{"id":2156,"date":"2021-09-06T06:24:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T06:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/news\/food\/grind-la-coffee-tea-bar\/"},"modified":"2021-09-06T06:24:07","modified_gmt":"2021-09-06T06:24:07","slug":"grind-la-coffee-tea-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/news\/food\/grind-la-coffee-tea-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. Grind Coffee &#038; Tea Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Vanessa Punche turned her coffee truck into a Mid City brick and mortar coffee shop on Redondo Boulevard, just south of Pico Boulevard.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-blackowned-los-angeles-standard-newspaper\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/Support_Standard_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"296\" \/><\/a><figcaption>The L.A. Standard Newspaper needs your support so that we can continue to create positive stories about Black communities. $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000. Any amount would be greatly appreciated. -Jason Douglas Lewis, Owner\/Publisher. Donations can be made through Cash App <a href=\"https:\/\/cash.app\/$LAStandard\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/cash.app\/$LAStandard<\/a>, Venmo https:\/\/venmo.com @LA-Standard-Newspaper, PayPal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/paypalme\/lastandardnewspaper\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/paypalme\/lastandardnewspaper<\/a>, and GoFundMe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-blackowned-los-angeles-standard-newspaper\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-blackowned-los-angeles-standard-newspaper<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<figure>&nbsp;<\/figure>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zs4KDry8HwE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<figure>&nbsp;<\/figure>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">By Ayanna Bonds<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">The inception of Los Angeles&rsquo; latest Black-owned coffee shop came after the 2018 incident where two Black men were arrested inside a Philadelphia Starbucks while waiting for a business meeting to begin.&nbsp; That incident outraged Black people across the nation, and for Windsor Hills native Vanessa Punche, it was a call to action, leading her to get into the coffee business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&ldquo;That just didn&rsquo;t sit well with me,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp; &ldquo;I felt like they didn&rsquo;t support people who look like me.&nbsp; So a vision was born.&nbsp; I always like to say that the business chose me.&nbsp; I didn&rsquo;t choose this business.&nbsp; I was just fine working my corporate job for 25 years.&nbsp; I loved being a W-2 employee.&nbsp; I knew where my money was coming from every two weeks.&nbsp; But that thing (Starbucks incident) just pushed me into my own business.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Punche knew that she did not want to sit at her management job in a medical field until she was in her 60s, but she did not have anything to retire into.&nbsp; The Starbucks incident, coupled with her love for coffee, led her to making the leap into starting her own business and launching L.A. Grind Coffee &amp; Tea Bar.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&ldquo;I was a coffee connoisseur,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp; &ldquo;I was that person who did visit Starbucks frequently.&nbsp; I love the smell of coffee and I love the taste of coffee.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-2154\" src=\"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/6S8R5341_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/6S8R5341_web.jpg 900w, https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/6S8R5341_web-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/6S8R5341_web-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption><em><strong>Windsor Hills native Vanessa Punche was outraged after two Black men were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia, so she decided to open her own community coffee shop. Photos by Jason Lewis<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure>&nbsp;<\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">One of Punche&rsquo;s first stops on her new path was at the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation&rsquo;s annual Mobile Retail and Food Truck Expo.&nbsp; With the support that she received from there, she started a coffee truck and landed a contract at LAX&rsquo;s ride-share pick-up lot at the airport.&nbsp; Her ultimate goal was to open a coffee shop, which came shortly after.&nbsp; The shop would create a community space that the truck could not.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&ldquo;Coffee brings people together, and it gives people a chance to conversate,&rdquo; she said.&nbsp; &ldquo;You&rsquo;re always meeting somebody for coffee at the local coffee shop.&nbsp; Coffee is inviting.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Local independent coffee shops can serve as community gathering spots, and Black-owned coffee shops tend to be cultural centers with community events, meetings, brunches, art shows, and pop up shops.&nbsp; This can be a better place for Black customers than a mainstream coffee shop.&nbsp; Also, when the coffee shop owner lives locally, it&rsquo;s more likely that the surrounding community will have a greater benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&ldquo;With community coffee shops, a part of the profits are staying with that community,&rdquo; Punche said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">While the experiences at a community coffee shop like L.A. Grind Coffee &amp; Tea Bar can be more enriching than at mainstream coffee shops, the main attraction is still the coffee and the tea.&nbsp; Punche uses coffee beans from Cameroon, which are roasted locally by a coffee roaster who is also from Cameroon. &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" size-full wp-image-2155\" src=\"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/6S8R5370_web.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/6S8R5370_web.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/6S8R5370_web-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not going to find that in many places locally,&rdquo; Punche said.&nbsp; &ldquo;It&rsquo;s non-acidic, full body, bold, and it has a delicious flavor.&nbsp; The tea is sourced locally, so there&rsquo;s nothing special about the tea until I put my spin on it.&nbsp; I have hand-craft teas that I curate.&nbsp; So I have special blends that you won&rsquo;t find at other shops.&rdquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">This is also a good place for people to work and study, as the venue has free Wi-Fi.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">L.A. Grind Coffee &amp; Tea Bar is located at 1412 S. Redondo Boulevard.&nbsp; Visit their website at&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lagrindcoffeeandteabar.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.lagrindcoffeeandteabar.com<\/a> and follow them on social media.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">Vanessa Punche turned her coffee truck into a Mid City brick and mortar coffee shop on Redondo Boulevard, just south of Pico Boulevard.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[169,170,93,168,217,953,167,161,218,2135,156,157,75,135,163,2137,162,102,956,2136,241,158,160,159],"class_list":["post-2156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-african-american","tag-african-american-newspaper","tag-baldwin-hills","tag-black-newspaper","tag-black-owned","tag-coffee","tag-community-newspaper","tag-crenshaw","tag-inglewood","tag-l-a-grind-coffee-tea-bar","tag-ladera-heights","tag-leimert-park","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-standard-newspaper","tag-mid-city","tag-mobile-retail-and-food-truck-expo","tag-park-mesa-heights","tag-south-los-angeles","tag-tea","tag-vanessa-punche","tag-vermont-slauson-economic-development-corporation","tag-view-park","tag-west-adams","tag-windsor-hills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastandardnewspaper.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}