This post was originally written in Feb., 28, 2006 and last updated March 10, 2010.
Drink better coffee! Get a cup of fair trade coffee at a local coffee shop or restaurant and support your neighborhood economy while giving coffee farmers a fairer price for their beans. All the spots below have some fair trade options — though not every brewed blend might be fair trade certified.
Beverly Hills
Newsroom Cafe. 120 N Robertson Blvd. 310.652.4444. A yummy spot not only for organic, fair trade coffee — courtesy of Mr. Espresso in Oakland — but also for vegan and vegetarian food.
Brentwood
The City Bakery. In the Brentwood Country Mart. 225 26th St. 310.656.3040. I haven’t been here yet, but apparently you can get fair trade Taylor Maid Farms coffee here, along with seasonal local organic food.
Coral Tree Cafe. 11645 San Vincente Blvd. 310.979.TREE. Get organic, fair trade, and shade grown coffee with good organic eats at this cute cafe.
Literati Cafe. 12081 Wilshire Blvd. 310.231.7484. Literati makes delicious local, organic food — and also offers shade grown, fair trade coffee. This is one of the few places that offers free wifi AND wine!
Century City
Coral Tree Express. Westfield Century City mall. 10250 Santa Monica Blvd. This little spot’s the express version of Coral Tree Cafe in Brentwood.
Claremont
Motley Coffeehouse. 1030 Columbia Ave. 909.607.3967. Located in Seal Court on the Scripps College campus, the Motley is a nonprofit, soci-eco-friendly biz run by women undergrads that serves fair trade organic coffee.
The Press Restaurant. 129 Harvard Ave. 909.625.4808. This restaurant serves organic, fair trade coffee from Monkey & Son.
Some Crust Bakery. 119 Yale Ave. 909.621.9772. This bakery gets its yummy coffee from Santa Cruz Roasting Company, a Northern California fair trade organic roaster.
Culver City
Akasha Restaurant. 9543 Culver Blvd. 310.845.1700. This enviro-conscious bakery, bar, and restaurant serves only fair trade coffee along with organic and local foods.
The Conservatory for Coffee, Tea & Cocoa. 10117 Washington Blvd. 310.558.0436. This cute family-owned shop often has a fair trade blend brewing (just ask which one). You can get yummy French pastries on the side, and do some shopping for locally-made jewelry and cards.
Cafe Surfas. 8777 W. Washington Blvd. 310.558.1458. This cafe brews fair trade organic coffee from SoCal’s own Monkey & Son coffee.
Eagle Rock
Auntie Em’s Kitchen. 4616 Eagle Rock Blvd. 323.255.0800. I haven’t been here yet, but this mom-and-pop restaurant serves fair trade Taylor Maid Farms Coffee.
Fatty’s & Co. 1627 Colorado Blvd. 323.254.8804. I haven’t been here yet, but I hear this veggie restaurant — with daily wine specials — serves Supreme Bean’s fair trade blends.
Hollywood
Caffe Etc. 6371 Selma Ave. 323.464.8824. Caffe Etc. offers organic, fair trade coffee from Thanksgiving Coffee, yummy paninis and salads, and free wifi.
Lou. 724 N Vine St. Los Angeles. 323.962.6369. This restaurant offers coffee from Monkey & Son — a 100% fair trade and organic company — as well as some organic wines and dishes.
Long Beach
Hot Java. 2101 E. Broadway Ave. 562.433.0688. According to reader Joseph, Hot Java serves almost all fair trade coffee, uses eco-friendlier take out cups and containers, and even offers non-dairy whipped cream.
Portfolio Coffeehouse. 2300 E. 4th St. 562.434.2486. Reader Rafi says this is one of his fave indie coffee shops. Portfolio has a fair trade blend brewing most of the time.
Los Angeles, downtown
Lot 44 Coffee. Get yummy, made to order fair trade organic coffee by the cup at this hip downtown shop.
Los Angeles, West Adams / USC
Ground Zero Performance Cafe. This student-run coffee shop on the USC campus serves only organic fair trade coffee from The Roasterie Organic Line.
Los Angeles
The Coffee Cellar. Inside Mama’s Hot Tamales Cafe. 2124 W. 7th St. The Coffee Cellar has a number of fair trade certified blends, and is part of a nonprofit program of the Institute for Urban Research and Development.
Santa Monica
Co-opportunity. 1525 Broadway. 310.451.8902. Fair trade coffee’s brewed by the cup at the cafe in the center of this cooperative grocery store.
Studio City
Coffee Fix. 12508 Moorpark St. 818.762.0181. Supreme Bean tells me this place brews only SB’s fair trade certified coffee.
West Hills
Higher Grounds Cafe. Chaminade High School campus, 7500 Chaminade Ave. 818.371.4818. This coffee shop is on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory, and is run by students. The cafe serves only fair trade, organic coffee.
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Can’t find a fair trade coffee spot near you? In a pinch, try:
>> Groundwork Coffee has its own cafes — and also roasts coffee for many independent cafes and restaurants in L.A. This local organic coffee roaster does get a lot of its coffee beans from fair trade co-ops — though so far, the company’s declined to get fair trade certified.
>> Urth Caffe‘s also opted against certification, but does get fairly traded coffee beans, roasted at fair trade coffee roaster Thanksgiving Coffee‘s facilities.
>> Jones Coffee Roasters in Pasadena gets its coffee from its own family-owned coffee farm, which is run ethically but is not eligible for fair trade certification (only coffee from cooperatives are eligible for fair trade certification).
>> Intelligentsia Coffee also prides itself in paying farmers premium prices for its coffees — though the company stopped getting fair trade certification years ago.
>> Among chains, Noah’s Bagels stores usually have the fair trade Tribeca Blend brewing, Java City cafes offer a number of fair trade blends, Peet’s Coffee offers a fair trade blend at its USC locations, and Starbucks baristas are supposed to make you a fair trade cup of coffee if you take the Starbucks Challenge.
Know of a coffee shop or restaurant I’ve missed? Let me know and I’ll add it in. For a list of LA spots where you can buy fair trade coffee to brew at home, go here.
For those living outside the L.A. area, here’s a list of fair trade coffee shops around the country — that’s somewhat outdated now, because I stopped updating it in 2008.
Also read: 7-Step program for the caffeine addicted: Coffee for environmentalists
Photo by javaturtle
It may be worth mentioning that Jones Roasting in Pasadena is a fully integrated coffee supplier. They work directly with growers and even own their own plantation. They supply coffee to a number of shops as well (including the CalTech and JPL coffee).
Comment by Erik — March 2, 2006 @ 10:11 am
Thanks for the tip! I found their website, and will get in touch with them to find out more. It looks like they don’t serve coffee by the cup though… I’ll need to find out who they sell to in the LA area that may offer it by the cup.
Comment by Siel — March 2, 2006 @ 11:28 am
The website is probably not up-to-date. They changed locations (up a block) roughly a year and a half ago specifically because they wanted to offer coffee drinks retail. They do indeed sell by the cup now.
Comment by Erik — March 2, 2006 @ 12:50 pm
Hey Siel,
Synergy Cafe in Culver City only sells Groundworks Coffees. I don’t see them on your list!
Rainy
Comment by Rainy — March 4, 2006 @ 10:30 am
I just added it — Thanks :) You know, I’ve yet to stop by there! I’ll have to try it out –
Comment by Siel — March 4, 2006 @ 4:43 pm
Sierra Madre Congregational Church is opening a coffee shop in Sierra Madre (on Sierra Madre Blvd by Baldwin Ave) in the next month, and they will be selling almost exclusively, Jones Coffee.
Comment by Gillian — March 28, 2006 @ 12:44 pm
The brand new Coffee Grind in Mar Vista (on Venice near Grand View) is great (my new favorite place) and I am pretty sure they use Groundworks. I can’t be 100% sure but worth checking out.
Re Peets this month they are giving away free coffee beteen 1-3 pm to celebrate thier anniversary :-)
jean
Comment by jean — April 6, 2006 @ 6:42 pm
Trying to add Coffee Grind, but I can’t find the address… Any idea what it is?
Comment by Siel — April 8, 2006 @ 6:27 pm
Caffe Etc in Hollywood (corner of Selma & Highland) also sells only fair trade coffee. Yummy food too! I think they also have free wifi.
Comment by Hannah — May 26, 2006 @ 7:26 am
Thanks for the recommendation! We’ll have to catch up over a cuppa there one of these days :)
Comment by Siel — May 27, 2006 @ 5:51 am
not 100% sure, but i think 18th Street Cafe in Santa Monica (west of 18th on Broadway) also serves up Groundworks coffee. no free wi-fi, but is a cell-phone free environment when you need to get your serious screenwriting done (not a screenwriter, but i do eavesdrop!).
Comment by lag2 — June 3, 2006 @ 4:23 pm
Yes — 18th def. serves Groundwork Coffee! Thanks for the tip :)
Comment by Siel — July 30, 2006 @ 8:50 pm
FYI: Caffe Etc in Hollywood is at the corner of Selma & Cahuenga (not Highland).
Comment by James — August 6, 2006 @ 12:01 pm
Thanks James :) I actually went to check out Caffee Etc today. Yum tuna melt!
Comment by Siel — August 7, 2006 @ 5:34 pm
another Groundwork Coffee place: Infuzion Cafe, 1149 3rd St. in SM, just north of Wilshire & the Promenade. other features: organic teas, free wi-fi w/ purchase, and asian-style drinks- you can get your boba/jelly/fruit tea fix here.
Comment by lag2 — October 20, 2006 @ 10:34 pm
Thanks for the tip! I’ll add it to the list toute de suite –
Comment by Siel — October 20, 2006 @ 11:28 pm
just wanted to let you know that Peet’s Coffee and Tea (a handful of LA locations) has a Fair Trade certified blend called (appropriately enough) “Fair Trade Blend”.
They also have a certified organic blend called “Gaia Organic”.
These are coffees that are on regular rotation on their “coffee of the day” menu as well as available for purchase.
Comment by cela — September 26, 2007 @ 7:19 pm
At USC, Peet’s has its fair trade blend brewing all the time. Wish it were the same for all its stores –
Comment by Siel — September 29, 2007 @ 11:08 am
hi, i work in downtown LA at a cafe called “organic to go”. all of our coffee is fair trade and organic, and we offer both drip coffee and full espresso coffee service. we also have locations on wilshire, at beverly center, in orange county, and woodland hills.
Comment by alison — October 18, 2007 @ 9:48 pm