Indie Coffee & Tea Is a Secret Worth Spilling

Good secrets are best kept hidden. Once in a while, secrets are bound to be spilled, especially if it's a delicious one. Tucked somewhat secretively inside World Sports Center is Indie Coffee & Tea, and they deserve to be exposed for what they really are: the NoHo Arts District's best local coffee shop.

I'd seen their chalkboard sidewalk sign at the corner Lankershim Boulevard and Otsego Street on my runs to North Hollywood Park, but I'd never made the time to stop in. Now that I'm moving a hop and a skip away to Valley Village, I figured now's the time to try them while I'm still only a block away.

As a frappuccino addict, I'd always swore by Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's ice blended drinks. But a couple weekends ago I enjoyed the best iced coffee concoction of my life not from Starbucks or Coffee Bean, but rather from Indie Coffee & Tea, and it's quite possible I heard angels singing as I sipped their mocha chocolate ice blended coffee down to the last icy drop. Though the aforementioned big box competitors are both less than three blocks away, it's no wonder why Indie remains open. Yelpers swear by their loose leaf and iced teas, and the cafe's location off Lankershim is perfect for both gym patrons in need of a pick-me-up or pedestrians looking for their caffeine fix.

I stopped in again on a Monday morning to catch Indie's friendly owner, Jose Alcedo, in action. Some of his regular customers, Kat (who preferred to provide only a first name) and her two kids, enjoyed their breakfast as they chatted it up with Alcedo.

Indie originally opened further north on Lankershim at Pitfire Pizza, but moved to their current location at World Sports Center about a year ago. Kat, who works in sales, said she's been a customer ever since their Pitfire days and visits at least once a week.

"Tell Mr. Jose about your gymnastics!" Kat said to her daughter. As the young girl sat at the counter eating breakfast sausages and talking to "Mr. Jose," Kat told me she prefers coming to Indie over the national coffee chains.

Her kids love the coffee shop's fresh fruit smoothies and especially enjoy "Mr. Jose's fabulous personality," she said.

"It's a neighborhood place ... It is the kind of place where you can have conversations," and experience the atmoosphere she said. "And," she added as she saluted to her warm cup of joe, "the coffee is great."