Endorffeine (Los Angeles, CA)
Endorffeine Coffee at Far East Plaza
727 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012
endorffeine.coffee
Thu 12/25/2025, 12:00p-01:15p
I usually stay home on Christmas Day, but made an exception this year to pay a visit to Endorffeine, easily one of the most celebrated coffee shops in the Southland. Named after a portmanteau of "endorphin" and "caffeine," the coffeehouse opened in Chinatown in summer 2015, and is the brainchild of Jack Benchakul and his cousin Ttaya Tuparangsi (also known as Sahattaya Dhaparangsri), who heads up operations and the FOH. Endorffeine hosts special coffee tastings on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas proper, and the idea behind them is to allow Benchakul to serve his favorite coffees of the year, which he's specifically set aside for these events. Given that I've been getting more into coffee recently, I thought it might be instructive to check out one of these tastings.
About the Barista: Jack P. Benchakul was born in May 1975, the son of immigrant parents from Bangkok who initially wanted him to become a doctor. However, while he was in the Bay Area on the pre-med track and preparing for the MCAT, he realized that such a path wasn't for him. He thus interviewed at Genentech in San Francisco and landed a job there in manufacturing, where he stayed for 10 years (he and Tuparangsi also ran a gift shop named Kissmet in Russian Hill). During that period, Benchakul ate a life-altering piece of unagi that made him rethink not only sushi, but food in general, which he hadn't truly enjoyed previously. He thus enrolled in the pastry program at Tante Marie's Kitchen, a small culinary school in SF (he also took baking classes at Laney College in Oakland), where he was taught by Nancy Oakes of Boulevard fame.
He then apprenticed at Miette Patisserie at the Ferry Building, which had just opened in 2005, and also trained briefly at Rubicon. Benchakul's coffee epiphany occurred in 2006 after he consumed a brew from Blue Bottle, which had a cart located near Miette. The coffee was unlike any he'd had prior, and made him reconceptualize what the drink could be, so he delved deeply into the beverage, purchasing his own brewing equipment and learning as much as he could. At this point, Benchakul relocated to Southern California in order to be closer to his family. He secured employment at Amgen, now as a scientist focused on cancer research, but only lasted a year there, as he still didn't have passion for the work, with his mind instead focused on specialty coffee. Thus, he applied for jobs at a number of cafés, including Starbucks and Intelligentsia, but faced rejection.
Eventually, he was hired by Bobak "Bobby" Roshan to help open the first Cafe Demitasse in Little Tokyo, which bowed in August 2011. He also assisted in the launch of Demitasse's Santa Monica outpost in May 2013. Benchakul then linked up with Yeekai Lim, founder of Cognoscenti Coffee, and began working at the Culver City location. In 2014, with Lim's help, he created a Modbar-based mobile coffee cart under the Cognoscenti brand name, and in March that year, parked it at Diep Tran's Good Girl Dinette in Highland Park. November saw the cart relocate to the Scoops location at Far East Plaza, but just months later, Benchakul had decided that he wanted to strike out on his own. He thus registered a business, put his cart up for sale (though with the Modbar components removed for reuse), and got to work on Endorffeine, which soft-opened in the storefront nextdoor to Scoops on August 22nd, 2015.
Today's Christmas Day Tasting was priced at $111.11 per person, and included four proper "courses" along with two extra bonuses detailed below. Click for a larger version.
Our tasting commenced with an "amuse-bouche" of sorts in the form of coffee flower tea, a rather uncommon beverage that I don't think I've ever had before. Made from the dried blossoms of a Thai coffee tree, the herbal tea boasted a super familiar, super specific aroma that actually reminded me of the jiǎozi skins that my mother used to employ when making the dumplings. Taste-wise, I got more of those dumpling wrappers along with an amalgam of sweet, citrusy, floral, vegetal, and umami notes. This was a lovely tisane, and made me wonder why we don't see coffee blossom tea more often.
Benchakul then got to work preparing our pourover course, featuring coffee sourced from Boquete's famed Hacienda La Esmeralda, essentially the spiritual home of Panamanian Geisha (generally his favorite type of coffee due to its floral, sweet tea-like qualities). Today's beans were roasted by Sey in Brooklyn, then aged in-house for three months. Benchakul's a fan of aging more delicate varietals, as he believes the process tends to result in more vibrance and punchiness in the cup, while still maintaining a certain level of elegance. Also unconventional is his use of a very coarse grind and a lower-than-usual 82°C (179.6°F) water temperature.
As a result of his biochemistry background, Benchakul's a real stickler when it comes to water, and uses different "recipes" depending on the type of coffee at hand (even the water provided for palate cleansing was specifically formulated for low minerality). He emphasized that he prefers to exploit the mineralization of his water and avoids overly high temperatures, as going too hot can wipe out a coffee's floral notes. In fact, he contends that coffee tastes best when it's nearer to the body's core temperature. Thus, Benchakul doesn't pre-heat glasses, since he wants his brews to cool down; such cooling also allows flaws in technique to become more apparent.
Hand Brew: Hacienda La Esmeralda – Gesha, Panama | "...an intoxicating floral profile of jasmine, lavender, and orange blossom."
Today's pour-over featured a nose that combined nut-laced chocolate with sweet, flowery sensations and a slight vegetal bent. Taste-wise, I found an agreeable acidity and fruitiness right up front, leading to roasty and cacao-like flavors, while the back end veered super floral, with loads of citrus. Absolutely lovely.
Do also note that the pourover was served in a Glencairn glass, which is something I've never seen used for coffee before. Benchakul's belief is that such a vessel does a better job at capturing aromatics and allows the drinker to discern more nuance. Along those same lines, he's also in favor of drinking coffee from wine glasses (though not ones with large bowls).
It was now time to enjoy some Kyoto-style cold brew, made using the contraption pictured above. Brew water goes into the top chamber, and below that, there's a flow-controlling valve, then a column where the ground coffee sits, then a ceramic filter to keep out sediment, then a squiggly section that's apparently just for looks, then finally a collection vessel at the base. Benchakul uses a flow rate of roughly three-to-five drops per minute (which varies due to head pressure and ambient humidity--also an issue with espresso), resulting in a very thorough extraction that takes around 20 hours. The resulting liquid is usually diluted, but today's brew was apparently so flawless that no such dilution was needed. His goal is a rich, syrupy, sweet, complex cold brew meant for contemplative sipping, and I have to say that he was successful.
Kyoto Cold Drip: Finca Takesi – Gesha, Bolivia | "a 20-hour slow-drip cold brew, expressing bergamot, watermelon and peach brandy with a black sugar finish."
Brewed with beans that Benchakul aged for nearly 10 months, the cold brew smelled super chocolate-y, combining ground cocoa nibs with dark chocolate bars, punctuated by hibiscus-like floral elements. On the palate, I got a delightful acidity, while flavors combined a delectable roastiness with dark fruit, candy syrup, and more of that aforementioned cacao, while a fellow taster noted loads of chestnut. I feel like this was the best cold brew I've ever tasted.
Espresso was crafted using a dual Modbar setup, and here we see Benchakul squatting down in order to evaluate the progress of each shot. Today's beans were TyOxy-washed, which, despite the name, does not refer to a washed coffee process (note: Endorffeine only served washed coffee during its first nine years--"taste the bean, not the process"). Benchakul likened the procedure to anaerobic process coffee, which tends to produce very juicy, almost tropical fruit notes on the front end. With this particular example, which was aged three-to-four months, he was looking for something that starts off citrusy but finishes pretty sweet, and actually described the brew as reminiscent of peach Snapple. Benchakul also made it a point to blend the outputs of his multiple pulls, as he wants the crema to first dissipate and then reintegrate, rounding things out and adding texture without being overly bright or in-your-face.
Espresso: Pepe Jijon – Mejorado, Ecuador | "a delicate expression of blackberry, currants, and hibiscus, with a lingering finish."
The nose here was all about dark berries, caramel, cacao, and roasty malt, while in the mouth, the espresso showcased a pretty remarkable depth and concentration, with boatloads of zippy citrus right up front, leading to a bevy of sweeter, juicier stone fruit notes from the mid-palate. You really do get that aforementioned peach Snapple quality--delish.
Next up was a container of flash brew coffee made with beans from one of Benchakul's favorite producers, Diego Bermudez. A former physicist from Colombia, Bermudez has been a bit controversial due to his unconventional processes, which allow for the manipulation of microbes to instill certain flavors in his coffee, such as cinnamon and milk in this particular example. The coffee was meant to be taken home and enjoyed chilled within three days, though I did take a sip right away.
???: Christmas Day Bonus Origin | "because we are sincerely appreciative for your exceptional taste in coffee!"
Bermudez's Cinnamon Leche utilizes an anaerobic ferment with thermal shock, and seemed very apropos for the season thanks to its soft, subtle tinge of cinnamon-y spice, all intermingled with roasty cacao, citrus, and orchard fruit. A fun one for sure.
We were also gifted cans of single-origin cold brew, created in collaboration with Erich Joiner's Goodboybob. I enjoyed them a couple days later:
727 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012
endorffeine.coffee
Thu 12/25/2025, 12:00p-01:15p
I usually stay home on Christmas Day, but made an exception this year to pay a visit to Endorffeine, easily one of the most celebrated coffee shops in the Southland. Named after a portmanteau of "endorphin" and "caffeine," the coffeehouse opened in Chinatown in summer 2015, and is the brainchild of Jack Benchakul and his cousin Ttaya Tuparangsi (also known as Sahattaya Dhaparangsri), who heads up operations and the FOH. Endorffeine hosts special coffee tastings on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas proper, and the idea behind them is to allow Benchakul to serve his favorite coffees of the year, which he's specifically set aside for these events. Given that I've been getting more into coffee recently, I thought it might be instructive to check out one of these tastings.
About the Barista: Jack P. Benchakul was born in May 1975, the son of immigrant parents from Bangkok who initially wanted him to become a doctor. However, while he was in the Bay Area on the pre-med track and preparing for the MCAT, he realized that such a path wasn't for him. He thus interviewed at Genentech in San Francisco and landed a job there in manufacturing, where he stayed for 10 years (he and Tuparangsi also ran a gift shop named Kissmet in Russian Hill). During that period, Benchakul ate a life-altering piece of unagi that made him rethink not only sushi, but food in general, which he hadn't truly enjoyed previously. He thus enrolled in the pastry program at Tante Marie's Kitchen, a small culinary school in SF (he also took baking classes at Laney College in Oakland), where he was taught by Nancy Oakes of Boulevard fame.
He then apprenticed at Miette Patisserie at the Ferry Building, which had just opened in 2005, and also trained briefly at Rubicon. Benchakul's coffee epiphany occurred in 2006 after he consumed a brew from Blue Bottle, which had a cart located near Miette. The coffee was unlike any he'd had prior, and made him reconceptualize what the drink could be, so he delved deeply into the beverage, purchasing his own brewing equipment and learning as much as he could. At this point, Benchakul relocated to Southern California in order to be closer to his family. He secured employment at Amgen, now as a scientist focused on cancer research, but only lasted a year there, as he still didn't have passion for the work, with his mind instead focused on specialty coffee. Thus, he applied for jobs at a number of cafés, including Starbucks and Intelligentsia, but faced rejection.
Eventually, he was hired by Bobak "Bobby" Roshan to help open the first Cafe Demitasse in Little Tokyo, which bowed in August 2011. He also assisted in the launch of Demitasse's Santa Monica outpost in May 2013. Benchakul then linked up with Yeekai Lim, founder of Cognoscenti Coffee, and began working at the Culver City location. In 2014, with Lim's help, he created a Modbar-based mobile coffee cart under the Cognoscenti brand name, and in March that year, parked it at Diep Tran's Good Girl Dinette in Highland Park. November saw the cart relocate to the Scoops location at Far East Plaza, but just months later, Benchakul had decided that he wanted to strike out on his own. He thus registered a business, put his cart up for sale (though with the Modbar components removed for reuse), and got to work on Endorffeine, which soft-opened in the storefront nextdoor to Scoops on August 22nd, 2015.
Today's Christmas Day Tasting was priced at $111.11 per person, and included four proper "courses" along with two extra bonuses detailed below. Click for a larger version.
Our tasting commenced with an "amuse-bouche" of sorts in the form of coffee flower tea, a rather uncommon beverage that I don't think I've ever had before. Made from the dried blossoms of a Thai coffee tree, the herbal tea boasted a super familiar, super specific aroma that actually reminded me of the jiǎozi skins that my mother used to employ when making the dumplings. Taste-wise, I got more of those dumpling wrappers along with an amalgam of sweet, citrusy, floral, vegetal, and umami notes. This was a lovely tisane, and made me wonder why we don't see coffee blossom tea more often.
Benchakul then got to work preparing our pourover course, featuring coffee sourced from Boquete's famed Hacienda La Esmeralda, essentially the spiritual home of Panamanian Geisha (generally his favorite type of coffee due to its floral, sweet tea-like qualities). Today's beans were roasted by Sey in Brooklyn, then aged in-house for three months. Benchakul's a fan of aging more delicate varietals, as he believes the process tends to result in more vibrance and punchiness in the cup, while still maintaining a certain level of elegance. Also unconventional is his use of a very coarse grind and a lower-than-usual 82°C (179.6°F) water temperature.
As a result of his biochemistry background, Benchakul's a real stickler when it comes to water, and uses different "recipes" depending on the type of coffee at hand (even the water provided for palate cleansing was specifically formulated for low minerality). He emphasized that he prefers to exploit the mineralization of his water and avoids overly high temperatures, as going too hot can wipe out a coffee's floral notes. In fact, he contends that coffee tastes best when it's nearer to the body's core temperature. Thus, Benchakul doesn't pre-heat glasses, since he wants his brews to cool down; such cooling also allows flaws in technique to become more apparent.
Hand Brew: Hacienda La Esmeralda – Gesha, Panama | "...an intoxicating floral profile of jasmine, lavender, and orange blossom."
Today's pour-over featured a nose that combined nut-laced chocolate with sweet, flowery sensations and a slight vegetal bent. Taste-wise, I found an agreeable acidity and fruitiness right up front, leading to roasty and cacao-like flavors, while the back end veered super floral, with loads of citrus. Absolutely lovely.
Do also note that the pourover was served in a Glencairn glass, which is something I've never seen used for coffee before. Benchakul's belief is that such a vessel does a better job at capturing aromatics and allows the drinker to discern more nuance. Along those same lines, he's also in favor of drinking coffee from wine glasses (though not ones with large bowls).
It was now time to enjoy some Kyoto-style cold brew, made using the contraption pictured above. Brew water goes into the top chamber, and below that, there's a flow-controlling valve, then a column where the ground coffee sits, then a ceramic filter to keep out sediment, then a squiggly section that's apparently just for looks, then finally a collection vessel at the base. Benchakul uses a flow rate of roughly three-to-five drops per minute (which varies due to head pressure and ambient humidity--also an issue with espresso), resulting in a very thorough extraction that takes around 20 hours. The resulting liquid is usually diluted, but today's brew was apparently so flawless that no such dilution was needed. His goal is a rich, syrupy, sweet, complex cold brew meant for contemplative sipping, and I have to say that he was successful.
Kyoto Cold Drip: Finca Takesi – Gesha, Bolivia | "a 20-hour slow-drip cold brew, expressing bergamot, watermelon and peach brandy with a black sugar finish."
Brewed with beans that Benchakul aged for nearly 10 months, the cold brew smelled super chocolate-y, combining ground cocoa nibs with dark chocolate bars, punctuated by hibiscus-like floral elements. On the palate, I got a delightful acidity, while flavors combined a delectable roastiness with dark fruit, candy syrup, and more of that aforementioned cacao, while a fellow taster noted loads of chestnut. I feel like this was the best cold brew I've ever tasted.
Espresso was crafted using a dual Modbar setup, and here we see Benchakul squatting down in order to evaluate the progress of each shot. Today's beans were TyOxy-washed, which, despite the name, does not refer to a washed coffee process (note: Endorffeine only served washed coffee during its first nine years--"taste the bean, not the process"). Benchakul likened the procedure to anaerobic process coffee, which tends to produce very juicy, almost tropical fruit notes on the front end. With this particular example, which was aged three-to-four months, he was looking for something that starts off citrusy but finishes pretty sweet, and actually described the brew as reminiscent of peach Snapple. Benchakul also made it a point to blend the outputs of his multiple pulls, as he wants the crema to first dissipate and then reintegrate, rounding things out and adding texture without being overly bright or in-your-face.
Espresso: Pepe Jijon – Mejorado, Ecuador | "a delicate expression of blackberry, currants, and hibiscus, with a lingering finish."
The nose here was all about dark berries, caramel, cacao, and roasty malt, while in the mouth, the espresso showcased a pretty remarkable depth and concentration, with boatloads of zippy citrus right up front, leading to a bevy of sweeter, juicier stone fruit notes from the mid-palate. You really do get that aforementioned peach Snapple quality--delish.
Next up was a container of flash brew coffee made with beans from one of Benchakul's favorite producers, Diego Bermudez. A former physicist from Colombia, Bermudez has been a bit controversial due to his unconventional processes, which allow for the manipulation of microbes to instill certain flavors in his coffee, such as cinnamon and milk in this particular example. The coffee was meant to be taken home and enjoyed chilled within three days, though I did take a sip right away.
???: Christmas Day Bonus Origin | "because we are sincerely appreciative for your exceptional taste in coffee!"
Bermudez's Cinnamon Leche utilizes an anaerobic ferment with thermal shock, and seemed very apropos for the season thanks to its soft, subtle tinge of cinnamon-y spice, all intermingled with roasty cacao, citrus, and orchard fruit. A fun one for sure.
We were also gifted cans of single-origin cold brew, created in collaboration with Erich Joiner's Goodboybob. I enjoyed them a couple days later:
- I began with the blue can, featuring San Vicente Yogondoy beans from Oaxaca, Mexico. The nose on this one was fresh and roasty, with a sweet, milky, almost cereal-like quality to it. On the palate, I found plenty of fruitiness and acidity up front, leading to a middle that highlighted roasted nuts and milk chocolate, with touches of bright citrus on the back end.
- Meanwhile, the orange can made use of Kochere Rako beans from Ethiopia's Yirgachefe region. This one had a darker-toned aroma, with funkier notes layered atop sweet grains and tropical fruit. Taking a sip, I found a bright acidity alongside notes of honey, caramel, tea, and a distinct grass jelly-like character that I quite liked.
posted by kevinEats at
12:00 PM
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