One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Bia Coffee Steeps Flower Petals For 3 Days To Make Their Gorgeous Rose Lattes
Silbia Lee opened her appropriately named Bia Coffee along a rapidly changing stretch of Koreatown's 6th Street in March. Aptly named not just because of her name, but because Silbia (or Sylvia) is Latin for forest or park. The connection lies in Bia Coffee's specialty: floral drinks. Bia serves up a whole host of flower-infused items—from a lavender cake, and lavender appleade, to a blueberryade, to a vanilla latte. The idea comes from Silbia's own personal history, Moses Choi, who helped Lee open the shop, tells LAist. Silbia worked for years in South Korea as a florist, then moved to Seattle to work in coffee. When she moved to Los Angeles last year, her past lives merged.
The Bia Rose Latte is the drink to order, however. Organic rose petals are left to steep for three days in a cane sugar and water base. The finished syrup is then added to milk and Klatch Coffee espresso, and topped with an edible rose petal and a dusting of rose powder.
Iced rose latte. (Photo by Oren Peleg/LAist)
For the coming months, the iced version of the rose latte makes for a summer luxury. The rose flavor itself is a fragrant after-note to the creaminess of the milk and the nuttiness of the coffee. What's more, the rose draws out a certain chocolate taste from the coffee, adding a new layer to an already well-balanced drink.
Bia Coffee is located at 3907 W. 6th Street in Koreatown.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
