pictures of the gallery interior on IG but it’s an awesome setting to enjoy a drink in. Mid-afternoon there was ample seating and plenty of room to spread out. I honestly wish I could have lingered longer. Haven’t enjoyed a space this much since Cafe 2001. The entrance is very discreet. I think the building is black and there was a Wynd sidewalk sign pointing to a building but not hard to miss.
Now, I would be remiss in failing to mention the surroundings. Parking is relatively nightmarish on a weekend (imo). You could gamble parking in front of buildings on that street as many places look closed for the weekend. I spent about 15 minutes circling the surrounding blocks before I caved to paid parking. There is a $4/30 min lot on Violet and S Santa Fe that maxes out at $15. I later spotted a $5/hour lot you enter from S Santa Fe (1250 S Santa Fe lot - 8 AM to 6 PM). This lot had an entrance into the patio area of a very nice neighboring condo/apartment called the Art House. Very convenient to the Wynd pop up. It’s also a much better lot than the other lot I mentioned. I’ll probably use that if I can make my way back again.
As to the neighborhood, this is the south edge of what I would consider the Arts District. Not that it’s terrible. There is actually a very nice coffee shop nearby (Etiquette Coffee) in the Art House and a small shop that looked more fitting in central Arts District. However, a block over and you’ll find what you expect in more run down parts of the area, lots of trash on the street, maybe a shack, abandoned furniture, etc. You’ll also be dodging a decent amount of (hopefully) dog poop. Perhaps I exaggerate. You’ll still find young, trendy folks on the street and Maru Coffee is just a couple blocks north across the street.
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Thanks for this rec! It was more fun than I expected. The coffees are delicious. I don’t have any negative things to say about the area. It is 100% my vibe and I would live here over Beverly Hills and Santa Monica regardless of money. Parking is abundant except on the strip where Maru is.
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Apparently the residency/pop up has been extended through March per IG stories.
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if you’re seriously into espresso, there’s no better place for it in california than Better Half Coffee (Google Maps, in SF but enough of you make it up here often enough….). the single origins are consistently perfect, and very often beautiful shots. by perfect i mean that the shape of the bitterness is pleasing and has no rough edges, and there is good balance with the acidity/sweetness. by beautiful i mean that there are moments where some flavor (e.g. of a perfectly ripe mango, a drop of blood orange juice, etc.) is able to shine with remarkable intensity that one doesn’t need to think at all to perceive it (in contrast to most coffee flavor notes where if you think enough, you can find them). i think a perfect shot is relatively objective (can in large aspects be reflected in the extraction if one measured it) and can be achieved consistently with sufficient care - which they manage to do just about every time. i think a beautiful shot is subjective, influenced by the variability between shots, and not something that one can achieve with 100% consistency even with exceptional attention to detail, but i have had beautiful shots here with enough frequency that i think generally one has a pretty good chance of catching one here.
note - this is for pure espresso, no milk, and also no filter. they do those things as well and with care, but the exceptional thing is the espresso. they also have a kitchen that does various food, which is solid but again, the exceptional thing is the espresso.
There’s only two people ever making the coffee, and both of them do it with consistent and extraordinary quality.
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Thank you for dropping the name. It’s down the street from Saint Frank’s too. Get a quick double
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where are we talking about?
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As posted by Bagel: “Wynd Coffee is doing a residency at an art gallery on the southern edge of the Arts District: https://www.instagram.com/wyndcoffee/?hl=en. They just updated their hours to 10 AM to 6 PM, Thursday through Sunday.”
I’ve been three times. It has the Manuela / Hauser + Wirth vibe + tasty coffee up to $30.
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The Wynd pop up did change hours so continue to check their IG for updates. Pour overs/drinks have a range of prices and they are adding espresso. A pic of prices from my last visit:
Pour overs ranged from 7 to 24, pre tax and tip.
In other coffee news, saw/heard of 2 new specialty coffee shops in east LA/SGV last weekend. Bevel coffee in Altadena and Monolith coffee in Alhambra. Seems like every month or two I’m hearing of a new interesting place!
Met the Bevel people at a Mandarin coffee special event for (I think) one of their baristas. Monolith I saw were doing a soft opening last weekend. Both seem to be roasters as well.
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That Honduras Geisha might be worth it at least for a one and done. Super rare. Hopefully everything is dialed in with temperature, weight, etc
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Soro (Wilshire and Grand). This coffee shop has tasty pourovers with light, elegant fruit flavors. It’s also comfortable and spacious. For these reasons it’s become by go-to coffee shop in DTLA, over Kumquat.
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Got to Monolith too late to catch their soft opening, but had a chance to peep the menu and interior. The interior decoration is interesting with the stone/rock motif. There is a Stronghold S7x towards back and their own roasts and merch are already available on the retail shelf. Bean selection looks respectable.
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Partner recently discovered this place and said he really enjoyed the coffee he had there yesterday:
I personally am more interested in trying their crispy Belgian waffle (a true liege waffle???) or the CDMX chilaquiles (is the use of “CDMX” potentially a good or bad sign???). 
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