Max Gualtieri partnered with Broad Street Oyster Company’s owners on this electric coffee bar in Malibu Village featuring beans he roasts in DTLA. He beautifully reinterprets baklava in latte form, featuring a double shot and steamed milk that luxuriate in house-made syrup crafted with honey, cinnamon, and almond. Floral rosewater and a cinnamon dusting emulate baklava’s flavor profile. The only thing missing is flaky phyllo and the dessert’s signature crunch.

Chris McColl teamed with entrepreneur Jerrod Clancy on this fashionable coffee bar by Venice Beach that extends to a wooden parklet across the street. Little lunch is what people call recess in Australia, which is Clancy’s home country. Gold Coaster, named for a particularly vibrant beachfront region near Brisbane, is a knockout latte made with warming spices like turmeric, cinnamon and cardamom that they sweeten with vanilla. Maca root is an Andean superfood that’s supposed to provide an added energy boost, which completes the vivid beverage.

In 2020, Zayde Naquib opened this stylish spinoff that one-ups sister cafe Bar Nine at INclave, a modern, mixed-use development in Marina del Rey. When they were developing a new signature drink just for this location, they had been making orange juice and had plenty of leftover peels. To avoid food waste, they utilized residual fruit to make bitters, simple syrup and dehydrated ”dust” that they used in an orange latte. That drink evolved into a more indulgent orange mocha that incorporates their vegan chocolate ganache and comes in a reusable jar.

Tohm Ifergan recently welcomed coffee luminary Christopher “nicely” Abel Alameda as co-CEO, so the signature drinks will no doubt continue to flow. In the meantime, check out seasonal “creations” inspired by the Wes Anderson film “The French Dispatch” and Hiyao Miyazaki’s animated masterpieces. Dayglow also offers signature drinks that are regularly available in Silver Lake and West Hollywood. Hotel Chevalier stars flash brewed coffee that’s distilled to remove color and solubles, providing a blank canvas. In this case, it’s shaken with coconut cream, lime juice and ice, garnished with mint and fresh grated nutmeg. Ifergan named this drink for a 2007 Wes Anderson short film starring Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman as a former couple who reconnects, a feeling he describes as “familiar, but different,” just like this drink.

Emerson Haro and Tony Yuan started by roaming LA streets in a yellow 1964 Citroën HY truck. This year, they put down roots, opening a cafe at the base of Century City’s Constellation Place office tower and parking their truck, which they call Sunny, in a West Hollywood storefront. They offer several worldly lattes inspired by travels. Champurrado inspired The Nomad, a bittersweet blend of espresso, Holy Cacao chocolate sauce, piloncillo, cinnamon, clove, orange, and whole milk. A yellow neon sign in Century City encourages visitors to “feel your sunshine.” Drinks like these certainly help.

Heather Knox and Joshua Oliveros both worked in coffee before opening their own sleek cafe in Thai Town. They named Obet & Del’s for his parents Delia and Robert (aka Obet). Coffee doesn’t always come through on signature lattes, but Filipino iced coffee features pronounced flavor thanks to a single-origin dark roast that melds beautifully with oat milk and sweet, earthy ube (purple yam) puree that starts at the bottom of the cup. Just give the drink a stir to blend the different elements in this iced drink that draws on Oliveros’ Filipino heritage.

Karen Dizon and husband Jonathan are the mom and pop at this Koreatown coffee bar with vibrant Cache (chicken) and Atlas (cat) murals. SPL Coffee fulfills Karen’s childhood dream. She’s had the name “spill the beans” in mind since she was 12 years old; spl is just shorthand for spill. Karen developed her signature Dry Kapp a decade ago as a barista, and now SPL Coffee customers benefit. Traditionally, a dry cappuccino has less milk and more foam. This reinterpreted version features espresso shaken with ice and house-made simple syrup that’s served topped with towering foam in a tall glass. Grab a steel stirrer to integrate the foam.

This spring, Korean-American entrepreneur Curtis Park debuted his coffee bar on Silver Lake’s Sunset Triangle Plaza. For the business name, he drew on ideas from Richard Dawkins, who first used the term meme in a 1976 book that discusses how ideas spread and vary. His signature drinks are a good example of that concept. Smoking Tiger plays on the coffee world’s popular espresso tonic. Here, they team espresso with house-carbonated water and fermented apricot, which steeps in sugar for 100 days on shelves. Tree Frog substitutes matcha and Faithful Toad substitutes chai. In each case, stir with a metal straw to integrate the flavors.

This Instagram friendly, plant-based cafe from three friends in a Pasadena courtyard features plenty of faux and real plants. Flowers even factor into signature drinks like the Rowl Bowl latte, named for the Crown City’s iconic stadium. Baristas somehow balance espresso with earthy beet juice, floral rose hibiscus syrup, and a choice of plant-based milk; I suggest almond. They garnish each cup - hot or iced - with fragrant rose petals. Better yet, Coffee + Plants is a mission-driven café that works with the National Forest Foundation to plant one tree for every 100 cups sold.

Haris Car spent six years working for Philz Coffee and made chocolate in his home kitchen before opening a Pasadena café that celebrates both beans this spring. Choco-spresso combines his two favorite interests, which often grow in similar regions around the world. This concentrated espresso drink features 55% dark unfermented Mexican chocolate with a Colombia/Guatemala espresso blend that touts chocolate and berry notes. Car describes espresso as “very creamy and sweet when a proper shot is pulled.” Combining with the “striking” Mexican chocolate and vanilla sweetener results in distinctive sips.

This Oaxacan inspired coffee bar from Marlon Gonzalez and Pilar Casteñeda is part of Montebello’s BLVD Market and faces Whittier Boulevard. They incorporate Mexican chocolate that Reina Negra sources from Chiapas and Tabasco. Their bold, gritty Oaxacan mocha combines espresso, 40% cacao, crushed almonds, cinnamon, and milk, available either iced or hot. Café Santo’s logo depicts a jaguar, the sacred cacao tree’s mythical protector. Drinks like this reinforce that noble cause.