Caroll P.
Yelp
Let me start with the fact that I highly recommend this spot and for several reasons.
I had highly anticipated trying this place, with space for a potential huge let down. It's way out of my way, and Koreatown and parking, hmm. But what made me mostly curious & excited was that this has the most reviews on Yelp, with a high rating, of any other surrounding coffee within MILES of the Los Angeles area and beyond. Second, many other reviewers mention a unique coffee flavor. This had me dying to get out here.
PLENTY OF PARKING! I arrived at about 10a on a Saturday. It is in a strip mall, with a parking lot for surrounding businesses. When I left, closer to noontime, still plenty of parking - a huge plus and relief.
LARGE VARIETY OF COFFEE DRINKS AVAILABLE! They had the classics - drip, pour overs (they listed it as manual brew), latte - the three that I look for, but also many other/interesting drinks. The pour over, they had three options avail. and I chose a columbian geisha, which was delicious! Alchemist roasted coffee beans available for purchase, too! Amongst other items, such as their branded t-shirts in a few standard colors ($40, I picked one up for my son), a cute tote bag, the book the Alchemist, and a few other coffee brew items.
UNIQUE COFFEE BEAN FLAVOR! The other yelpers were right. My favorite is a latte. The beans are high quality (you can taste that) and did indeed have a subtle unique very enjoyable flavor! This is reminiscent of my other favored coffee shop (to remain nameless). This latte made my all time favorite latte list - yes it was to die for. Like I mentioned my pour over was very tasty (beans) and excellently executed (great baristas). The house drip coffee was just okay. Nothing out of this world, but totally fine for a house drip.
STAFF ARE OKAY. The staff are quick with taking and handling orders, I appreciate that, but I do have to note that there wasn't much friendliness, per se, or excitement to share about their items. I asked for guidance on any pastry or cake that are special that I should try. I had to work to pull it out of the person helping me, and luckily I was patient and did that because apparently they have an OUTSTANDING house-made basque cheesecake. Which leads me to my next reason for the high scoring...
GREAT PASTRIES & CAKES! I grabbed a blueberry muffin for home & it was delicious. But if you are looking for something special, and again to die for, the HOUSE-MADE Basque Cheesecake is a must! And they have other flavor variations but I went with the original. Did not disappoint and really impressed me. I had a bunch of it there, took some home and shared it with three others in my family, who also vouched for this cheesecake, and I still had some left! So the slice is hefty!
PLENTY OF SEATING! My last, but not least, reasoning for this high score. They have seats outside of the shop, benches & small bistro tables and chairs, and the building partially covers them with some shade. Inside, there are more bench/counter/barstool seating around the cash register and a rather large area with much more seating just on the other side, the biggest part of their building. I was pleasantly surprised. I had my laptop in tow, so I did do some work and the ambiance was fine and just what you'd expect when working at a coffee shop. It wasn't library quiet, per se, but I personally don't work well in quiet. This coffee shop provides just the perfect amount of consistent background coffee shop vibes & noise. Others were working there too.
This coffee shop is really out of my way, but it will remain my weekend, early morning adventure whenever I don't want to mess around and want good coffee, good pastry/cake, for work/study, or meet or take a friend there to catch up.
I was not disappointed by the Alchemist Coffee Project, by far. And even as the most rated, with a high rating, it still surpassed my expectations!
If you've read this far, thanks for listening and I hope you too love this place & coffee :)