The 27 best coffee shops in Los Angeles

Part coffee shop, part subscription service, Dayglow is all about showcasing its favorite independent and up-and-coming roasters from around the world. You can find them stashed in the monthly coffee boxes, or drop by either the Silver Lake, West Hollywood and Larchmont locations for a full espresso menu, neon-lit settings and, of course, whatever the daily selection of these faves might be. Expect tonics and pourovers, as well as a rotating line-up of seriously great specialty drinks like the Totoro (black sesame, activated charcoal, distilled coffee with a coconut cream top) and the Elvis (which involves peanut and banana cream, of course).

Go Get Em Tiger is the L.A. coffee empire founded by Kyle Glanville and Charles Babinski, the duo who founded G&B Coffee, a now-closed barista-style espresso bar inside Grand Central Market. (It’s since been converted into another GGET location.) With nine outposts throughout the city, Go Get Em Tiger has fast become a local chain beloved for its quality and consistency, but with enough charm and nuance at each outpost to keep things fresh. Customers can choose from to-go goods and grab-and-go bottles of house-made cold brew, or take a patio seat to take in the funky, fun spaces with pastries, brunchy bites and retail items. Our pick? Try the almond and macadamia milk cappuccino.

Endorffeine isn’t your cutesy, sun-dappled, Instagram-driven coffee shop—not that there isn’t a place for those, especially in L.A. Open Monday through Thursdays (and never on weekends), this is Far East Plaza’s stripped-down espresso stop that fuels you with meticulously measured pulls from Drop Coffee Roasters and Sey Coffee beans, and offers a number of creative caffeinated options in a sleek, minimalist setting. Look for owner (and former biochemist) Jack Benchakul behind the counter, painstakingly preparing drinks like the Thai iced offee made with cold brew, Thai spice and palm sugar, or the fan-favorite vanilla pandan coffee—he's even launched a new line of canned coffee and tea drinks.

Minimalist in that dreamy sort of “I wish my own home looked this cool” sort of way, Maru Coffee is a sleek and streamlined operation where the coffee and its technology take center stage in a sea of light woods and white walls. And there's good reason: The coffee here deserves the spotlight. The Los Feliz and Arts District coffee shops take their name from the Korean “San Ma Ru,” or “mountaintop,” a nod to the high altitudes that grow the beans in Columbia, Ethiopia, Kenya and beyond. Of course there’s more than bagged beans on offer: Thoughtful pour overs, limited releases, bottled housemade syrups, espresso tonics garnished with dried citrus, and ceremonial-grade matcha have all made the menu here. Maru also has a small, takeout-oriented outpost in Beverly Hills.

Five mornings a week (Wed–Sun, 8am–1pm), Christopher “Nicely” Abel is pulling, pouring and frothing amazing espresso-based drinks at this pop-up inside Venice’s Dudley Market. This is the best coffee on the Westside. We don’t put this lightly; Abel is the award-winning veteran barista who helped found nearby Menotti’s, and Hooked is the latest way you can take a sip of his expertly made caffeinated beverages. While he’ll gladly make a drink to go, this one-man show is best experienced when you have the time to sit down and truly appreciate your cortado or flat white. If you’re looking for something sweet, you can’t go wrong with Hooked’s cafe rico, which incorporates cinnamon, orange zest and housemade simple syrup flavored with Tahitian vanilla. Take your time while visiting; Hooked can get busy, and it’s better suited to a leisurely late morning or relaxed catch-up with a friend. 

Inside Pasadena's Burlington Arcade, this tiny café offers something you won't find almost anywhere else: Coffee made with high-quality specialty beans from China's Yunnan province. The signature tea and espresso drinks draw inspirations from across the Chinese diaspora; think an espresso tonic made with housemade pineapple jam evocative of Taiwanese pineapple cakes and a rooibos-based riff on Hong King milk tea. The scene here can get gnarly on the weekends, but weekdays bring a much calmer crowd of CalTech students and other Pasadena locals relaxing in the area’s charming courtyard.

Santa Cruz's Verve expanded to L.A. in a big way—especially in the Arts District, where a 7,000-square-foot, two-story café and coffee roastery is now the company’s L.A. flagship. The all-day menu here features a flexible kind of global cuisine, not to mention a handful of truly good coffee-based mocktails exclusive to that space. (Cascara negronis, anyone?) Of course no matter the location—Manhattan Beach, Melrose, West Third and Downtown, too—you'll find the signature Verve menu of espresso classics, nitro cold brews, by-the-cup varieties and a few comforting snacks, plus beans available for purchase, along with other home coffee staples like filters and pour-over systems, not to mention an entire system based on farmer support and sustainability. All L.A. locations are available for takeout and online pre-order.

Hyper curated and hyper technical, Kumquat Coffee is a caffeine lover's paradise with locations in both Highland Park and Downtown L.A. (The shop also has a sibling, Loquat Coffee, in Cypress Park, as well as a buzzy affiliated croissiant bakery named Fondry). Rows of bagged coffee beans, ceremonial-grade matchas, jasmine-tea chocolate bars and every imaginable appliance can be yours to bring Kumquat's clear eye for style and quality into your home—or you can leave it to the pros, who'll be more than happy to whisk, brew and steam you an array of cold brews, dirty chais, matcha tonics and espresso pulls with milk tea. Hungry? They also offer fresh pastries and breakfast burritos, just in case all that caffeine isn't fuel enough.

Home to US Barista Championships winner Frank La, this local specialty coffee brand’s brick-and-mortar on Melrose Avenue serves not-too-sweet signature drinks and an excellent selection of single-origin pour-overs. On Sundays, Be Bright Coffee also pops up at Smorgasburg LA, but those who visit the tiny Melrose café will find their beverage experience pleasantly upgraded with real glasses (for those dining in), access to Wi-Fi and free parking in the adjacent lot shared with Ronan. For coffee aficionados who turn up their noses at dessert-esque beverages, fear not: Unlike Starbucks, you can actually taste the java in Be Bright's sweeter drinks, and the standard drinks are actually good.

Guided by the values of depth and simplicity, this minimalist coffee shop in Echo Park, Hollywood and Long Beach (plus two others in Orange County) offers an extensive, well-curated menu of caffeinated beverages. At any given moment, Stereoscope offers a handful of pourover options for the connoisseurial crowd, but both shops also serve sweetened lattes and milk drinks, ceremonial grade matcha and a surprisingly robust selection of artisanal loose-leaf teas. Cofounder Leif An is a certified Q-grader—essentially, specialty coffee’s answer to master sommelier—and the emphasis on handpicked, high-quality beans is reflected in every cup brewed on the premises. Originally founded as a wholesale roasting company, Stereoscope also sells retail bags and monthly coffee subscriptions for those who want to recreate the Stereoscope experience at home.

There are dozens of different ways to get a caffeine fix in Koreatown, but Document Coffee has stood the test of time with a solid pourover selection, six impeccably crafted house signatures, and over a dozen kinds of tea. Founded in 2014, high ceilings and photographs of regulars give the minimalist shop the feel of an art studio, which is what owners Sojung Kwon and Byoungok Koh originally intended to use the space for. Document doesn’t have much in the way of seating (maybe ten or so stools, max), but the drinks made here are leagues above the typical Asian-style cream top drinks and sloppily made cappuccinos ubiquitous in the densely packed neighborhood. For pourovers, the shop makes it a point to source single-origin beans from multiple roasters, including Calgary’s Phil & Sebastian and Baltimore’s Ceremony Coffee. Those more inclined to tea like yours truly will appreciate Document’s take on a London Fog, whose lightly calibrated sweetness brings out the subtle, almost citrus-y flavor of bergamot.

Housed in a former dry cleaners, How’s It Going to End? is the latest specialty coffee shop by Michelle and Ben Hantoot, the founders of Silver Lake’s Dinosaur Coffee. The stylish, destination-worthy café seamlessly blends indoor and outdoor space and offers a small parking lot, plus plenty of street parking. Unlike most new coffee shops, HIGTE (as it’s often abbreviated as) forgoes trendy, complicated drinks in favor of well-executed standards; there’s also no free Wi-Fi. Quiche and pastries from Friends & Family and Gooey Center Bakery round out HIGTE’s food and drink offerings. Be sure to make a trip to the restroom: The couple have turned the space’s old industrial-sized laundry vent in the ceiling into an art installation that glows bright red.  

The price is right, the drinks are superb and—unless there’s street cleaning—the parking is easy at Ondo Coffee, which flies in the face of its East Hollywood address. Unlike most coffee shops in the area, this newer LACC-adjacent café features angled metered spots right out front, plus plenty of street parking. On our visit, we enjoyed the lavender Earl Grey milk tea and butterscotch cream latte, but owners Bryan Choi and Calvin Jung place equal emphasis on the coffee shop’s specialty coffee program. Here, you’ll find a consistently great pour-over, and those in search of a flawlessly executed, no-frills cortado would do well to make a pit stop at Ondo. Supplement your drink with classic pastries from Clark Street Bread and fire up your laptop after connecting to the shop’s public Wi-Fi.

Technically, Damo isn’t a coffee shop, but this Koreatown tea speciality is one of the only places in town that makes a truly excellent matcha latte worth noting. Lodged in the usually busy Oxford Center Plaza, both parking and seating can be quite cramped, but those willing to exercise some patience will find equally worthy modern and traditional expressions of tea. Trendy, dessert-like einspanners come in multiple flavors, including hojicha (roasted green tea) and chocolate forest. Those who snag a seat can also appreciate the expertly brewed loose leaf teas alongside nibbles of dagwa, or traditional Korean tea snacks. For a less hectic experience, I recommend coming here early and avoiding weekends; Damo opens at 8am, with minimal reprieve from the crowds even on weekday afternoons.

The roomy multi-story layout, steady Wi-Fi connection and on-site parking lot make this Koreatown café ideal for getting work done, but the first-rate beverage program and an eclectic locals’ crowd ensure that Coffee MCO hits the L.A. coffee shop trifecta. Pastries are sourced from the Pie Room by Curtis Stone—one of the city’s top bakeries—and you’ll also find buns from Gooey Center, a pop-up that makes the city’s best cinnamon roll. Unlike most coffee shops in the area, you can actually get a decent shot of espresso here, but the matcha latte and sweeter specialty drinks are no slouch either. The cherry on top might be the food menu, which includes a killer breakfast burrito made with slow-braised brisket and the surprisingly good French fries. 

This unassuming Palms coffee shop is the only American brick-and-mortar of the Little Marionette, one of Sydney’s most interesting small-scale roasters. Originally founded in 2010, the company prides itself on producing ethically sourced, manually roasted coffee beans. As with roasting, the baristas here put just as much care and attention in the brewing of every cup, whether you're opting for Australia’s classic flat white or the Vegemite cream top latte (not as gross as it sounds, I promise). The minimalist space only offers a few tables and chairs, but the simple, high-quality drinks stand out, particularly on the Westside, a region with just a handful of destination-worthy coffee options.

This spacious and stylish coffee destination is busy no matter the time of day—no surprise, seeing as it’s one of Highland Park’s top shops to grab a cup and a croissant, now with locations in Downtown L.A and Studio City. The original outpost's tall ceilings, tiled floors and diverse seating options spread between tables, couches and a patio out back make for a fashionable setting, while the toasts, breakfast burritos, and Sugarbloom Bakery pastries make for a solid meal. The espresso blend rotates frequently, but teas and specialty coffee drinks remain more or less the same. We love the Figueroa, made with sweetened condensed milk, espresso, milk and cinnamon, topped with a Maria Cookie.

After years of pop-ups, Yeekai Lim’s Cognoscenti Coffee has found homes in Culver City, South Park and the Fashion District with carefully roasted beans galore. Every outpost spots a cool industrial-chic aesthetic, with espresso-based drinks and pour-over coffee using beans from its own roastery. Keep an eye out for seasonal drinks, guest appearances from roasters and indie tea companies, and select coffee-related retail like beans, grinders, aeropresses and scales at all three locations.

This compact East Hollywood coffee shop serves a drink you can't find almost anywhere else in Los Angeles—Northern Vietnamese-style egg coffee. Made with whipped egg yolks and condensed milk, the creamy, custard-like top dates back to 1946, when a bartender invented the drink in Hanoi during a milk shortage caused by the First Indochina War. Owner Vince Nguyen adds sugar and dusts the drink with cocoa powder for extra drama. For those who prefer their coffee taken black or with a little milk, what'll surprise you the most about Nam Coffee's drinks is just how even-keeled they are—the caffeine levels of Nguyen's carefully blended roasts tend to uplift, rather than jolt you awake.

In the sea of L.A.'s specialty coffee shops, this Westside option stands out for its lack of pretention, excellent, tightly curated food menu and, of course, the shop's seriously good coffee. At both locations in Santa Monica and Manhattan Beach, you'd be hardpressed not to order their Rolex chapati—goodboybob's take on a plain egg breakfast burrito. Each luxury watch-sized flatbread wrap comes with a side of tangy housemade hot sauce.

With an emphasis on freshly roasted Colombian specialty coffee, Andres Piñeros's mini-chain of coffee shops has brought its delicious, freshly prepared coffee and plant-filled, minimalist cafés to Redondo Beach, Culver City, Westchester, Pasadena and Sherman Oaks. No matter which location you visit, the beans at Boy & the Bear get roasted three times a week, which makes a major difference in the quality of each cup. All five cafés also have Wi-Fi, charging outlets and at least a few couches, but the Redondo Beach flagship has the most space and outdoor seating.

In 2018, Yonnie Hagos and Ajay Relan first opened in the historically Black neighborhood of View Park-Windsor Hills, hoping to help locals connect, caffeinate and continue the climb towards success. Since then, after being featured on HBO's Insecure, the coffee shop is now backed by showrunner Issa Rae, who's helped Hilltop expand to Inglewood, Eagle Rock and Downtown. The extensive coffee and tea selection, including a delicious lavender latte, make Hilltop one of the best places to grab an espresso-based drink in the city, while the simple all-day menu of grain bowls, sandwiches and “droptops” (fully loaded toasts) provide sustenance for those hoping to stick around and get some work done. The South L.A., Downtown and Eagle Rock locations have plenty of tables and a few charging outlets apiece, while the Inglewood shop’s lofted couch seating is more conducive to casual morning or afternoon hangs. 

One of the Bay Area's biggest and most beloved roasters is finally in Los Angeles. From their massive outpost in Hollywood you can order bags of Sightglass coffee beans roasted on-site, not to mention a range of espresso drinks, teas and even house-made cascara shrub. (We're partial to the latte made with fresh vanilla paste, ourselves, but it's hard to go wrong here.) L.A.'s Sightglass Coffee also serves as a bakery with fantastic fresh pastries, loaves of bread, bagels and thick square slices of pizza, plus picture-perfect toasts and other snacks.

This small, retro-themed Black and Filipino-owned Thai Town café offers standard coffee and drinks, plus a few, much sweeter L.A. originals, like a creamy, ube purple-tinged latte. Owned by couple Heather Knox and Joshua Oliveros, it’s named after his parents, who designed the shop’s current logo decades ago, and features wood tables with cushioned seats, a tiny assortment of retail goods and the kind of eye-catching interior design that brings all the Instagrammers (and locals, too). From time to time, Obet & Del’s also hosts small food pop-ups—check their Instagram for updates.

This sunny café in West Adams and Highland Park is, quite frankly, one of our favorite spots to start the day. The space is modern and cool but friendly, the coffee menu is brief but creative, and Highly Likely happens to sport some of the best café fare in the city. Linger long enough on that patio and you'll see that it's not a bad place to hang once the sun goes down, either: In the evenings, it flips to a moody vibe, and it's also got beer and wine. It's a neighborhood coffee shop, a great spot for dinner and a communal space for local shops, makers and guest chefs to collaborate.

What's in a name? Well for Mad Lab, one of L.A.’s top roasters, the name says it all. From locations in Culver City, Hollywood and Mid-City, the team loves experimenting with seasonal, creative ingredients that morph their naturally fruity and sweet coffee beans into wild "fizzy lifters"—seriously good and bubbly caffeinated concoctions—and specialty drinks such as the amazingly balanced dreamsicle cappucino. At the Hollywood window, simply stroll up and order from the menu or let whoever's behind the counter whip something up special for you while you nosh on fresh Clark Street pastries.