Kuni Nishimura
Google
If you’re looking for high quality speciality third wave coffee in LIC, this is it. While you have the grungy aesthetic, pretentious staff, and decent coffee at Sweet Leaf, here you have an elegant space, professional and friendly staff, and top notch coffee.
Coffee beans: 5/5 absolutely amazing, delicious beans with a diverse collection to choose from and frequent new releases. I appreciate their selection of beans with a variety of processing methods, especially many of the newer methods.
Drinks: 5/5 besides the typical drinks at a coffee shop, they have some unique ones which are a delicious treat. I love that they also have a variety of pour over options here, which is great if you’re interested in buying their beans and want to try a cup before committing to a whole bag.
Space: 4.5/5 very spacious with several seating options and an elegant aesthetic. My main issue with the space is lack of outlets for working from a laptop and the only tables next to an outlet are a bit small for me.
Service: 5/5 all of the staff I’ve interacted with are friendly, helpful, patient (bc as someone who’s incredibly indecisive, I need that), knowledgeable, and skilled (one of their baristas, Flook, is a recent US latte art champion I believe).
My only other issue is the operation hours. Wish they were open longer or else I’d visit far more often! Otherwise, it’s one of my favorite coffee shops and roasters.