Tien NguyenHappy belated National Coffee Day — or not, since every day is national coffee day, isn't it? Just little over a year after it opened its first location on Beverly Boulevard, Andante Coffee Roasters opened a second shop in Echo Park on Monday, taking over the space formerly occupied by The Hedgehog at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Mohawk Street. Should you happen to need a caffeine fix before your beer one, note that the cafe is mere footsteps away from Mohawk Bend.
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Andante Coffee Roasters in Echo Park; Credit: T. Nguyen
Co-owned by Steve Hyun and Tommy Kim, Andante's Echo Park shop is bright, if slightly industrial. Espresso drinks include specialty coffee standards (cortados) and a few not-so-standards (vanilla lattes!), and there's a neat row of V60 cones and nifty kettles that the very friendly crew use to meticulously brew some of the better pour-over coffees in town. Currently, there are six coffees available on the pour-over bar, including a decaf option; the menu includes tasting notes to give you a rough idea of what your cup will taste like (the notes for the Brazilian coffee, for example: “peanut butter, dark chocolate”). And if you'd like to further support your new neighborhood coffee roaster, retail bags of Andante's beans are available on the shelves.
For those who don't generally celebrate coffee on any day, Andante also has teas and tea lattes, or you can pop in to grab a cold-pressed juice. Larder Baking Company provides croissants, brownies and other pastries.
As with the first shop, this Andante is very laptop-friendly: there's wifi, easily accessible outlets for plugging in and, between the tables along the wall and the large communal table, ample room for your elbows and your MacBook.
Andante Coffee Roasters in Echo Park is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Andante Coffee Roasters in Echo Park; Credit: T. Nguyen
Editor's note: This post has been edited since initial publication.
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