Press & Moka Coffeehouse
A small coffee, sandwich, and salad shop near Irvine office buildings and UCI's interim art museum
Located immediately outside Airport Tower, former home of the Irvine Museum and current interim space for the UCI Langson Institute & Museum of California Art, Press & Moka Coffeehouse offers a menu of coffees and light fare inspired by the regional area connecting France and Italy. Press & Moka is operated by the same family behind Bistango Restaurant, a fine dining establishment located across the street on Von Karman. The modern space is really nice – from multiple angles, it looks straight out of an architectural rendering – with indoor and outdoor seating for small groups and couples.
Press & Moka’s menu caught our attention by offering Italian espresso drinks from Caffe Vergnano and a collection of “indulgence” dessert drinks based on Biscoff cookies, tiramisu, espresso, cappuccino, and Italian sipping chocolate. Pre-made desserts, pastries, salads, sandwiches, and crepes are also offered, though on our visit – on a weekend afternoon – we only saw a handful of leftovers in small refrigerators near the front counter.
The one drink we ordered, Bicerin, is famously offered at Eataly and other Italian gourmet shops as a rich, layered combination of thick sipping chocolate, cream, and espresso that delivers different mixes of sweet and bitter flavors with every sip. We were excited to try it here, but wound up with a thoroughly mediocre cup of instant hot chocolate (powder still undissolved at the bottom) with a latte on top – effectively a not particularly good mocha. After a roughly 10-minute wait for this drink, we probably wouldn’t return to try more here.
Stats
Price: $
Service: Counter
Open Since: 2022
Addresses
18881 Von Karman Ave. Suite 175
Irvine, CA 92612
949.852.8222
Instagram: @pressandmoka