Best Cafes in Los Angeles 2026 — Top Coffee Shops, Specialty Roasters and Brunch Cafes in LA

Best Cafes in Los Angeles 2026

Los Angeles has one of the United States' most vibrant and influential café scenes — LA's specialty coffee culture developed in parallel with, and sometimes ahead of, New York and San Francisco, with pioneering roasters like Intelligentsia (original Chicago, but LA's Silver Lake location helped define the West Coast scene) and Verve Coffee Roasters helping shape national specialty coffee culture. LA's car-dependent geography means cafes are neighbourhood destinations rather than on walk-by routes. This guide covers the best cafes in Los Angeles in 2026.

LA Cafe Culture Overview

• Silver Lake and Los Feliz have LA's most established independent specialty café culture — these Eastside neighbourhoods have a dense café scene that functions more like a walkable city than the rest of sprawling LA; the Venice and Abbot Kinney corridor has an upscale beach café scene; Highland Park has an emerging specialty café scene at more affordable prices than Silver Lake; DTLA (Downtown LA) has a growing café scene in revitalised areas like the Arts District

Best LA Cafe Neighbourhoods

• Silver Lake's Sunset Junction area has LA's best concentration of independent specialty cafes in a walkable neighbourhood setting; Abbot Kinney in Venice has LA's most design-forward beach-adjacent café scene; Highland Park's York Boulevard has an excellent emerging café strip; the Arts District in DTLA has converted warehouse cafes popular with LA's creative community; Echo Park has affordable neighbourhood cafes with a younger, more bohemian clientele

What to Order at an LA Cafe

• Single-origin pour-over at a Silver Lake specialty roaster; matcha latte (LA's specialty café scene has embraced Japanese matcha culture more broadly than most US cities); cold brew (developed in LA as a response to the warm climate); açaí bowl or avocado toast as café food (LA café staples that have since spread globally); green juice alongside coffee (the LA wellness influence on café culture is strong)

LA Cafe Prices 2026

• Specialty latte or cortado: $6-9; Cold brew: $5.50-8; Avocado toast or açaí bowl: $14-22; Brunch at Venice or Silver Lake café: $22-42 per person

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