Curated

Intelligentsia Coffee, Venice Coffeebar

Invite

Open

Closes 7 PM

Neighborhood

Abbot Kinney

Roaster

In-house

Food

Pastry · Cold food

Check-ins

Come here for

Black Cat Classic Espresso
A Brazil espresso and the lightest one Intelligentsia pulls, with cherry, cola and orange notes
Sugarbloom Strawberry Almond Croissant
A Sugarbloom pastry, same as the rest of the case.

Thursday6 AM – 7 PM

Sunday6 AM – 7 PM

Monday6 AM – 7 PM

Tuesday6 AM – 7 PM

Wednesday6 AM – 7 PM

Thursday6 AM – 7 PM

Friday6 AM – 7 PM

Saturday6 AM – 7 PM

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Street

Order ahead

Curator’s note

Doug Zell, Emily Mange and Geoff Watts started Intelligentsia in Chicago in October 1995, and Watts came in off a help-wanted ad, straight from a stint dog-walking, to become the buyer who built the company's direct farm relationships across three continents. The Abbot Kinney cafe followed the 2007 Silver Lake flagship as one of the company's early Los Angeles stores, and it still runs on the roasting and sourcing model the three of them set up in 1995, even after Peet's took a majority stake in 2015.

The Coffee

Intelligentsia roasts everything itself on vintage 1950s German-built roasters split between Chicago and Los Angeles, and has run a Direct Trade sourcing model, buying from named farms instead of through exporter auctions, since the company's first year. No guest roasters run through Venice or any other coffeebar. Most of the online single-origin catalog rotates through and sells out between harvests; on the day of this research only four coffees were actually in stock: the Black Cat Classic espresso blend, Honduras La Tortuga, Colombia La Mina Caturra, and the seasonal Summer Solstice Blend.

The beansCurrent lineup

Black Cat Classic Espresso
Brazil / El Salvador, Carmo de Minas, Brazil; Santa Ana, El Salvador · 1,400 m (El Salvador component; Brazil component not stated)
Roast
Light
Process
Semi-washed (Brazil); washed (El Salvador)
Producer
Brazil: Direct Trade partner since 2006, semi-washed; El Salvador: various smallholder farms, Direct Trade partner since 2003
cherry · cola · orange
Honduras La Tortuga
Honduras, La Paz, Marcala · 1,650-1,900 m
Roast
Medium
Varietals
Catuaí
Process
Washed, raised bed dried
Producer
Producers Marysabel Caballero and Moises Herrera, Direct Trade partner since 2003
apple · baked citrus · toffee
Colombia La Mina Caturra
Colombia, Buesaco, Nariño · 1,900 m
Roast
Light
Varietals
Caturra
Process
Washed, raised bed dried
Producer
La Mina, producer Franco José Héctor López, Direct Trade partner since 2010, multiple Cup of Excellence wins
pomegranate · mandarin orange · nectarine
Summer Solstice Blend
Ethiopia / Kenya / Colombia, Guji, Oromo, Ethiopia; Nyeri, Kenya; Colombia component region not stated · 2,000-2,200 m (Ethiopia); 1,800 m (Kenya); Colombia not stated
Roast
Light
Process
Washed, raised bed dried (Ethiopia and Kenya components)
Producer
Various smallholders per origin, Direct Trade partner since 2012
lime zest · cherry · orange

The Vibe

RAD Studio reworked this space, reopening it around late 2020, with one job: fit in more seats without sanding off the industrial edge that was already there. They tore out the old unfinished steel bar and shelving and built new matte black steel benches topped in black locust, indoors and on the patio both, with oval tables bolted to the benches. Capsule MFG built the new coffee bar out of the same black locust. Terremoto planted stepped planters that RAD designed specifically to keep the people waiting in line separate from the people already sitting down with a coffee. Seating roughly doubled.