The Lab Coffee
A true coffee lovers’ paradise — The Lab Coffee is a no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point coffee shop that delivers on what it sets out to do… produce great-tasting coffee. Unlike many other places, The Lab sets itself apart by being a specialty coffee shop that routinely changes the coffee they offer. It also gives you the option of choosing between two regions/origins.
To make things simpler for the consumer, The Lab updates a whiteboard next to the cashier detailing the different brew types, the region/origin of coffee used for that brew type, and the tasting notes you can expect.
All of this together makes for an experience that really makes you feel a part of the process. I find it wild that this hasn’t caught on in the industry. By no means am I saying The Lab is the only shop to do this, but in general, you won’t find many shops that will give you the option of selecting the bean you’d like for your espresso.
The Experience
Nestled in the up-and-coming neighborhood of NOHO, the shop is easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for. It gives you mini-warehouse/garage-type vibes but in the best way possible. It’s as though you’ve walked into a literal “lab” -no pun intended- for coffee experiments, and you’ve been chosen to partake in the tasting.
My favorite thing about the shop, though, besides the coffee, was the baristas. I was not used to that level of friendliness and patience in the post-pandemic era. I’m sure they could have easily talked for hours about the intricate details regarding their coffee beans and why they chose them, but for the sanity of my wife, I settled on simply placing our order.
As always, I gravitated over to their retail selection and scoped out some of their products to see what they were selling. They carried some branded merchandise, locally roasted coffee beans, and something I’d never seen before, coffee jute bags!
Lastly, for my workaholics, The Lab offers high-speed 5G internet for free and plenty of places to stretch out. I will say, however, the place can get pretty loud being that it’s a relatively small and open layout. So if you plan on working here, just know that you may want to schedule your meetings for another time.
The Coffee
Let’s get down to the brass tacks, the liquid gold. “How was it?” you might be wondering… One word… Fantastic :)
As I stated earlier, they offered two different beans to choose from, and on this day, the options were either: Colombian or Honduran.
I ordered a flat white with oat milk, per usual, and a shot of espresso, for which I chose to go with the Colombian roast. My wife opted for the cold brew and paired it with the Honduran bean. All were equally delicious.
The espresso itself was bursting with flavor. It was bright, complex, and had plenty of texture. The flat white, while not a triple, held its own and offered a balanced taste that gave you just enough flavor of coffee combined nicely with the nuttiness of the oat milk.
Summary
I’m honestly a bit annoyed at myself for neglecting this place for as long as I have. It’s easy to forget how good this place is since it closes so early every day and is tucked away from the rest of the world. If you’re truly serious about your coffee, make this place your next destination. If you aren’t that into coffee, make this place your next destination. Really… Go… You’re welcome.
