Los Angeles, CA (March 4, 2022) – Equator Coffees, the sustainable B Corp coffee roasting company known for boutique chef blends and Fair Trade organic coffees, opens its first-ever Southern California cafe in Culver City at Ivy Station today. Founded by partners Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, the company has been craft roasting in the Bay Area for over 25 years. Equator Coffees’ newest location in their collection of bustling cafes marks the company’s first-ever cafe in Southern California. The 1400 square feet, 50+ seat indoor-outdoor cafe joins Equator Coffees’ ten beloved Northern California outposts. Equator Coffees’ focus on quality, sustainability and social responsibility makes it poised to be a welcome addition to the Los Angeles area, and the thriving and culturally vibrant community of Culver City.
To celebrate Equator Coffees’ arrival in Southern California 10% of the Ivy Station cafe’s opening week sales will be donated to the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which provides health, housing, education and social services to thousands of LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond.
“Making people’s lives better through coffee informs every connection we make, from farmer to roaster to the barista preparing your cup, and to consumers and the communities that our cafes inhabit” says Helen Russell, Co-founder of Equator Coffees. “We are excited to join the burgeoning community of Culver City, and to have the opportunity to offer families, professionals, and visitors alike, delicious coffees from around the world with distinct flavor profiles that are ethically sourced.”
Equator’s brewed coffee and specialty drinks are truly special, and the Culver City cafe will offer their seasonal single origin pour over program, a choice between the house Tigerwalk espresso blend and a rotating seasonal single origin espresso, a delightful menu of specialty espresso beverages such as shakeratos and the Habibi latte, as well as a full selection of whole bean coffee, including their #1 seller and devotee-favorite, the full-bodied Equator Blend, and the Washed Gesha and Natural Gesha coffees from Panama’s Finca Sophia Coffee Farm. Building upon their long standing relationship with the culinary community, Equator will partner with celebrated LA chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken on the Socalo Spiced Latte, a signature cafe de olla-inspired latte with piloncillo, cinnamon, and star anise, a Guava Empanadas, as well as a new bagged coffee collaboration – ‘Mary Sue and Susan’s SOCALO Las Rosas, Colombia’ – a medium roast produced by the Las Rosas Women’s Coffee Project of West Hulia, Colombia; all available at the new Culver City cafe. The all-day menu, bearing a SoCal twist, will offer pastries from Farmshop Market in Santa Monica and artisanal breads from Bub & Grandmas’.
Equator Coffees collaborated with Kellie Patry Design to create a cafe inspired by the California topography and the metro line which runs parallel to the Ivy Station location and seamlessly flows into the building’s adjacent public greenspace. The streamlined interior is imbued with color, futurism, and playfulness, and the design connects the interior and patio with curving white oak benches, offering a subtle homage to metro design. The cafe features details like a tile mural by Thomas Williams mimicking ocean waves, and Louis Poulsen’s pendants wash light over the dining room. On designing the new cafe, Patry reflects: “Forward-thinking, Helen and Brooke’s journey along the Equator is at the core of my inspiration. Equator Coffees is a tireless savvy welcoming company led by equally stirring women. I think of the cafe as Flapper Chrome morphed into Espresso Futurism, at a metro stop in Culver City.”
Equator Coffees’ Culver City location will feature Ground Control ‘Cyclops’ brewers, allowing for Equator’s renowned coffees to shine. This cutting edge coffee brewer creates a layered brew via a multiple extraction, full immersion brewing process. Brewing coffee through the eyes of chemistry is a hallmark of Equator’s philosophy, which is driven home by the Ivy Station cafe’s addition of the La Marzocco KB90 espresso machine; a uniquely precise piece of brewing equipment that is designed to eliminate physical stress, allowing baristas an empowering working environment where they can dial in the most delectable drinks imaginable.
About Equator Coffees
In 1995, Equator Founders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell began their values-driven path, roasting coffee in a Marin County, CA garage. Possessing an obsessive commitment to green coffee sourcing and unparallelled roasting expertise, Helen and Brooke have committed 25+ years to sustainable & fair trade coffee practices all in the name of creating a remarkable coffee experience for consumers. Today, Equator Coffees is a retail and wholesale coffee roaster & coffee farm owner with ten retail cafes throughout Northern California – from Marin County to San Francisco to Oakland and beyond – to their eleventh (opening soon), and first Southern California shop, in Los Angeles. Throughout the years, Equator Coffees has spearheaded industry-leading sourcing and roasting practices, and has forged progressive partnerships with Michelin-starred chefs, specialty grocers, tech campuses, and more. Women-owned, LGBTQ-founded and an early adopter of Fair Trade certification, Equator Coffees is the first California coffee roaster to achieve B-Corp Certification. https://www.equatorcoffees.com/
About Los Angeles LGBT Center
Since 1969 the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond. Today the Center’s nearly 800 employees provide services for more LGBT people than any other organization in the world, offering programs, services, and global advocacy that span four broad categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, Leadership and Advocacy. We are an unstoppable force in the fight against bigotry and the struggle to build a better world; a world in which LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org. Instagram: @lalgbtcenter | Twitter: @LALGBTCenter | Facebook: @lalgbtcenter
Photos by Wonho Frank Lee courtesy Equator Coffees.
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