Where to find the best matcha drinks in L.A. right now

If the global supply shortage is any indication, the world has reached peak matcha—and the Gen Z predilection for sugar-laden, cream-topped viral drinks that are associated with performative males might partially be to blame. For centuries, the powdered green tea leaves have been mixed with lukewarm water and reserved largely for special occasions in Japan, including the tea ceremony. These days, however, you’ll find the finely ground leaves of Camellia sinensis whisked into batches of whipped cream and sweetened with simple syrup, occasionally gracing the tops of fruity, over-the-top drinks that sometimes contain so much matcha the caffeine content begins to rival that of their espresso-based counterparts. 

As someone on the cusp between Millennials and Gen Z who has been drinking matcha lattes and sea salt cream drinks for a little over a decade, I don’t quite understand the recent surge in interest in matcha among the latter. Mostly, I laugh about it and blame the rise of little treat culture as a population-wide coping mechanism for general pessimism about the future. But when my editor asked me to put together an L.A. matcha drink guide in line with Time Out’s sitewide Gen Z theme for August, I jumped at the chance to go deep on a subject I’ve been quietly passionate about for years.

Personally, I’ve been drinking matcha lattes since the days when the only place you could reliably find a decent option was Alfred Coffee & Tea (the quality there has since gone downhill)—and though I’ve found a handful of favorites while scouting for our citywide coffee shops guide, a new crop of matcha specialists have put down roots in the last year and/or gone viral on TikTok, which means this guide required a significant amount of additional boots-on-the-ground scouting.

What I discovered was rather interesting. Many coffee shops and cafés source their matcha directly from Japan, but more than a few work with locally based, slickly branded suppliers like Rocky’s Matcha, Couplet Coffee and Nekohama. Others originally worked directly with a matcha tea farm (keep in mind this is a product that takes five years on average to cultivate!) but have been forced, given the unprecedented rise in demand for matcha, to switch to other suppliers of questionable, occasionally lower quality. Of course, once you dilute a high-quality product with dairy and sugar, it’s often hard to tell the difference—which is why I went out of my way to try a regular matcha latte with my choice of milk (oat) alongside a sugary green-tinged specialty drink at every one of the cafés and coffee shops I tried on my matcha scouting journey.

Another finding from my oh-so-difficult research? The amount of caffeine varies significantly in each drink, and even the same exact matcha powder can taste vastly different depending on a given café’s method of preparation and drink recipe. It all comes down to water temperature, exact grams used, quality of other additives and barista skill level—which varied widely even when I visited two different locations of Dayglow, the top coffee shop in the city, which sources its matcha powder from Nekohama, a respectable local brand owned, in typical L.A. fashion, by two ex-models.

Some places on my hunt were downright awful. I love the guiding mission of La La Land Kind Café, which was started by an L.A. native but has roots in Dallas, but the strawberry matcha latte I tried while attending a press event there was bitter, one-note and of obviously inferior quality compared to the matcha latte I ordered and sampled from Yeems Coffee in Koreatown (another Nekohama shop!) just an hour later. Generally speaking, there’s also a significant amount of variance in flavor profile even among high-quality matcha purveyors. Some Pantone Forest Green ceremonial-grade matcha powders tend to impart earthy, even savory notes, while others produce a cleaner, bright flavor. The only place in town that offers a consumer-friendly matcha tasting note guide on its menu is Stereoscope Coffee, another one of L.A.’s best coffee shops. 

Unsurprisingly, some of the city’s best destinations for espresso-based drink lovers also produce some of the city’s best matcha drinks. But I also found a handful of other standout matcha options across Los Angeles for the next time you want to get zooted off the green. In the process, I tried essentially every viral cream-top café option in Koreatown and found all but a few to be fairly lacking in what I wanted: a high-quality standard matcha latte and a memorable, sugar-sweetened, creamy drink. Here are the eight best places to drink matcha in L.A. right now—because many first-rate cafés are being forced to switch suppliers due to the global shortage and high demand, which means I can’t guarantee that a good matcha drink today will be exactly the same in six months, or even next month. 

1. Stereoscope Coffee (Echo Park, Hollywood, Long Beach)

Best for: Straightforward matcha drinks, done right

No cream tops over here. Guided by the values of depth and simplicity, this minimalist coffee shop in Echo Park, Hollywood and Long Beach (which first got its start in Orange County) offers four different types of Mizuba ceremonial-grade matcha, listed by least to most expensive, in tea, milk (latte) and tonic form. Accompanying each option on the menu is a thoughtful spider chart grading the skew of each variety—Nakama, Yorokobi, Kuro Hitsuji and Ujigawa—towards matcha’s four major taste variables: color, aroma, aftertaste and umami. After trying the downright awful, swampy, yellowish-green version available at the Tesla Diner down the street from Stereoscope Coffee Hollywood, I savored the earthy, umami-forward Kuro Hitsuji, which I ordered as an oat milk matcha latte. The menu also offers a standard pre-sweetened matcha in its “Premium Non-Espresso Drinks.” For those who want something even sweeter, you can also order the housemade strawberry milk topped with matcha. Because I am mildly lactose intolerant, I didn’t try this personally, but if the Kuro Hitsuji option was any indication of quality, this top L.A. coffee shop more than knows its way around matcha as well. 

Addresses: Hollywood: 6677 Santa Monica Blvd, Ste 104, Los Angeles, CA 90038; Echo Park: 1501 W Sunset Blvd, Ste B, Los Angeles, CA 90026; Long Beach: 4925 E 2nd St, Long Beach, CA 90803

Hours of operation: Hollywood and Echo Park: Mon–Sat 6am–7pm, Sun 7am–7pm; Long Beach: Mon–Fri 6am–8pm; Sat, Sun 7am–9pm

2. Kettl Tea (Los Feliz)

Best for: Variety and quality

Originally from Brooklyn, like many others residing in Los Feliz, this nationally renowned Japanese matcha specialist offers three different matchas specifically chosen for making into cortados and lattes: Hukuju, Suiteki and Shirakawa. The menu offers broad tasting notes for all three, plus a shaken matcha, sparkling matcha and three traditional preparations with different quality matchas. While the matcha quality is most likely the best compared to all other L.A. matcha shops, Kettl Tea loses a few points simply because it’s traditionally minded, with none of the ultra-sugary cream top stuff that brings the “I saw it on TikTok” crowds. On the flip side, however, the shop stocks delectable tea-flavored vegan ice cream bars known as August Novelties, a new project from Noma pastry veteran Malcolm Livingston II. I tried the hojicha-flavored one alongside a Suiteki oat milk matcha latte, and it was delicious. The Suiteki latte was creamy and floral as promised. If I were grading purely off traditional matcha and matcha lattes, Kettl would be number one. But this is a guide about all matcha drinks, including cream-tops and other sugary creations. 

Address: 4677 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Hours of operation: Mon–Thu 9am–6pm; Fri, Sat 9am–7pm; Sun 9am–6pm

3. Be Bright Coffee (Melrose)

Best for: The sweet spot between matcha quality and drink creativity

This award-winning Melrose Avenue coffee shop, run by 2024 U.S. Barista Champion winner Frank La and his wife Michelle, offers a rarity I’ve yet to track down anywhere else: South Korean matcha, sourced in this case from the country’s primary tea-producing region, Jeju Island. The bright, clean-tasting matcha pairs beautifully in Be Bright’s seasonal specialty drinks, including a recent orange blossom matcha tonic that tastes like a refreshing summer afternoon. The Jeju matcha also plays well on its own in the shop’s standard oat milk matcha latte. Be Bright may not have the multiple varietals like Stereoscope and Kettl, but the bright green powder sourced and how the baristas skillfully prepare it is exactly what most people are looking for in the realm of traditional matcha and cream-top drinks. This fall, Be Bright is slated to open a second location in Koreatown (905 S Vermont Ave)—where it will easily upstage lower-quality options like Stagger and Rok Coffee & Tea, which have enjoyed recent social virality despite using noticeably mediocre matcha. You heard it here first.  

Address: 7311 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

Hours of operation: Daily 8am–4pm

4. Archives of Us (Downtown/Chinatown)

Best for: A standout cream-top option and vibes (plus quality!)

Hidden on the second floor of La Plaza Village apartment complex, Archives of Us is a monochromatic, work-from-home-friendly hideaway that opened in late March. Normally, a design-forward place with a suspiciously good sound system is a dead giveaway for mediocre quality drinks, but Archives of Us stunned me with its surprisingly thoughtful approach to matcha sourcing and consumer education. Owner Nick Kim directly sources his matcha from Kagoshima, Japan, and has thus far been able to offer first-harvest okumidori, a rare cultivar that produces a rich, dark green color and a smooth, clean-tasting flavor with few to no notes of bitterness. Having tried both a regular matcha latte and Archives of Us’s banana cream top matcha, I can honestly say the drinks deliver on those tasting notes. The subtly sweet banana cream top matcha latte reminded me of a recent banana pudding I had at Pasadena’s Bad Ash Bakes, and it would easily make its way into my regular little treat rotation if not for the general nutritional excesses of this job. Archives of Us also sells its matcha little containers for at-home consumption—and the café offers 30 minutes of free validation, plus $3 for the first hour thereafter—with a daily maximum of $18 for those trying to camp out for the day.

Address: 555 N Spring St, Ste 201, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Hours of operation: Daily 9am–7pm

5. Damo (Koreatown, Arts District)

6. Yeems Coffee (Koreatown, Gardena)

Best for: Grab-and-go

The first thing you’ll notice about the Yeems in Koreatown is how small it is. The second thing you’ll notice is that its matcha drinks are of top quality. Both the four-year-old Koreatown original and the newer satellite in Gardena use matcha sourced from Nekohama, the aforementioned locally run matcha brand owned by ex-supermodel Max Ando and his wife, influencer and Pilates instructor Sanne Vloet. Both the regular matcha latte and cream-top (“Vienna Matcha” on the menu) I tried at Yeems were superb, with the kind of clean-tasting finish consumers have come to expect and love. Yeems also serves its matcha flavored with strawberry and rose, if you’re looking for other sweet, floral notes in your drink.

Address: Koreatown: 3033 W 6th St, Ste 107, Los Angeles, CA 90020; Gardena: 15420 S Western Ave, Suite A, Gardena, CA 90249

Hours of operation: Mon–Sat 7am–5pm, Sun 8am–5pm 

7. Dayglow (West Hollywood, Larchmont, Venice)

Best for: Ubiquity, creativity and generally high quality

Tohm Ifergan’s private equity-funded juggernaut now has three locations in Los Angeles, with another on the way in Chinatown. When it comes to matcha, quality has unfortunately flagged as Dayglow has expanded, but I’m confident that with a little time, L.A.’s No. 1 coffee shop will find a way to right the ship. Like Yeems, Dayglow also sources its matcha from Nekohama. A recent matcha einspanner at Dayglow Venice—the brand’s newest location—wasn’t quite right, but a follow-up einspanner from the more-established Dayglow in West Hollywood proved that the shop’s more veteran baristas still know their way around a matcha whisk. In terms of ubiquity and creative specialty drinks across the caffeine spectrum, Dayglow can’t be beat—the specialty Military Latte made with espresso, matcha, bourbon vanilla and cocoa is now an L.A. specialty coffee scene classic. 

Address: Silver Lake: 3206 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026; West Hollywood: 866 Huntley Drive, West Hollywood, CA 90069; Larchmont: 5630 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038; Venice: 540 Rose Avenue, Venice, CA 90291

Hours of operation: Daily 7am–7pm 

8. Bonsai Coffee & Bar (West L.A.)

Best for: Anyone living or working on the Westside 

“Where do you get your matcha?” I asked the barista behind the cash register at Bonsai, one of the most popular matcha drink destinations on the Westside. As it turns out, the original matcha powder used to make the first latte I tried at Bonsai in late June has since run out—and the ultra-popular West L.A. café (which flips into a cocktail bar three nights a week) now sources its matcha from Couplet Coffee, a venture capital-backed brand and so-called “Gen Z coffee whisperer,” if you believe the Los Angeles Times. Personally, I found the quality of the drinks served in late August to have flagged, but both the strawberry matcha and cream-top matcha latte still proved to be above average. As a Westside native, I’d like to throw my native region a bone—and while you still need to travel eastwards for truly great matcha, this is a good-enough option for the nearby UCLA community and other Sawtelle Japantown locals jonesing for some green.

Address: 11573 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025

Hours of operation: Mon–Wed 7am–4pm; Thu–Sat 7am–4pm, 5–11pm; Sun 7am–4pm