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coffee, a walking culture
Coffee is a culture. In honor of it, this instameet was to play and pay homage to the culture that coffee influences by incorporating some of its themes: story, art and music at three of our stops: Intelligentsia Venice Coffee Bar, Groundwork and Menotti’s Coffee Stop.
We started in historic Venice at Intelligentsia Venice Coffeebar, a hallmark of Los Angeles coffee culture for its design, coffee training and customer service. While there Intelligentsia Venice’s manager Joshua Brancazio gave us a history of Intelligentsia and Intelligentsia Venice and its role to the culture of coffee in Los Angeles. Punctuating the tale was L.A.’s own Christopher ‘Nicely’ Abel detailing the landscape of roasting and coffee culture its past, the now and the future.
Then, we walked to Groundwork, off the historic Venice Boardwalk. One of Los Angeles’ oldest roasters, it was an honor to visit and pay homage to this staple of coffee culture which is situated next to the historic Waldorf. With a long history of providing locals with great tea, coffee and community, we allowed the street life surrounding it to inspire our own art and participated creating live portrait drawings using the blind contour method. I ordered a chai latte, it was just about the finest one I’ve had all year.
Then, we walked the boardwalk to our final stop, Menotti’s, where one of the owners, Derek G. Taylor, prepared a vinyl dj mix of music for us including the likes of Cheba and Curtis Mayfield. While there, we danced, we sipped on an Iced French Press of Bolivian Inquisivi, and finished with a round of cortados and grandma lattes – spanish style. This was my first instameet and a first for many others.
This was my first instameet – its intimacy, its community, its intention was a revelation to me and I believe all of us for the power of being image makers and being lovers of culture. This day, we walked not just for coffee but for what coffee culture inspires: human connection. I’ll be sharing more images soon. #cupUP