Blue Bottle Coffee

Although some writers have claimed that Blue Bottle Coffee’s logo is as iconic as Apple’s or Nike’s – and so recognizable that it needn’t be accompanied by its name on a sign – the roughly 100-unit chain isn’t quite that well-known across most of the United States. That said, the once independent and now Nestle-owned stores now include at least a dozen locations in Los Angeles – one on the ground floor of the historic Bradbury Building – as well as one in Orange County at Via Lido in Newport Beach. Look carefully enough on the glass door or wooden sign in front of HanaHaus, a co-working space, and you’ll see Blue Bottle’s logo and name together. Inside the beautifully appointed building, nearly all of which is rentable by the hour for work or study purposes, a single communal table and long counter are specific to Blue Bottle, with several additional tables immediately outside.

Recognized as a pioneer of third wave coffee, Blue Bottle offers a compact menu focused on atypically excellent lattes and cappuccinos, as well as the Gibraltar, a signature cortado-style 50/50 mix of coffee and steamed milk that isn’t listed on the menu. Many of these drinks are made with Hayes Valley espresso – a chocolate, brown sugar, and orange-hinted coffee originally produced for the chain’s first brick-and-mortar shop (shown in a San Francisco photo below) – with seasonal variations including an excellent cherry blossom latte. Across the hot drinks, strong coffee flavors pair perfectly with light rather than overwhelming levels of milk and sugar. Blue Bottle also occasionally collaborates on co-developed beverages, notably including Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye’s Samra coffees and lattes, using Ethiopian-inspired honey, vanilla, and cinnamon flavorings.