Serving People Serving Coffee Since 2005
Issue link: http://baristamagazine.epubxp.com/i/659497
not. There's just one rule: no alcohol. "Alcohol is a different thing," Kyle says. "It's nice to not serve people alcohol. Coffee makes people happy!" Among other drinks, they make their own hopped-ginger tea, turmeric lattes, and, of course, chai. In fact, the two things G&B; staffers make the most—sometimes daily—are the foundations of two of their most popular drinks: chai and almond milk. "A G&B; chai is at least as intense as one of its cortados, a face-slap of cardamom and fresh ginger on a pallid gray afternoon, a nostril-clearing shot of what your massage therapist might call pure yang," rhapsodized Jonathan Gold in the Los Angeles Times recently, and he's one of thousands of fans. Another go-to drink at G&B; is the almond milk latte, which Kyle says is one of the most popular drinks on the menu. In the New York Times , Oliver Strand called it "exquisite: one of the best iced cof- fees in the United States, and almost certainly the best latte. Fresh almond-macadamia milk, made in-house, is shaken over ice with espresso, then strained into a chilled Mason jar filled with ice… The drink is so carefully formulated and fastidiously made that it tastes more like a cocktail-dessert hybrid than a coffee on ice." If the menu is varied, you can bet the clientele is, too. Kyle's wife and two young kids stop into both shops all the time, as do Charles's wife and baby girl, which is maybe part of the reason G&B; is such a draw for people from all backgrounds, of all ages, in study groups or morning meetings, or often with kids in tow. With gluten-free options, caffeine-free, straight-up single-origin espresso, milkshakes, vegan, and everything in between, Kyle says, "Even if you don't drink coffee, we want to offer you something to drink." We head out to Go Get Em Tiger (GGET), the duo's second café in the leafy Larchmont neigh- borhood about five miles northwest of G&B.; The busy street, where turning the corner brings the famous Hollywood sign into view, boasts a number of trendy shops (Portland, Ore.'s celebrated ice cream shop, Salt & Straw, for example, recently opened a few doors down), and throughout the day, patrons stop into GGET for coffee, drinks, sandwiches, and more. The feeling that everyone is welcome—a hall- mark of G&B;—is immediately evident at GGET, too. Kyle and Charles proudly point out the entrance, which has a doorway built especially wide to accommodate parents with strollers. These guys, though—they're just getting started. Moving forward, Kyle and Charles have a plan for both growth and experimentation. They see Go Get Em Tiger as a model they can scale up, while the G&B; café will be a one-of-a-kind location where they can try out any and every wild idea they have. G&B; is the test kitchen, while GGET is for the real world. In the future, they say, there will be more GGETs. "We don't want to be an empire," Kyle says, but they definitely want to grow. "We want to employ people," says Charles. "The retail experience is something that we enjoy and that we want to share." The very name Go Get Em Tiger "embodied a lot of the spirit that we saw this being," says Charles, "that the coffee shop is a support center. It's not implying that people coming here become smarter or cooler. Whatever you do, that's awesome. Have a cup of coffee." 76 barista magazine