Woodcat Coffee Races into Echo Park With Wrecking Ball Roasters

There’s a new coffee shop brewing in Echo Park, as first noticed by LA Weekly. Woodcat Coffee, a homespun operation by husband and wife team Saadat and Janine Awan, quietly began pouring on Saturday, September 20 from their storefront along Sunset Blvd., just up from the Gold Room.

Saadat, who runs the day-to-day, says that the neighborhood was really ready for a relaxed coffee shop that allowed locals to grab a cup before heading off to work, or to stick around and work on their laptops for a few hours. Hence the plethora of plugs and incoming free WiFi (until they get the internet situation sorted out, though, it’s cash only).

The industrial insides have a simple racing feel, with a thick black stripe running up the wall away from the coffee bar, and a wash of bright red running the length of the room. Even the espresso machine, a compact Faema E61that sits on the wide black counter that dominates the room, has the look of speed, with a thin fairing gold fairing across the top that holds the mugs.

Beans come by way of new-ish San Francisco roaster Wrecking Ball, and the compact menu includes espresso drinks, drip coffee and pour overs. There’s not much in the way of food, minus a had of biscotti and the like, though pastries are on the way.

Though Woodcat officially opened last Saturday, the Awans actually began making drinks over the weekends through much of August, while they built out the space. "It was nice to have people discover it," says Saadat, "instead of reading about it somewhere and feel like they needed to go where someone told them to go. We’ve been able to get to know a lot of neighbors, and that’s really cool."

Woodcat Coffee opens at 6 a.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. on weekends, seven days a week. Though their evening hours are still in flux, expect them to close up shop around 8 p.m. nightly.