Right outside the Santa Monica city line, off of Santa Monica Blvd., Cafe Balcony‘s a small cafe offering hand-crafted siphon brewed coffee. Also known as vacuum coffee, siphon brewing basically applies vapor pressure and vacuum force “to extract more coffee flavor and less bitters resulting in what’s typically described as a clean, crisp, rich, and smooth coffee,” according to Wikipedia.

Interested, I tried it — the house blend’s organic, though none of the other coffees are — and enjoyed the rich, dark cup of coffee. A good thing I liked it, since a siphon brewed cup’s $2.50.

Cafe Balcony offers a very cute space, if tiny — purple ceiling, orange-red walls dotted with framed sketches from local artists, cookie jars labelled with hand-cut paper hearts, a small stack of mini Toblerones. The menu’s pretty bare bones, but the hungry can nibble on chocolate bars and pastries or pick from a few paninis or sandwiches, including a decent caprese.

Don’t let the tininess of the place scare you out. Customers hang out for hours taking advantage of the free wifi. Cash only.

Thanks to Edie for the suggestion.

Cafe Balcony. 12431 Rochester Ave. Los Angeles. Noon to midnight daily.

2 Comments