The Boy & The Bear
The 2016 original of an LA roastery that builds each store as a named room — black palette, natural wood, Colombian coffee at the center.
Curator’s note
The Boy & The Bear roasts its own Colombian-first program in Los Angeles and treats every store as a named, authored room — the brand's Pasadena buildout took an SCA Coffee Design Award at Portland 2023. This is the 2016 original, The Black Store, and the black-on-wood room still reads like the argument the whole brand was built on.
The coffee
Everything on the bar is the house roast: Colombian-first single origins, roasted in Los Angeles, poured as espresso and pour-over, with the Emerald Series carrying the rare lots. Retail bags are origin-named — Bolivia: Finca Rosita, Peru: Juihuay — at origin level rather than full farm-and-roast-date detail.
A full black palette with natural wood and copper accents in a Nordic-cabin frame, built for what the brand calls a sense of arrival. The design practice is brand-wide and awarded — the Pasadena sibling room holds an SCA Coffee Design Award from Portland 2023.
The room
The vibe
Photos
People
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