Caffe Luxxe

The ristretto is the house calling card, pulled on Montana Avenue from beans the company roasts itself just outside Los Angeles.

A neighborhood espresso bar with its own roast

Caffe Luxxe began on Montana Avenue in 2006, when Mark Wain and Gary Chau opened a neighborhood café shaped by European caffe culture, with coffee, craft and community as the working brief rather than a slogan on the wall. The company roasts in small batches, and the wider business now runs cafés, retail coffee, tea, wholesale and coffee services.

In the cup, the Santa Monica shop is an espresso bar first: ristretto and cappuccino at the front of the order, with matcha, an iced oat milk latte and hot chocolate for anyone off the espresso track. The pastry case supports rather than competes, with French macarons, a chocolate croissant and a raspberry tart when it appears.

The polished daily stop

This is a daily stop rather than a dining room. The Montana Avenue setting is understated, in a grey-and-white palette that matches the quieter sophistication of the corridor, and it works as a community hub where regulars and baristas know each other and conversations carry over from one visit to the next.

The room is small and the seats go quickly, particularly at weekends, so the rhythm is walk-up service and a short wait. Casual, intimate and coffee-led is the honest description: a compact gathering point for people meeting, mingling and recharging rather than somewhere to spread out for the whole morning.

Order the ristretto, then choose a sweet

If coffee is the reason for going, start with the ristretto or the cappuccino. The beans are sourced from farms across the globe and roasted at a facility just outside Los Angeles, adjusted by sight and smell for each variety, and the range covers espresso, drip, decaf, single origin, special blends and collaborations, and cold brew.

The Montenero Collezione is the clearest map of the house style: Classico lists caramel, dark chocolate and jasmine; Delicato lists almond, caramel, citrus and milk chocolate; Extra Forte lists baking spices, dark cacao and tobacco. Tea runs on its own single-origin and custom-blended collection, and matcha can be made sweetened or unsweetened. Pair whichever you choose with French macarons, a chocolate croissant or the raspberry tart.