Monolith Coffee

Eli Wang roasts on a pair of Strongholds and keeps one grinder for single-origin espresso and another for pour-over alone, which is a lot of conviction for a shop this new. The signature menu asks for the same attention in the other direction: a tasting card with every drink, and a new set of four whenever the chapter turns.

Wang roasts everything in-house on a Stronghold S7X and S8X with green bought through importers including Panda Bear Express and Hacea Coffee Source, though only one drink names an origin, the Ethiopian single-origin cold brew behind "heat."

Nikki Jin and Eli Wang never asked what a coffee shop was supposed to look like, and the room proves it: rocks hang from the ceiling, hold up tables, sit inside the counters, and fill small interior gardens under a cream-and-stone finish that makes sense of the name. The bar takes a huge share of the open floor, so the drink-making is the other exhibit.