JSLALALAND

THE HUNGRY HOURS

The LA coffee map | Which kind of LA coffee do you want?

In Taipei a café is where you spend the afternoon; in LA a café is a personality. Sorted by the kind of coffee you want, plus the two I always walk to after Pause.

Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.

Key points

Full text

  1. 01 | Learn to order first: the coffee menu, translated

    A cortado is espresso with about the same amount of milk; a flat white is smaller than a latte with a stronger coffee taste; a cream top is a thick layer of cream. Before ordering an iced latte, ask yourself if what you really want is a cortado.

  2. 02 | Little rules at LA coffee shops

    Endorffeine has no sugar in the shop, and Espresso Profeta in Westwood has no outlets; Granada is weekdays only and Kapé weekends only. A tip prompt pops up at the counter, and how much you give is up to you.

  3. 03 | My cup: Sightglass, Tartine

    My regular route: after Pause, walk one minute to Sightglass for a cup, then grab some bread at Tartine to take home. Sightglass is like a coffee library with a patio, and weekday afternoons are the quietest.

  4. 04 | Team coffee nerd: Endorffeine

    The owner used to be a biochemist and is now the shop's only barista; in 2026 he became the first barista named a James Beard finalist for beverage service. The signature is the house coffee, cold brew heated and frothed, which often sells out early.

  5. 05 | Team coffee nerd: Maru, the Kumquat family

    Maru is a minimalist white space, and its signature is the Cream Top; Kumquat, Loquat and Quat are three shops one family named after fruits, and the Tennessee Iced Latte comes with a pinch of smoked salt.

  6. 06 | Team coffee nerd: Stereoscope, Be Bright, Verve

    Stereoscope has a flavor chart for every bean; Be Bright's owner was the 2024 US Barista Champion and roasts in the shop every Tuesday; Verve, from Santa Cruz, is known for its nitro flash brew.

  7. 07 | Team Asian flavors: Nam, Mandarin

    Nam drips robusta drop by drop through a Vietnamese phin, and its signature is Hanoi egg coffee; Mandarin in Pasadena specializes in Chinese-grown beans, with an osmanthus latte. Robusta has more caffeine, so think twice before an afternoon cup.

  8. 08 | A taste of home in one cup

    Yeems in Koreatown has a Korean-style Vienna Latte; Kapé is Filipino restaurant Lasita's weekend coffee stand, with a nutty batirol mocha; Yala is one of the few places in LA that brews coffee in hot sand.

  9. 09 | Team laptop

    Stereoscope Echo Park has lots of seats, Maru Arts District has a big long table, Koreatown's Coffee MCO has a rooftop and Cafe Upper has lots of outlets, and Steep in Chinatown has a big patio. Check for outlets before you bring your laptop.

  10. 10 | Team pretty

    Comet Over Delphi has a whole wall of windows that open up; Canyon Coffee feels like a ceramics studio; How's It Going To End? in Montrose used to be a dry cleaner; Fast Times is a café and bookstore inside Buck Mason.

  11. 11 | New in 2025–2026

    Blank Street opened its first West Coast shop in Studio City on 8/21; every KAFE 001 location collaborates with a different artist; Granada is in a couple's backyard, named after a pomegranate tree that's nearly 100 years old.

  12. 12 | Three coffee routes

    A Sycamore afternoon: Pause → Sightglass → Tartine → Stereoscope, all on foot. Chinatown: Endorffeine → Kapé → Nam → Steep. Eastside: Kumquat → Comet Over Delphi → Quat → Loquat.

  13. 13 | Two-city mirror

    Taipei's coffee shops are old houses and wooden tables where you talk till dark; in LA, some people want pour-over, some want outlets, some want sunshine. 'In Taipei, coffee is an afternoon; in LA, coffee is the kind of person you want to be.'

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An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).