Exclusive | Elite $125 coffee tastings, $20 sips explode in California — as bean lovers jet in from across the US to get the pricey stuff

Forget grabbing a latte on the run — California’s latest coffee craze wants you to make a reservation, take a seat, and surrender your caffeine order, and a small fortune, to the experts.

A new crop of Japanese-style “coffee omakase” tasting bars are turning the humble cup of joe into the kind of drawn-out, multi-course experience more commonly associated with Michelin-starred restaurants — complete with rare beans, food pairings, mocktails and eye-popping prices upwards of $125 for a sitting.

Popularized in cities like Tokyo, the elite experience is just the latest push toward luxe to emerge from the Golden State’s obsessive, sprawling specialty coffee scene — where the once-humble pourover has become a coveted and costly item — with cups crafted from rare beans flown in from around the globe pushing prices past $20 at top cafes.

In LA, cult favorite destinations like Dayglow and Kumquat Coffee have in part built their following around meticulously prepared brews and rotating beans — with prices not unusually in the double digits per serving. Lately that number appears to be pushing even higher — in affluent Orange County, customers at booming mini-chain Play Coffee can currently be seen happily dropping $25 a cup to taste from rare roasters in China.

The latest player to take things way upscale in SoCal is Omake — a sleek new Studio City brew bar that opened on Sept. 25 on Ventura Boulevard and has already started making the rounds on TikTok and Instagram.

Behind its minimalist interior of walnut wood and raw stone lies a two-part establishment: a counter for everyday grab-and-go brews and a reservation-only bar dedicated entirely to multi-course coffee tastings.

Within hours of opening, videos of Omake’s elaborate beverages — including an array of signature matchas that include the likes of butterfly pea flower, peach, seabuckthorn, and toasted rosemary — racked up tens of thousands of views on TikTok and Instagram, sparking an immediate feeding frenzy.

A few days ago, owner Iskuhi Kalantaryan told the California Post that roughly 600 people came through the doors in just one day.

At Omake, regular drinks don’t exceed $11 — but the the omakase tastings, which launch next week, will command $125 for a five-course guided storytelling flight.

“We’re getting to like the fifth wave of coffee in here,” Kalantaryan said. “We’re experimenting with beans, experimenting with different flavors.”

One course will feature noodles made from coffee, served ramen-style with flavored milk and topped with an “espresso egg” developed by the Omake team. “You break that; it’s an espresso,” Kalantaryan said. “It’s a drink, but you eat your drink basically.”

Another centerpiece will be an exceptionally rare Liberica coffee that Kalantaryan said the team spent considerable time tracking down in Asia. The shop is keeping its precise source under wraps. Two additional tasting experiences are also in the works at different price points.

But Omake isn’t alone in asking Californians to treat their coffee like fine dining.

Some 350 miles north, San Francisco’s Komakase has been pushing the concept — reeling in flush tech bros and the region’s army of coffee nerds.

Founded by Josh D’Esposito and Kieran Eng, Komakase began in July 2024 as an every-other-weekend pop-up before developing a cult following for its reservation-only coffee tastings. The business previously operated out of Paper Son Coffee as a bi-weekly pop-up, where early versions of its tasting menus cost $55 and $65 and routinely sold out online.

The pair attracted rave reviews, with the San Francisco Chronicle calling the fledgling concept the Bay Area’s first coffee omakase — including it among the best coffee destinations in the region.

Now operating four days a week in downtown SF, Eng noted that while expanding the schedule made bookings more accessible, weekend reservations still sell out fast.

The experience costs $80 per person — $96 with tax — and runs about five courses interspersed with three food courses built around seasonal California ingredients.

Guests might begin with two pour-overs served side-by-side, allowing them to compare different beans and processing techniques before moving into espresso drinks and coffee mocktails.

The experience draws curious crowds — among them tourists from as far away as the East Coast.

“Honestly, we’ve had the whole spectrum of people come in,” Eng told the California Post. “It’s not just coffee aficionados. We had a couple come down on a day trip from Seattle. They flew in in the morning, came to Komakase, and then flew out in the afternoon. We’ve had folks from New York, Georgia — all over the U.S.”

And while skeptics might balk at the thought of dropping up to $125 on a few sips of java, pioneers in the space argue that the bean is due for a serious cultural upgrade.

“Even though it is the most widely consumed drug in the world, coffee is the most misunderstood,” Eng said. “People need a certain level of reframing, and having these reservation-based services helps reframe those things.”

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