Los Angeles Coffee Adventures October

I hope the coffee shop list below provides you with the same fun and opportunities to get the creative juices flowing as they provided to me. These coffee shop writing excursions have taken me all over LA including going over San Francisco-style hills in Silverlake,  through communities oozing money, and others desperately poor.  If you have any suggestions on shops I should visit in November please add in comments.

Here is a quick note about each of my visits and my favorite things about each one:

Friendliest Baristas

Coffee Commissary

801 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles California

Iced Kumo coffee and chia seed muffin. Wide range of people here: most women wearing yoga pants, a homeless guy, a man in a leather jacket and cowboy hat, a woman running her business on her laptop and phone, a woman with tattoos asking an older guy for a job. In terms of food, they only had a few baked goods inside the shop, outside they had a food truck.

Favorite Décor

Lamill Coffee

1636 Silver Lake Boulevard., Los Angeles California 90026

Scenes of ancient Greece covered the walls, golden chandeliers hung in the main room, the walls were red. Wide variety but pricey food. Tacked on service fee to offset minimum wage increase. Being a Saturday morning most people were in workout clothes: walking, running or yoga. Definitely more of a community feel than some of the other coffee houses I visited. The zucchini bread was really good. Valrhona mocha.

Most Impressive Presentation

Intelligentsia Silverlake

3922 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

They place the mug of coffee on a wooden tray with cup of milk and pitcher with extra coffee. I also liked the blue tiled floor. They only had baked goods. Tough parking on the weekend as everything is permit only on the side streets. I parked on Santa Monica two blocks away.

Best Cold Drink On Hot Day

Starbucks

454 Fair Oaks Ave, South Pasadena, CA 91030

My boss gave me a gift card to Starbucks when the temperature was over 105 degrees. It was a day that definitely called for a venti Java Chip Frappuccino. I know Frappuccinos are travesty to coffee purist but sometimes you just need to have that 600 calorie caffeinated brain freeze to get you through the day. Lots of free parking and nice fountain outside.

Best Food

Paper or Plastik Café

5772 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles California

Great food menu and delicious food. Had a delicious iced Almond Joy coffee. It left me wired for rest of the day.  While the benches outside were a little hard, there were large  orange cushions that provided great back support. Staff was friendly here and you could find parking a block south on the side streets. I was only able to stay an hour but it had such a good vibe that wish I could have stayed longer.

Best Slogan

Alfred Coffee & Kitchen

8428 Melrose Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90069

Had cappuccino and small tasty breakfast burrito. Everyone wearing black here and well groomed. Perhaps it was because it was in the middle of Melrose fashion row. Nice area to walk around after a writing session. Farmers Market takes place out front so parking can be tough. While it was crowded, the tables turned over pretty quickly. I loved the slogan their cups "We are here to inspire you."