City Bean Roasters

This should be your go-to spot for coffee beans if you care about quality and freshness! They have a broad range of origins and roasts to satisfy nearly anyone. I’m particularly fond of My Old Friend for perfect balance in a cappuccino or other espresso drinks. The roasts are consistent every time. You can see why they do so much wholesale with some of the best restaurants in town. Parking is a little challenging, but doable… or take the metro E line, it’s a very short walk from the LaBrea stop.

My husband and I absolutely love this little hidden gem of a coffee business! It’s such a cozy shop — when the owner is there he’s so friendly. We love their beans and always make sure to refill. We’ve been coming here for over a year now, driving out of our neighborhood just to support a local business :) What we want to call out is that the guy who works there in the mornings (who is not the owner) always gives us very non-welcoming energy. Doesn’t pick up his head to greet us, kind of gives us attitude when we ask for his advice (like, shouldn’t he be excited to engage with us and share his opinions on different blends?) and makes snide remarks when we check out. (Don’t want to name specific bc don’t want to get targeted since we do go there basically every month.) We always give service employees benefit of the doubt. Everyone has bad days. At first, that’s what we thought it was, but we’ve had this experience multiple times now and it just feels like maybe this guy doesn’t love working there in a retail facing customer service position. Maybe he could transition to a role where he can fully express himself or he could get some training. In any case, please support this place! We love that City Bean, a little spot like this, is still in business after all these years and would love for them to continue to succeed and get your business! You’re buying coffee anyway. Might as well do it at a local spot with great coffee!

Been coming here for about a year. Always have great chats about coffee with Al and the other staff. Really good beans and very affordable, one of the best in LA!

Great, locally-roasted coffee. Excellent quality and nice, steady guidance from Al working in the front (that's Al like Allen or Alfred, not artificial intelligence 😀)!

They don’t make it easy to get in as the door is locked and you have to ring the bell. They are very nice and small operation local roasters

Friendly service, COVID clean measures, great tasting coffee with more than enough varieties. They had a plentiful assortment from light to dark roasts, about 10+ roasts to choose from. Coffee goes for $10-12 per 12 oz bag. Just brewed this morning and wonderful artisanal taste. Greatly enjoyed the Ethiopian Sidamo I brewed this morning and it had flavors just like the label said. berry jam and sweet shortbread. Loving this spot.

Have subscribed to their monthly 3-bag coffee box for about two years now, always been happy with the roasts/beans. Also like stopping in the store from time to time to snag a special roast or when we run out. The Nighthawk Blend is an amazing dark roast and we've also been enjoying the lighter roasts too. The roast consistency from bag to bag is also quite strong, means minimal fiddling with grind settings to get good pour-over going each time we get a new batch. Strongly recommend!

AL IS A GREAT GUY, GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS. I WISH THEY WOULD CLOSE AT 5PM ONSTEAD OF 4PM. I AM A REPEAT CUSTOMER.

I finally stopped in and explored City Bean. What a wonderful experience. The smell of Coffee brings me joy. The variety of beans was extensive and I was provided with an explanation of the many strengths and flavors. I had never seen a green bean . You can actually purchase and roast your own beans at home I took home two different beans which were fresh ground for me. One for French press the other grind for Keurig I will be back to resupply and try other varieties

Excellent coffee at a fair price. I always enjoy stopping in to pick up some medium-roast tasty beans.

Both the coffee and hospitality were unbeatable. Had an amazing experience with Sol & Arno. They were both so helpful and accommodating!

The store has been around for 30 years. They roast their own coffees and they have many great selection, including the un-roasted ones. I bought Indigo after reading a review, and it is a strong aromatic coffee for espresso. I really like it. And so does my partner. They also host an baristas class sometimes (check their web) which I someday should attend :) Tips: bring cash for a discount. They give you 1 to 5 bucks (depending on size) discounted price for customers paying with cash

Starting purchasing beans for espresso! Highly recommend their '92 beans. Their Guatemalan beans are also tasty. Pro tip: they offer cash discounts. They also sell tea leaves, which I'll check them out next time! There are street parking along West View St. Never had problem finding parking there and I'm usually in and out within 5-10 min!

Best coffee spot ever . Lots of different coffee to choose from. I've been patronizing this business for years. Great people Great Coffee.

No parking but great prices and fantastic customer service. Popular beans in bags plus a small cold brew selection.

Picked up a bag of their espresso beans! The guy at the front of the counter was friendly and knowledgeable. I also decided to get a glass of their $5 nitro coffee, which was pretty standard tasting, no astringency in the backend. The mouthfeel was not as smooth as other nitros I've tasted. Overall, a good local location for good beans.

Friendly service, COVID clean measures, great tasting coffee with more than enough varieties. They had a plentiful assortment from light to dark roasts, about 10+ roasts to choose from. Coffee goes for $10-12 per 12 oz bag. Just brewed this morning and wonderful artisanal taste. Greatly enjoyed the Ethiopian Sidamo I brewed this morning and it had flavors just like the label said. berry jam and sweet shortbread. Loving this spot.

Due to Covid-19, I've been exploring mail order coffees. Since I've been here before in the good old days, I checked out their delivery options. We got the freeship promo (April 2020) and bought 3 12 oz packages of beans for $37.10 and it arrived here in LA in 2 days. They have wonderful descriptions so that you can make an easy choice. Highly recommended during the shutdown!

Great spot. Great beans. Great service! Parking can be tricky sometimes. Find a side street nearby. Go!

I go every two weeks and grab two bags! Super well priced and well roasted - I've tried some of the other roasters in LA but their prices are absurd. For almost half, I can come here and just appreciate a roastery that knows what they're doing.

Had a great experience here - the gentleman working was very friendly and gave me a great tip on de-gassing fresh espresso beans. And they have nitro cold brew on tap which is DELICIOUS!! So smooth I drank it black. Will definitely come back.

Dude was kinda of dick. I am looking to buy in bulk. He was definitely not welcoming or considerate enough to provide the type of service I expect from a potential supplier. Off the list for sure as a potential source.

Haven't had coffee beans this flavorful. Taste just like the "Notes" describe and that's very rare.

My friend told me about this place and I came through just before the city shut down to pick up a few bags of beans. This place is a wholesale, high end coffee roastery and they sell extra portions of beans at a price point that is a steal considering the quality. When you arrive, you have to buzz to have someone come open the door because they don't really have a coffee shop in the traditional sense but someone will come let you in and introduce you to the beans they have. I picked up 2 blends and one bag of Ethiopian. Prices for 12 oz bags range from $9-$12. They are CASH only and only sell whole bean! Good to know in advance. I tried the OG blend, the Westwood and the Ethiopian. Each bag has the roast date listed on it, so you have a sense of how fresh they are when you buy it. Lindsay was the person who was helping me and she was super informative and friendly. The Ethiopian was light and bright in flavor. I think my favorite was the OG, which was the richest of the three bags, but all of them were amazing. They have practically no bitterness to them because they are roasted so well. For the quality and price, I can't imagine buying coffee anywhere else in the city. So glad to have discovered this spot! Thanks for your incredible product, City Bean! I will definitely be back soon - I'm almost out!

A coffee connoisseur's kinda of place. Coffee is always roasted to perfection. Great selection of premium roasted beans to suit all kinds of tastes. Great place to beans if you're a home brewer. Staff is knowledgeable and friendly.

The standard all other LA Coffee Roasters should be compared to. Prices are significantly lower than the competition while quality is right up there with the rest. Amazing ethos to this place as well, all the employees get a cut of the profit. We order a 5 lb bag at a time, which lasts us approximately a month, and order the next batch when we're done with the current one. We have not bought coffee from any other roaster since finding City Bean.

Really lovely coffee. Their OG Decaf is by far the best tasting decaf I've ever had. Honestly the only decaf roast I've ever had a craving for rather than just having it to avoid the caffeine. Give them a shot if you're ever in the area.

Well I'm a Blue Bottle/ Intelligentsia type of guy myself. But the folks here really came through during these hard COVID times. Their beans were fresh and smelled of berries and vanilla notes. Authentic, fresh, & gourmet. Recommend one hundred percent. Thank you CBR

I will never buy beans from another roaster again. Every bag I've bought from City Bean has been memorable to drink, from juicy organic light roasts to their rich and complex dark roasts. They often stock bags of beans that were roasted on the very day you walk in, but even the bags that have had ten days to breathe are still vibrant with flavor. When you spend $20 a bag here, you're getting what you pay for and then some, supporting a neighborhood roaster whose enthusiasm for good coffee shows in their product. Pay with cash for a small but appreciated discount.

I usually buy my beans from some of the bigger coffee shops but ever since COVID, I've been trying to find more local roasters to buy from. Going here reminds you of why that's so important and just how pleasant the experience can be. I've generally been buying in large batches and just freezing my beans, which is what I was going to do here. When I mentioned that, the dude in front told me that it would probably be better to just buy less and get more beans once I run out. Was very surprised that someone would be telling me to buy less of their product. We had a small chat about a few coffee roasters and he even gave me a few recommendations of other roasters that are in LA. This shopping experience alone, makes me feel like I need to come back even before I tried the beans that I bought. The beans were fantastic and are actually very cheap, but I will be back to explore the other beans they have solely because from my first experience here, I felt like this place was run by people who just genuinely love coffee. I could feel the love and care for their product and coffee in general. That is the reason I will be back and what makes me feel even more of a need to visit local roasters. If you're a coffee nerd, this is one of the places in the area that I feel like you need to try. Part of the experience with visiting these smaller local roasters is the ability to just chat and nerd out about coffee with the person working there.

I got freshly roasted beans. They have a great variety of blends and other accessories. I came almost at closing time so I'm guessing that's why the person in the front desk seemed a bit unfriendly. Overall I found a great spot for freshly tasted beans.

Love love love City Bean. They're my go-to for whole beans and the most affordable high-quality local beans I could find. And they do accept credit card now! No more Venmo though. I biked there and it's pretty easy with the bike lane on Jefferson. For parking, there's no bike rack but there's a street sign nearby. Alternatively the E (Expo) line Expo/La Brea stop is within walking distance.

Went there with a gift certificate and it was a real find. This is the antithesis of the mass coffee establishments. They roast beans; they taste test various combinations of beans; they sell specialty coffee makers; and they are knowledgeable about what they sell.

I come by every few weeks and buy two bags. They are 12 oz each. For $20 and under, I get high quality beans from a local business. My favorite are the dark roasts, especially the Aga blend but I like to mix roasts to experience different tastes. If you want something specific, like an espresso roast, try calling in the morning and they may have a bag available for you. They also sell a few coffee making items in the little storefront.

Very helpful in selecting the type of beans. The girl entertains all my questions about techniques in making espresso drinks. I come here almost every week to purchase the organic beans. You pay cash, which is ok but I wish they accept CC. Parking is tough and I use the parking for Jack in the Box a few doors down to quickly grab my bag of beans. Great product and love the taste.

This place is theee best. Love the quality of the beans and appreciate the many organic options they offer. Love how they give a discount ($1 per bag) if you pay cash. And love the reusable glass jars for cold brew (pay $6 the first time, bring back your jar for $4 refills)!

This is a very cool place and I'm so excited to have discovered it in my neighborhood!! Prices are great, coffee is the best and I can't wait to become a regular.

Excellent--really excellent--roasters. Nothing sits out waiting for customers long, so it's fresh, actually too fresh if you're not carful, since freshly roasted whole bean coffee should have a few days (or so I'm told) to de-gas until you grind it. They're also knowledgable and really nice, and the prices are really good. Only downside is parking - there's very little of it. But it's worth it, just pick your time to go carefully.

First off I want to say if you're coming here for espresso, GET THE NEW INDIGO BLEND!! I want to give a special shout out to Al. Every time I go in here we always talk for at least a few minutes and this dude is a VESSEL of coffee knowledge. I always walk out of here learning something new an interesting that ultimately amplifies my skills. I'm buying mostly for a home espresso setup (although I've tried their winter solstice blend [as intended] and it makes an excellent cold brew). I couldn't recommend the indigo higher, to anyone who is looking for a excellent espresso blend at a very fair price factoring in everything, but a big emphasis on freshness. Their coffee on the shelf is always at that sweet spot ~3 days~ old from roasting where all the CO2 has escaped and it's ready to brew the perfect, freshest coffee. Shout out to this place I'm so happy I found out about it and that it's walking distance from my house (although I'd happily drive across town to come here).

They sell organic green coffee beans, un roasted, quick to purchase, and I like that.

Tracked this place down when I saw it on the co-op website. I had no idea this special place existed! I'm a bit reluctant to tell the world about it because of my hipster mentality but this place deserves all the accolades!! I enjoyed the whole process of ringing the doorbell and buying the super freshly roasted beans but the true test was the taste of the coffee after making a cup at home--it was a few weeks ago but I think we got the Timor and it was delicious!! Will definitely be making this a regular stop.

I happened upon this location by mistake. I usually buy beans from other locations around the city like Intelligentsia, Demitasse or Blue Bottle, all real great roasters. However I tried a bag from City Bean Roasters and I was very pleasantly surprised. The quality and notes are exceptional and it is less expensive than the other roasters. This is now my go to place to buy beans. All of you coffee connoisseurs won't be disappointed, and you'll save a buck.

Such vibrant yummy coffee. Great fast shipping with cafe and cute packaging! I purchased the Ethiopia and Costa Rica. I brewed a cup of each this morning and they were so flavorful. I definitely will be purchasing my beans here from now on!

Just stopped by. Picked up 2 bags. They roast daily. The entrance is on Jefferson blvd. Ring the doorbell and someone will open it for you. All the employees seem super friendly. Beans taste pretty good quality in my opinion.

Nothing like supporting local businesses especially during these times. I tried the Westwood and Columbia Cauca women's cooperative. I wasn't sure what varieties were in the Westwood. It was ok, but not really to my tastes. It was kind of bland. I like a bright coffee with sweet and tart flavor- which was exactly what the Columbia Cauca tasted like. Good stuff. I'm going to try some of their other varieties. Always looking for the ultimate coffee!

The customer service and quality of the coffee was outstanding. The gentleman was extremely helpful and helped me decide the best roast for ice cold coffee. Definitely worth the drive from Pasadena. I can't wait to restock my coffee supply.

Love it here! The moonlight blend is fantastic. I truly taste its notes, which seem to be dark chocolate, toasted almonds and caramel...! Incredibly delectable! Friendly staff and they seem to be taking the importance of safety during these times very seriously, which I appreciate!

Really nice people, really nice varieties - it's my "go to place" for fresh beans! They were so accommodating - they ground each bag of beans separately and quickly.

Great little space that offers freshly roasted beans (my bag of Ethiopian was 48 hrs old) from a surprising amount of regions! $12 for a bag, for quality, a wholesaler right to the public. I'm in the West Adams area so this was a no-brainer for me. Support local, support craftsmanship!

This is one of those "best kept secret" kind of places. Fresh roasted coffee at wholesale prices! Good stuff. No credit cards tho-- be warned.

City Bean Roasters know how to roast and their varieties are full and round. Say "NO" to overly roasted burnt coffee and "YES" to some City Bean!

This is my favorite place in LA to buy coffee. A find. The best in the city, especially for the price. Always fresh, always options, it's very speak easy-- I used to be a member of coffee delivery services until finding City Bean. I am forever yours. Please don't change. City Bean Roasters are perfect.

Great coffee beans in great price. Cash only so make sure you bring cash. They mainly do wholesale to local coffee shops, and sell any fresh leftovers in their office. Because they are leftovers of the day, their lineup of coffee beans is different every time, which is a great opportunity to try different kinds of beans. Finding parking might be a little tricky.

This is a great place, my friend told me about it and I stopped to pick up a bag of coffee today. Excellent prices and a super chill vibe

This is my new favorite coffee. A friend recommended it to me and I love it! Not only does it taste great but I appreciate the company values and commitment to sustainability.

Called them to see if they had espresso available in the 5lb bag and the Gentleman who assisted was kind, confirming the they had it available. He said it would be at the counter when I arrived. He also mentioned the cash discount on the 20 ounce bags.