Mad Lab Coffee

5508 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019, USA

SPECIALTY

Mad Lab Coffee is a specialty coffee shop located in Los Angeles. Check in here with the Pulled Coffee app to earn real cash rewards. Specialty shops count toward all challenges including Pulled 50, Pulled 100, and Pulled 300.

Mad Lab Coffee on West Pico Boulevard in Mid-City Los Angeles is run by founders Andrew and Sarah Sinclair, who started the operation in their basement when Andrew began experimenting with roasting in 2015. Partner Rob Vinokur runs the business side. The Pico Boulevard cafe opens at 7 AM seven days, and the program is built around neighbors-serving-neighbors as Andrew first framed it. Order an espresso if you came for the program Andrew built out of his own roasting work. Order a drip if you want the bar in the Pico Boulevard room.

About Los Angeles

Los Angeles specialty coffee built outward from a roasting culture rather than from cafes. Groundwork Coffee Co. has been roasting certified organic coffee in Los Angeles since 1990, one of the longest running organic programs in the city, with the Arts District cafe on Traction Avenue a few blocks from the Sixth Street bridge. Intelligentsia opened the Venice cafe on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in 2010 in a converted bungalow with a generous patio, the kind of room that became the template for a decade of Westside specialty design.

The neighborhood map runs the length of the basin. The Arts District holds Groundwork on Traction and Alfred Coffee at 714 Traction. Venice and Abbot Kinney carry Intelligentsia and the Westside specialty bench. Downtown anchors Cognoscenti Coffee Roastery at 1118 San Julian in the Fashion District and Birdies on Olympic and Hill, two blocks from the Convention Center, where the kitchen runs free-range fried chicken and donuts hourly. Carthay covers Lo/Cal Coffee and Market on South Fairfax Avenue, with the first Lo/Cal opening in 2014. The Cumulus complex at La Cienega and Jefferson holds Alchemist Coffee Project a few minutes south of Culver City.

The wider region extends into the South Bay and Glendale. Ambrosia Coffee Roasters anchors North Fries Avenue in Wilmington, where founder John Phan pulls every shot on a manual espresso machine. Long Beach holds Common Room Roasters at 2952 East 14th, a purpose-built space with a barista training academy and a front patio. Glendale carries Urartu on North Artsakh Avenue, where owner Urik and his son Youra opened the Armenian-themed family operation in 2004 and built it into a second home for the neighborhood's Armenian community.