Alchemist Coffee Project at The Pearl — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Regardless of how expensive their coffee is, they are hands down the best coffee you will find in Koreatown.

If you are a first timer, I highly recommend the alchemy cold brew or a hot caramel latte with oat milk. My personal favorite on a hot summer day morning is iced matcha with oat milk sweetened with agave. It’s a bit expensive ($7.25) considering the fact that they serve this in a 16 oz. cup, I’ll let them break my bank account because it’s that good.

I normally don’t check my receipts but I happened to check my receipt today and noticed that they charged me for “for here” tax when I was taking my drinks to go. The cashier girl (who seemed to be new) asked me 3 times whether I was planning on dining in or getting my food to go, and I told her that it’s for “to go” and she still charged me the “for here” tax. People make mistakes but I did want to point that out.

They are now open for indoor dining just FYI. They do validate parking in the parking structure (I think 90 minutes) or you can find metered street parking (2 hr max). Metered parking Monday through Saturday, but street parking is free on Sundays. I noticed bunch of cars with parking tickets so make sure you put in enough coins if you are planning on utilizing the street parking.

Just a small note on the below naive comment about feeding the left over food to the homeless people, yes, there are homeless people starving in the streets in Koreatown but alchemist is a food establishment that’s required BY LAW to take security measures to ensure they are selling SAFE food for human consumption. There’s a thing called a “bacterial growth” on food where if you leave the food at a room temperature for a certain period of time, bacteria will grow on the food and will no longer be safe to consume. Hence, sure, alchemist can dispose all of their left over food to homeless people in the street of Koreatown but what’s going to happen if one of those homeless people decide to sue them after eating spoiled sandwich? What if they get closed down by LA public health department for serving spoiled food? Just something to think about before leaving a 1...

This was on my list of ktown coffee shops to hit — definitely a gem. It’s modern and got a black and wooden, classy interior look with cute light bulbs hanging in the ceiling. The architecture is pleasing. The food and drink were really good too — I had the lavender matcha latte and it was the right sweetness, with oat milk. You could definitely taste the hint of lavender which I appreciated because I’ve had lavender matchas that didn’t taste any different from matcha lattes. I also had the kimchi avocado toast — the avocado was super fresh, and the toast was crisp and loaded with kimchi and avocado and the other toppings. It was a nice original touch to the avocado toast. My friend had the cold brew and truffle avocado toast and she liked it as well. It gets busy right before noon; we came at an earlier time (10 ish) and there wasn’t too big of a line. It has a few outdoor seating spots, outlets inside (against the walls) so it definitely is a place where you can do work but it could also be too crowded for some people. Parking situation is okay — I think there might be parking for the shop specifically but it might be through a garage or valet; we parked meters on the street. Would highly recommend visiting this coffee shop in ktown for the avocado toast! Great place to catch up...

Killer Cookie; Badass Brownie; Partner loves this place.

Although I didn’t enjoy my Latte, I didn’t order what I should have. Cannot fault a place for serving what I ordered knowing I probably wouldn’t like it. Either this isn’t a place for me and that’s okay or I did it wrong and need a redo. I hope the latter. This is a place for the adventurous spirit in all things. Coffee isn’t that thing for me. I have expectations borne from many travels and throughout them all, I don’t recall coffee being treated so very differently. Concoctions inspired by coffee is how I perceive Alchemy Coffee - and for that they do awesomely. I will try them again and again, experimenting with their wares and offerings until I find the correct concoction to suit my discerning tastes. Why? Because this is a place that puts effort into every aspect, from decor to drinks. It all works without an overly kitschy feel. Thus, I believe that Alchemy Coffee to be deserving the same effort from their patronage. Engage in culinary experiments and discern all that they have for yourself. Remember that you’ll not always order what you want and to adjudicate appropriately.

Hope to give a 5Star review...