Wind west of the 405 freeway along Mulholland Boulevard and reach a parking lot at the base of Bel-Air Presbyterian Church. Climb a set of stairs, cross a courtyard, and you’ll reach Parable Coffee Lab, a café that’s promised “thoughtful coffee, epic view” since launching in December 2016. Parable combines a premium specialty coffee experience with one of the country’s greatest coffeehouse settings. On a clear day, panoramic views of the San Fernando Valley extend all the way to the Santa Susana Mountains.
Parable Coffee Lab is part of a growing trend of churches launching high-quality coffeehouses to build community beyond a single day of the week, practicing a wholesome ritual to generate revenue to fund on-site programs or off-site giving.
In the Los Angeles area, you’ll also find Holy Grounds at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, Steeple House Coffee at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Ignatius Café at St. Agnes Korean Catholic Church in University Park, and House Roots Coffee at Valley Korean United Methodist Church in Granada Hills. While some motivations overlap at these coffee bars, the experiences at each café are fairly unique and can compete with other leading coffee bars throughout L.A.
Parable Coffee Lab
Isaac Mason previously worked for Andante Coffee Roasters in Echo Park and in North Carolina. Bel-Air Presbyterian Church received gifts to upgrade an existing café. Carolyn Sams, a consultant for the church hired him and they collaborated to redesign the space and experience.
A glass front allows Parable to highlight those stunning views from their perch. Plants give life to an airy interior with light wood tables and benches, a bar with white metal stools, and a sign that reads, “The son of man came eating and drinking.” Jazz music played as Mason brewed Copa Vida beans using a two-group La Marzocco espresso machine, pour over cones, and nitro cold brew. Parable makes floral orange blossom, vanilla, and chocolate syrups in-house and sells Sugarbloom Bakery pastries.
According to Mason, Parable’s mission is to “reflect the fact that food and drink as parts of God’s creation are beautiful and are worth doing thoughtfully…Coffee feels like such a gift, that fruit grows and you can take the seed and turn it into this crazy drink. There is an amazing wealth of possibilities in that plant. It doesn’t exist for human pleasure, but human pleasure is a great side effect.”
The pastor — a coffee fan who’s roasted coffee at home and packs an Aeropress for camping trips — often notes that people spend more time at the movies than at church. The café is part of a concerted effort “to get people to want to spend time here, and not just because we have to.” That ethos extends to “neutral and approachable” design.
Between bible studies and services on Sundays, weddings, and memorials, food and drink have played a big part of the church’s ecosystem. “We wanted to be a place where we could explore possibilities for overlap of food, drink, and gospel,” Mason says. “What we feel in our brains and in our heart, is there a way that overlaps with what we drink and eat in the morning?”
“The old wave of church coffee is sell whatever coffee and at least the profits will do good,” says Mason. “We thought, what good can the actual product itself do? There’s still a lot of good we can do in the work of the café itself. In North Carolina, all the money went to community charity, but all the food came from U.S. Foods and was processed, with all sorts of big, sugary drinks. We want to get beyond that idea. Food going to charity is great, but how are you actually generating those proceeds?”
Parable operates like a ministry. All the money that doesn’t cover costs goes into the church’s general operating fund. In the future, Mason would love for money to go toward “food justice or food and drink experiences for people that don’t have the means.”
House Roots Lab
Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., you’ll now find brand manager Tom Kong and director of coffee Jimmy Lee in House Roots Lab upstairs in back of Valley Korean United Methodist Church compound in Granada Hills. Q Café, a non-profit coffeehouse that operated at Quest Church in Seattle from 2002 to 2015, initially inspired House Roots Coffee.
The Café Dulce veterans started in a shuttered Valencia industrial park space and have built a large enough following to open a full coffee bar in a nearby strip mall. The lab caters to the congregation and allows for experimentation. House Roots Coffee brews Portland’s Heart Coffee on a La Marzocco GS/3 espresso machine, by pour over and cold brew. Nine metal stools face a concrete counter and drinks appear on a blackboard menu.
Kong and Lee built House Roots Coffee around three core values: Coffee, Community, and Cause. According to Kong, House Roots brews each "cup for a cause” to “inspire our community to invest in people and use the power of their dollar to do more.”
“We think coffee shops have become the modern day synagogue,” Kong says. “People go to cafes to do work, be inspired, and share life. That was one of the roles of the church back in the past. We wanted to created a space for the community to come enjoy coffee and participate in good works.” House Roots Coffee provided a platform for churchgoers and community members “to enjoy coffee and participate in works of justice.”
Five community members form the House Roots Coffee board. They approve local and global initiatives and charities set forth by a "cause team,” allocating funds beyond operating costs. Current causes include a Mozambique organization that builds homes for orphans and trains them for schooling and work. They also gave to Syrian refugee relief.
Holy Grounds at St. Monica
Holy Grounds at St. Monica sports another religiously punny name and has been connected to St. Monica Catholic Church since December 2013 as part of a new facility called the Tina and Rick Caruso Community Center. Yes, that Rick Caruso, the real estate developer behind The Grove and The Americana at Brand. An elevated patio with rust colored umbrellas gives way to seats at cream-colored tables with curved black chairs.
A framed photo of Pope Francis watches over customers. A small store sells jewelry, books, posters, and religious memorabilia. Statuettes of Jesus, Joseph and Mary with your cappuccino, perhaps? A two-group Bravo espresso machine, matching grinders, and batch brewers yield a custom coffee blend from Urth Caffe. Bonus: confessions are available on the grounds every afternoon but Sunday.
According to Parish Administrator Mike Mottola, “The overall mission is to provide our parishioners, school families, neighbors, and visitors with a welcoming, comfortable, and clean place for gathering to greet, meet, and relax with one another and a quality coffee drink.”
“Churches are places for people to experience fellowship and support and to find spiritual expression and meaning in the lives,” Mottola says. “This type of operation with coffee, books and gifts is a natural and inviting way to help people develop their spirituality and find loving support.”
Support extends to Hope at Holy Grounds, a young adult employment and mentoring program from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Office of Restorative Justice and St. Monica Catholic Community that plays a key role at the café. Young men between 18 and 26, a mix of current and past participants in the juvenile justice rehabilitation system, are hired and trained as either interns or baristas at Holy Grounds. Mottola says, “They work in a healing, caring, and team environment with other baristas hired by the parish.”
After three years, Holy Grounds broke even financially. In the future, they hope to increase revenue to support more church operations, outreach, and rehabilitated baristas.
Ignatius Café
Father Robert Choi founded Ignatius Café in 2011 on a side street behind St. Agnes Korean Catholic Church by USC. A former house is now a great retreat featuring plant-shielded patio with umbrellas and trellises, a café with yellow walls, and speckled counter. Bags of house-roasted beans hail from countries like Tanzania, Guatemala, and Ethiopia, emanating from a fire engine red Primo coffee roaster. Drinks from a two-group La Marzocco espresso machine and brewed coffee both call for a $3 suggested donation.
Ignatius Café is part of a mission to help find God in all aspects of daily life. Coffee just happens to be a vessel that Father Choi cherishes. He says, “Every time I brew a cup of coffee, I am able to thank God, bless the farmers who reaped the crops, and provide peace to the individual who drinks it.”
Father Choi makes sure his café (and church) are accessible for everybody, including less fortunate people. “I personally want Ignatius Café to be a place where anyone, regardless of their beliefs, can come and rest,” he says. “I also want it to be a physical manifestation of the act of practicing love, primarily through the utilization of donations for the betterment of the poor.”
Ignatius Cafe doesn’t operate as a business, but accepts donations that benefit charities like Catholic Relief Service, Smile Operation, St. Jude Children Hospital, Sudan Relief fund, Cambodia Mission, Ecuador Mission, Bolivia Mission, Guatemala Mission, Catholic Times, Peace Times, and COAR Peace Mission.
Steeple House Coffee
Steeple House Coffee has been located in back of Sun Valley’s Grace Community Church since December 2014, surviving trial by fire during the crush from annual Christmas concerts. A big courtyard with wood tables, plants, and strings of lights gives way to a café with wood tables, olive green and brick walls lined with hand-drawn espresso drink diagrams, a sizable merchandise area, and Cake Monkey pastry case.
Behind a reclaimed wood counter, barista Matthew Ng relies on beans from Copa Vida and Ruby Coffee Roasters and a two-group La Marzocco espresso machine. He makes in-depth explorations rarely seen in more mainstream coffee bars. Coffee Two Ways pairs a barista’s choice of espresso with pour over, in our case Honduras Mariposa. Purple and Black matches a single espresso with lavender honey latte and lavender sparkling water.
According to Ng, Steeple House’s mission is to “steward our craft (delicious coffee), serve our church, and stimulate community.” Steeple House doesn’t just benefit people who work on campus at The Master’s Seminary and attend Grace Community Church. Coffee also flows for people from the surrounding community.
“Coffee has an incredible effect on people beyond just waking us all up,” Ng says. “It brings people together in a unique way. We have seen time and time again that this kind of community that is cultivated by a cup of coffee only further solidifies the Christian unity that already exists at our church. Steeple House provides a place for small groups and ministry meetings, and a study hall for students.”
Before Steeple House, people would just huddle alone at their desks. Ng says, “In our space and they get to cross paths with each other and with those from the community on a daily basis.”
Steeple House Coffee was established to run as a business. Revenue feeds right back into coffee bar operations, and extra money funds church initiatives like international missions and local outreach, based on the discretion of church leaders.
You may not find coffee mentioned in the Old or New Testaments, but the beverage is proving to be quite persuasive at drawing people into churches for a dose of caffeinated enlightenment while benefiting the communities beyond sacred grounds.
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