The Los Angeles Coffee story
Intelligentsia and newcomers, Handscome Coffee Roasters, talk toBeanScene about the progressive specialty scene that is emerging out of the birthplace of iced blended coffee.
When the crew at American specialty coffee icons Intelligentsia started penning their plans to enter the Los Angeles market five years ago, the company’s VP of Strategy Kyle Glanville recalls it wasn’t exactly a celebrated occasion within the specialty coffee industry.
The Los Angeles market – with its highly consumptive culture, large wallets and vast population – was certainly appealing from a business perspective, but Kyle remembers the coffee industry struggling to see the potential for specialty coffee at the “birthplace of iced blended coffee”.
“We were lectured by our peers in the industry that Los Angeles was not a good market to target,” says Kyle. “At the time, it was a cultural black hole when it came to coffee.”
Five years and three new Intelligentsia locations later, Kyle notes that’s no longer the case, saying the city is now being recognised as one of the most progressive specialty coffee scenes in the United States.
Since building their first location in the Silver Lake neighbourhood in 2007, Intelligentsia opened Venice Beach and Pasadena cafés the following consecutive years. Kyle recounts that the company gained ground in L.A. through participatory marketing efforts, as well as building upon their historically strong reputation.
“There was a big grass roots movement building up to our opening, a lot of news was spreading through word of mouth,” says Kyle. “Then we just signed up to every event we could possibly participate in – going everywhere toting our [LaMarzocco] GS/3. When we opened our doors, all the people we met at those events were the ones visiting the café. We didn’t launch with any sort of big campaign, we just offered good coffee.”
A big advantage that the city offers has come from Angelinos (Los Angeles residents) rich spending habits. Intelligentsia’s L.A. cafés don’t offer any baseline or house blends – almost everything is top quality single origins that come with a suitably high price tag.
“Consumers are willing to pay for quality here,” he says. Kyle notes that in particular their flagship Silver Lake location has become a fashionable location to be and be seen.
“It’s become kind of a cultural hipster icon,” he says. “We all think that’s kind of funny because we’re just a bunch of coffee geeks from the northwest.”
Following on from Intelligentsia’s success a new name in L.A.’s specialty coffee scene that is set to make an impact: Handsome Coffee Roasters. All former Intelligentsia ‘coffee geeks’ themselves, Michael Phillips, Tyler Wells and Chris Owens are putting the finishing touches on their operation, set-up in an old warehouse in the Arts District. They’re building a 275-square-metre coffee bar, and restoring a classic 1956 Probat for their roasting operations.
Eyeing the city’s quickly expanding specialty coffee appeal, the team envisions heaps of market potential.
“You’ve got 10 million people in a metropolitan area, and there are really only four of five good coffee shops around,” says Michael Phillips, who reigns as the 2010 World Barista Champion. “There’s a lot of room for improvement with such a large population – we don’t even see Intelligentsia as competition.”
Tyler Wells emphasises that the city’s residents have taken a strong liking to specialty coffee. With so few locations, additional specialty cafés should only serve to spread the popularity and demand for specialty coffee.
“It’s not a matter of competition. We could open seven coffee bars and it wouldn’t make a dent. I think their business would only get bigger and we get more people drinking good coffee.”
With the groundwork already in place, Chris says Handsome won’t need to focus on educating their customers, but rather on creating a good environment where quality coffee can be enjoyed. In a city so full of artists and craftsmen, Chris says it’s a natural fit for them to appreciate the kind of work specialty coffee companies like theirs is trying to achieve.
“There’s a reason Angelinos will wait in line for an hour to get into a place… At this point the customer gets it. We want to create a space that’s comfortable for everyone from the coffee geek to a new customer,” he says. “If customers want more information about coffee we can provide that, but our default will be just to provide great coffee.”
One subtle educational trick the trio is employing, however, is that they won’t offer any sugar on their premises.
“We’re offering a simple menu: coffee and whole milk,” explains Tyler. “No soy milk, no decaf, no sugar and no sweetener. We’re trying to be very careful not to tow the line of being jerks, but we’re passionate coffee professionals, and someone has to take a stand and say, ‘This doesn’t need sugar.’”
From what they team knows, they may be the first coffee bar in the world to not offer sugar, an impressively progressive step for the land of ice-blended coffee.
As for where the specialty coffee scene still has to go in LA, the newcomers see a bright future ahead for the city of angels.
“Coffee fits in well into the lifestyle in L.A. There are a lot of people who are self-employed or aspiring to get into the film industry,” says Tyler. “They have a lot of disposable time on their hands and they need a place to go.”
