Wall Writers Coffee

The pour-over list runs four coffees deep at $6.25 apiece, each posted with its roast and its notes, and the espresso underneath is Golden Mean, roasted by Martin and Karen Diedrich at Kean. Quinton built the Ube latte out of his Filipino side and whisks the ceremonial matcha by hand out of his wife's Japanese side, which is a lot of thinking for a shop tucked behind an office courtyard.

Kean supplies the bar: Golden Mean on espresso, a Kean cold brew on tap beside a Steeping Giant nitro, and four single origins on pour-over at $6.25, from a Sumatra Mandheling peaberry to an Ethiopia Yirgacheffe. The same five coffees come home in 12oz bags at $22, labelled by origin and roast level, though no bag carries a roast date.

The service island is faced in black and white geometric tile under a slatted ceiling, with the menu boards on dark millwork and a framed portrait hung beside them like a gallery wall. Clerestory glass takes the room up two storeys, three groups run on the espresso bar, and there is a patio for the hours when Irvine cooperates.