The 26 best coffee shops in Los Angeles

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.

Menotti’s Coffee Stop—emphasis on the "stop"—feels like a friendly refuge from its locations' touristy bustles: the neighboring Venice Boardwalk and a trendy enclave in Culver City. The interiors are all welcoming but spartan, with most of the attention focused on the bean selection. You won’t find much seating, but you will find records spinning on vinyl and plenty of fun and on-trend house creations. So consider your brief "stop" and that espresso tonic to-go a dose of tranquility to tote along the Boardwalk.

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.

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 roomy multi-story layout, steady Wi-Fi connection and on-site parking lot make this Koreatown café (which turns into a wine bar Thursday through Saturday nights) 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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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.