Unpretentious Beauty and San Francisco Coffee at Bakers & Baristas in Artesia

Bakers & Baristas in Artesia. Photo by Amparo Rios.

The team behind the two-location Candle Light Bakery in Los Angeles has quietly opened a 2,600-plus-square-foot multiroaster cafe in Artesia. Despite what its name suggests, Bakers & Baristas is about more than just coffee and pastry, offering a scratch salad, toast and sandwich menu throughout the day into dinner, as well as a small selection of wines, bottled brews and local micro brews on tap.

Candle Light’s Eric Quan is at the helm of Bakers & Baristas — not associated with a shop of the same name in Washington D.C. — which soft-opened last month and is soon to roll out full brunch service. Coffee served in West River Field Lab ceramics is initially being provided by two roasters from farther afield in California, San Francisco’s Four Barrel and De La Paz. Brewing methods include Kalita Wave pourovers and siphon brews, while single-origin espressos are being pulled through a La Marzocco Linea PB for the traditional espresso menu, plus special drinks such as a honey lavender latte.

Eric Quan behind the Linea PB at Bakers & Baristas in Artesia. Photo by Amparo Rios.

Naturally, baked goods are a focus, with the shop offering a range of cakes, cookies, tarts, and an array of other filled, frosted and naked pastries.

L.A.-based photographer Amparo Rios recently visited the shop during its opening stages, describing it as filled with “totally unpretentious beauty.” Here’s what Rios captured for Daily Coffee News: