A Brief History Of LA's Urth Caff

For lovers of organic, health-conscious coffee, Los Angeles’ Urth Caffé is a staple spot.

The all-encompassing Los Angeles bakery and café chain is a favorite among tourists and locals alike—and with good reason. Urth Caffé’s reputation for blending organic ingredients with gourmet taste and presentation is well-earned and wide-spread. Here’s what you need to know about this essential LA spot.

The concept

According to the Urth Caffé website, this thriving enterprise was born more than 25 years ago, when Cofounders Jilla and Shallom Berkman met a passionate Peruvian coffee farmer named Jorge. Jorge specialized in organic, heirloom coffee and was inspired by the Berkmans’ mission to help lead the way in bringing health-conscious coffee to the world. For reference, heirloom coffee trees aren’t genetically modified—which, in today’s day and age, makes them quite the rarity.

The Berkmans spent years learning to roast and brew their specific coffee blends, eventually making Urth Caffé the nation’s first exclusively organic, heirloom coffee company.

“I love coffee in every incarnation,” Shallom told Los Angeles magazine in 2008. “With milk, without milk, with sugar, without sugar.”

Even the café’s name is a nod to its organic roots—”Urth” is the old Welsh root spelling of “Earth” and Caffé is, of course, Italian for coffee. In addition to organic, heirloom coffee, the Berkmans included hand-blended organic teas on their menu, attracting health-conscious caffeine-seekers of all types.

The cafés

The very first Urth Caffé opened in Manhattan Beach in 1991, well before the organic food craze had reached its peak. The original location lasted just three years, after which the Berkmans were forced to move to a larger location in response to Urth’s massive popularity (lines regularly extended out the door of the Manhattan Beach shop).

When the couple moved Urth to a space on Melrose Avenue in the design district of West Hollywood, they added their now-iconic health-conscious breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu. By 1997, food, baked goods, and snacks were an integral part of the Urth Caffé business model and menu. The Berkmans hired an Italian Executive Chef to bake the café’s signature ancient grain breads and fine desserts in-house.

By 2002, Urth Caffé underwent yet another expansion, this time with a location in Beverly Hills. A café in Santa Monica followed in 2004 and was designed from the ground up as an Urth Caffé. In 2008, Urth’s Downtown LA café and headquarters opened, followed by the Pasadena café in 2012. Locations in Laguna Beach and Old Towne Orange opened in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

The future

https://www.instagram.com/p/rQbcCbzYkR/?taken-by=urth_cafe

Urth Caffé shows no signs of slowing down. In 2018, the Berkmans plan to move the company’s headquarters from DTLA to Hawthorne and, in March 2018, Urth Caffé Wynn Las Vegas opened in the new Wynn Plaza. The expansion into Las Vegas serves as a sign of things to come for Urth Caffé—an expansion beyond Southern California.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.