Best coffee shop that doesn’t (quite) exist yet

Many new coffee shops have a tendency to be pretentious, what with their overly complex menus and sterile atmospheres. Ryan Harden and Robert Watson of Camellia Coffee Roasters say they want their new venture to be the opposite of all that.

And it is: They don’t even have a coffee shop.

Instead, the two huddle over a makeshift plastic table next door to the empty space. The business partners imagined they would have had a storefront by now at 429 12th Street, but city regulations, such as needing a bathroom 10 inches wider, have set them back three months. “This is definitely not how we envisioned it going,” Harden says.

And yet, since launching in January 2016, they’ve managed to sell their coffee to several local wholesale clients with an ampersand—Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co., Bottle & Barlow, Bean & Barrel—as well as Jungle Bird, Golden Bear and Kasbah Lounge. They collaborate on coffee-forward beers with Ruhstaller and share roasting space with Mast Coffee Co. in Roseville.

Despite not having their own space, their brews are damned good. The house coffee at Bean & Barrel tastes bright, naturally chocolatey and not at all bitter—no need for added sugar here. Instead of name-dropping highbrow bergamot, the coffee bag boasts that it tastes like lowbrow M&M’s. They say they’re trying to make small-batch coffee accessible and unintimidating.

“Everybody’s doing third-wave coffee; we can do it the right way without putting any pressure on the customer,” Watson says.

Harden adds, “We’re here to start your day, not preach to you.”

They plan to open their storefront in the next few months in Alkali Flat, a neighborhood without as many cafes as, say, Midtown. Within the city’s burgeoning coffee scene, they hope to set their brand apart with laid-back vibes. Forgoing the usual steel tables and industrial exposed pipes, the Camellia shop should be pastel-colored and welcoming, the owners say. Inspired by G&B Coffee in Los Angeles, they’re installing a bar with seats so that coffee sippers can linger.

“It’s definitely not gonna be like anything you’ve seen down here,” Watson says.

What is similar? A floor that might become the subject of many an Instagram post, akin to Temple’s penny installation on K Street. At Camellia, terrazzo will sparkle with flecks of crystal and the brand’s signature pink.

“I want it to be one of those things where you walk in and look at your feet and you, like, have to take a picture of it,” Watson says.

https://camelliacoffeeroasters.com.