Rapport Coffee Roasters - Laguna Beach

The espresso tonic comes in a martini glass. That detail catches the room, which is a music-forward cafe with jazz on the playlist and a deliberately calm, clean feel. Rapport Coffee Roasters opened this Laguna Beach location as a second store, and regulars who know the San Clemente original describe this one as roughly five times larger. Plenty of tables. Free parking. A working seat for the day, which the original cannot offer at the same scale.

The roasting happens in-house and the pour-over program is where the bench shows. A washed Ethiopian and a Colombian rotate through the single-origin pours, and the cortado is a clean named order on the milk-drink side. The cinnamon miel cappuccino is the seasonal-leaning move and the named cap order. The espresso tonic in the martini glass is the photo and the small bit of theater the room allows itself. The croffles come from a local French bakery, along with a cinnamon croissant and a pistachio danish that both earn the order independently of the coffee.

The pastry partnership is the kind of small-roaster move that signals seriousness. Rather than running a half-baked in-house program, Rapport hands the bakery side to a partner that does it well, and the result is a pastry case that holds up next to the espresso program. The cinnamon croissant and the pistachio danish are reliable. The croffle is the curiosity order. The combination with the cinnamon miel cappuccino is the seasonal anchor.

Matcha gets mixed reviews, which is worth knowing if matcha is the primary reason for the trip. Past that, the room is built for a long working morning. Remote workers wanting a larger Rapport with WiFi and free parking will find it, and the size difference from the San Clemente original is meaningful enough to change the way you use the cafe. Dog owners are welcome. Beach visitors who want a serious coffee stop after the boardwalk get a real one. Order the washed Ethiopian pour-over, take a window seat, let the jazz do its work for an hour.