Kettl Tea - Los Feliz — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Love LOVE Kettl for their Shirakawa matcha!

Weeks later, I'm still shook from their hot Shirakawa (default unsweetened) with whole milk. If you prefer fuller umami flavor with no cocoa notes and minimal bitterness, THIS is the matcha to get!

Kettl's Shirakawa is the only matcha latte and cortado that harkens me back to Uji (like the critic in Ratatouille's nostalgia). I was visiting a friend in LA and came on two weekdays ~10/11am. Kettl's matcha latte and cortado are probably the most matcha-umami I've had in the USA, so kudos to the producers/harvesters and baristas for bringing it stateside 😭

The baristas are also super friendly and nice. Thanks Seidel! (sp?). I came back not once but TWICE on my 3-day trip to have their matcha latte and cortado. Minor caveat is I tried my friend's Suiteki latte with oat milk, but it felt too washed out by her oat milk, but I'm more averse to oat milk. I usually enjoy floral notes (i.e. jasmine matchas), so it could be fine with whole milk.

Be warned, their Shirakawa matcha is SOOOO good that it has RUINED my enjoyment in the best way possible of my go-to coffeeshops in SF for matcha lattes as they pale in comparison. I have since conspired with my friend to buy me a 100g bag of shirakawa that I now enjoy at home 🏡 and will look forward to my next visit to LA/NYC.

If Kettl is taking suggestions for upcoming locations to open, PLEASE COME TO SAN...

I’ve been in there several times to buy loose leaf tea.

The first time was great. Nice vibe, interesting teas, though unfortunately their loose leaf tea selection is very small and a number of them are super expense ($150 for 10g of tea?)

The second time I went in and the tea that was marked as $26 on the shelf was rang up as $35 at the register. I pointed out the price on the sign and they apologized and said the sign was incorrect but they were printing new ones and they sold me the tea for the advertised price. All good, mistakes happen.

Today I went back and the tea that was marked $32 dollars was rang up as $35 dollars, but this time they refused to honor the price on the shelf and said “well do you want it or not”.

I left without getting the tea and I will not be going back.

How many other teas are a different price at the register than on the shelf and why aren’t they fixing it? It was always on the expensive side but I liked the tea and I liked supporting a smaller business in the neighborhood, but the whole snarky interaction and the fact that they are still advertising incorrect prices and refusing to do anything about it...

This is a special place for people who appreciate Japanese tea. Nowhere else can I walk in and have a few steeps of sencha or gyokuro (from different regions of Japan) served in beautiful ceramic pieces. We had this beautiful gyokuro kirari 31 that my daughter previously only had in Fukuoka. Nowhere else can I have different types of matcha from Yame served usucha as it should be. Finally there's a place for people like me who don't like matcha drowned in milk and sugar or cream topped or sitting in a syrup for easy preparation for lattes which is what a lot of cafés do. I enjoy kettl's sparkling matcha and matcha cortado. I appreciate the knowledgeable staff, a few I know study chado. I also love the beautiful tools I purchased from this store and added to my daily rituals. Don't sleep on their matcha and houjicha chocolates. They're so good, my friends who live in Japan request them for omiyage. I recommend the soba cha, it's easy to brew at any time of the day and lovely with some oat milk. The Koetsu and Jou Yanagi houjicha are...