Amy L.
Yelp
I don't personally relate to the goal of this store at all. It is the epitome of The New Valencia Street, uber-gentrified and geared towards monied techies who are obsessed with getting the ultimate pour-over coffee experience. I love good coffee as much as the next girl, but my french press at home does me just fine, so long as I use good beans.
When I walked into this cavernous store, I noted how empty it felt, how few items they had on display...given the rents on Valencia St, that was my first warning that the price tags would be hefty! The kettles are admittedly stylish visually, with a modern, neo-Scandanavian aesthetic. Then I started noticing the prices...WOW!!! They have a bunch of wildly expensive kettles that they advertise as being "for coffee lovers", with price tags starting around $80 and going up to almost $200!! These aren't large kettles, either, so if you're looking to heat water for something other than your pour-over brew, it might not be of a sufficient size.
I use an electric kettle everyday at home, admittedly mostly for large pots of tea. But I also use it for boiling water for all sorts of other things, from instant oatmeal to my slow cooker, and yes, my french press. The kettles this store sells are way more expensive than mine, and aren't marketed for other purposes besides making coffee. It's hard for me to imagine preferring this single-tasker, but again, if you're obsessed with the pour-over coffee world, this might be your, *achem*, cup of tea.
Other items featured included a pour-over device for $59...that's not including any device or pitcher with which to catch the brewed coffee underneath! It has half the functionality of my french press for literally twice the price I paid!
But the part that really got me (and the reason I'm giving this place a two-star rating) was that the employees completely ignored me and my partner while we walked around the store. No one said hello, offered us any guidance, or even batted an eyelash in our direction. There were *maybe* two other customers in the store, also walking around unassisted. It struck me as odd that a store that obviously sells such specialty items doesn't go out of its way to train staff to make sure folks who walk in are immediately enlightened as to the value of this rather pricey set of wares!
I guess that's what really bothered me: An utter lack of customer interaction from the staff.
I can find no reason to ever go back to this store. I love coffee and I love using an electric kettle, but not enough to invest in anything from this store. If, however, you are a hipster pour-over coffee devotee, maybe this is a place you'd want to put on your shopping agenda to visit...but be prepared to aggressively seek out assistance from staff when you visit, because if your experience is anything like mine, they might not approach you.