Paul Hibler debuted Superba Food and Bread in Venice, California, back in 2014. One of the all-day restaurant’s most acclaimed dishes was a hazelnut cappuccino by barman Tyler Wells. It is made with two espresso shots and house-made hazelnut milk sweetened with maple syrup.
Due in no small part to this city’s interest in nutritional wellness and environmental sustainability, Los Angeles area cafes and specialty coffee shops have upped their alternative dairy milk game beyond the usual soy.
While Superba Food and Bread may have thrust hazelnut milk coffee drinks into the spotlight, one of the city’s earliest adapters of house-made nut milk was Culver City’s three-year-old caffeine hub Bar Nine. It serves its myriad coffee drinks with a proprietary hazelnut milk since inception. According to owner Zayde Naquib, “It is our only non-dairy alternative to whole milk, and we make it every morning.” After three months of testing various nut combinations, Naquib decided on a simple blend of water, hazelnuts, dates, and sea salt. Now that combination is ordered almost as frequently in drinks as traditional cow’s milk.
