Kumquat Coffee

Kumquat is a multi-roaster, which is the whole proposition: curated selections from top roasters and origins worldwide, rotating so the shelf never looks the same twice. The Highland Park room is sleek and all white, and quiet in a way that has become rare. Baristas work through one of the ten pour-overs on the menu while people browse shelves of Japanese coffee filters and imported chocolates. It is a contemplative place to drink coffee. The creative side is genuinely creative. A Tennessee iced latte with smoked salt, a cloudy latte under peanut butter foam, milk tea with coconut cream, masala chai, and a Kumquat Tonic that can be made with matcha. The current owner menu also names its two Uji ceremonial teas, Sokuchouzan and Jouraku, rather than collapsing them into a generic ceremonial latte. The official location list covers the original Highland Park room, downtown, and Quat LA in Glassell Park, the group's cafe-roastery-retail compound. We would take one of the named ceremonial teas and a bar of whatever chocolate is new on the shelf.