Photo courtesy of Demitasse Cafe.
Just off of Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade, tucked in a space off of the beaten path enough to be relatively tourist-free, and on San Pedro St. in downtown LA, everything at Demitasse Cafe comes down to a simple code: “life is too short for bad coffee.”
True to its word, Demitasse Cafe is serving up small batch roasted-in-house beans sourced from some of the best coffee beans from around the world. The self proclaimed “coffee geeks” have become coffee experts and created a sanctuary for coffee purists.
“I wanted our shop to be more about the experience and less about fulfilling a caffeine need,” says owner and self proclaimed coffee geek Bobby Roshan. “I had an experience at sushi bar in San Francisco that really informed the type of coffee shop experience I wanted customers to have. The sushi chef asked me what I wanted to eat. I said anything but uni (sea urchin). He chuckled and asked why I didn’t like uni. I told him I had tried it and it was kinda gross. He then offered me some and told me if I didn’t like it, I didn’t have to pay for it. I took him up on his challenge and it was delicious. He then gave us a quick lecture on uni and why it tastes bad in other places but if it’s fresh and done right, it’s delicious. That type of experience is what I want customers to have at our shop. Try this coffee black. It’ll be good. Trust me.”
Demitasse is also experimenting with new techniques for the perfect cup. The Kyoto iced coffee is cold brewed over 16 hours dripped through chemistry set-like apparatus.
“The Kyoto Iced Coffee drippers make a really rich cup of iced coffee,” Roshan says. “We fill the top ball with a precise amount of ice and water. We then pack freshly ground coffee into the middle part and slowly drip the cold water through it. Different flavors are being extracted throughout the day. What the first drop of water pulls out of the coffee will be different than the last drop.
You won’t find any Starbuck-esque frappuccinos, but what you will find is small batch roasted coffee with carefully crafted and selected coffee in each cup.
“We really do put a lot of thought into everything we do,” Roshan says. “Every shot pulled is weighed to make sure that we’re sticking to a certain ratio. Teas are served with timers to make sure that you don’t let it oversteep and get bitter. Kyoto is served in a carafe with an ice pocket to keep it from diluting. We really do try to get the extra step and I think it shows in the cup.”
In addition to specialty coffees, locally made truffles and croissants are also available.
“I want people to sit at the bar and talk to our baristas,” Roshan says. “All the fancy gizmos and gadgets are there to inspire curiosity and to maybe get them to think a little more about their coffee.”
