For the coffee lovers in the city, Handsome Coffee Roasters presents an early holiday gift: a December opening date. The coffee company founded by 2010 World Barista Champion Michael Phillips, Tyler Wells, and Chris Owens — all of whom left top positions at Intelligentsia to pursue their own version of the coffee ideal — is on track to open its retail space soon in a converted warehouse in the industrial section of Downtown.

Seating capacity at the shop will be between thirty and forty people, and Handsome promises to serve its own brand of coffee without the indifferently snobby attitude recently parodied in a Funny or Die video.

And, as we mentioned earlier, Handsome's ethos extends as far as its menu board. If you want is a simple cup of drip coffee, there will be no performance art or theatrics to show off latest brewing methods. If you want an espresso drink, you'll be able to specify exactly how much (whole) milk you would like with your shot. This focus on the customer experience, they hope, will convince you to follow their lead when they firmly but politely deny you sugar for your coffee.

While they build out their space, Handsome is spreading its beans throughout the city. In addition to CoffeeBar and Cognoscenti Coffee, you can find Handsome's beans on the machines at Chimney Brick Toast Coffee House near Chinatown and, from now until the end of the month, at Demitasse in Little Tokyo.

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