{"id":999,"date":"2018-01-12T19:28:32","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T19:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/food\/new-cabinet-coffee-brings-japanese-korean-influence-to-downtown-long-beach\/"},"modified":"2018-01-12T19:28:32","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T19:28:32","slug":"new-cabinet-coffee-brings-japanese-korean-influence-to-downtown-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/new-cabinet-coffee-brings-japanese-korean-influence-to-downtown-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"New Cabinet Coffee Brings Japanese, Korean Influence to Downtown Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Photos by Asia Morris.<\/em><\/p>\n

Having just opened in October, Cabinet, a new coffee shop and contemporary hole-in-the-wall in downtown Long Beach just across the street from the public library, is working on making a distinct impression within the city\u2019s coffee scene. With its small space, minimal, yet bold, interior look and caffeinated offerings, its owner Kei Kim has carved out a tiny space for the ultimate pick-me-up.<\/p>\n

The name Cabinet was inspired by European salon culture in the 17th and 18th centuries, said Kim. He was searching for a word that had a similar meaning, one that would acknowledge the debates and intellectual exchanges of the period. Through a little research he discovered that cabinet was also a french term for a room in a mansion meant for arts and entertainment, and of course, drinking tea and coffee.<\/p>\n

\u201c[People can] come here, socialize with other customers and have fun and just debate or talk about something,\u201d Kim said. \u201cThis is just a platform where people can just gather around, so that\u2019s why we\u2019re going to have a lot of paintings and pictures and art.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cabinet’s indoor mural was painted by artist @steavkim<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kim is originally from Korea, but went to high school and college in the U.S. before moving back home again to enter the fashion industry. Bouncing between Korea, Japan and even Sweden to work with different brands, Kim officially moved to the U.S. roughly three years ago to start his own label. When his endeavors didn\u2019t quite go as planned, he saw an opportunity to express a different kind of creativity within the specialty coffee industry.<\/p>\n

Kim has brought Kyoto-style cold brew to downtown Long Beach, a process which takes anywhere from 12 to 20 hours depending on how much flavor the barista chooses to extract. The slow-drip, towering glass contraption, enables the team at Cabinet to experiment with the nuances of highly concentrated coffee. Just this week they introduced cold brew shots, or CBS, to customers, to be downed in one go or slowly sipped on in utter enjoyment of the taste.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cEspresso drinkers, they like to sip or down their espresso, but the only way to get it cold in most cases is to ice it and that changes the flavor to a different tone and waters it down, so we decided to make a cold brew shooter to get the same idea, but iced,\u201d said Raleigh Wilson, the manager at Cabinet. \u201cWe\u2019re working on the perfect blend for that, but right now it\u2019s really good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team uses coffee beans from Newport Beach-based Common Room Roasters, whose Brunswick Blend recently won second place for America\u2019s Best Espresso and Los Angeles-based Take Flight, which in December was listed by Thrillist as one of the 21 Best Coffee Roasters in the Country, among other specialty ingredients such as oatmilk from Swedish company OATLY!<\/p>\n

Take Flight offers \u201ca solid, kind of earthy, not as acidic blend\u201d that \u201cgoes really well with black mochas and sweetened drinks of any kind,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

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Cabinet owner Kei Kim.<\/em><\/p>\n

Also in the works are syrups made in house, inspired by recipes Wilson concocted in his own home and a desire to move away from premium syrups for the sake of offering higher quality options. Popular drinks include their Honey Oat Latte, Iced Blackberry Mocha and Lemonade, which Wilson says will soon be made with a house-made lemon syrup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a very picky person, when I go around to restaurants and coffee shops […] I just want to see how people put their effort into it,\u201d Kim said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be the best, I don\u2019t want to be recognized as the best, I just want to be one of a kind, extraordinary. I think that\u2019s how I grew up, too. I was kind of the black sheep in the family. I was always kind of different.\u201d<\/p>\n

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If Kim finds success with this first shop in downtown\u2014he chose this location because of Long Beach\u2019s friendly and supportive community and its big-city vibe\u2014he plans on opening two more shops in Southern California, and then hopes to bring the brand to Asia.<\/p>\n

As far as what Cabinet brings to the downtown and greater Long Beach coffee scene at the moment, alongside independentely-owned shops like Recreational and Rose Park Roasters, Kim humbly stated, \u201cI don\u2019t think we have added anything yet. I\u2019m pretty sure that we will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about Cabinet through the Facebook page here<\/a>\u00a0and Instagram @cafecabinetroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cabinet is located at 250 West Ocean Boulevard.<\/em><\/p>\n

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