West LA coffee shop staple closing after 20 years: ‘No good coffee left’ 

A beloved coffee shop near UCLA is pulling final shots.

Espresso Profeta, a 20-year caffeine haven in LA’s Westwood Village, announced it is permanently closing its doors on Friday, September 25.

The java jolting news of the loss of the neighborhood staple comes as the retail district — which has struggled with high turnover and too many empty storefronts for decades — battles its way through a long period of widespread construction and redevelopment surrounding a soon-to-arrive Metro D Line subway station.

Owners of the quaint, ivy-draped brick cafe, known for serious espresso and a charming, hideaway courtyard, took to social media this week to break the news.

“Thank you to all our loyal regulars for coming back day after day, and year after year,” the shop posted.

The unwelcome announcement didn’t include an official reason for the sudden exit — but in a reply to an commenter who offered to keep the business afloat, the owners simply stated: “Our lease is up on the 30th.”

The California Post has reached out to the departing business for further details.

Meanwhile, the shuttering spro spot is stripping the place bare.

“Over the next couple of weeks we will be selling off everything from furniture, appliances (Espresso machine, grinders, refrigerators), porcelain ware, and art,” they wrote in the post, telling followers to shoot them a direct message or drop by in person to buy up a piece of local coffee history.

The announcement triggered an outpouring of grief from decades of UCLA students, locals, and caffeine obsessives.

“The cafe that taught me to enjoy coffee,” one patron wrote. “The first cafe I was ever regular at. The cafe that got me through grad school.”

One customer recalled taking a shuttle down from UCLA during breaks just to get a cup, declaring Profeta had “the best espresso in the area.”

Another went further: “This is the best espresso in the county and beyond! Tragic.”

“No good coffee left in Westwood,” one person lamented.

Others called the loss a massive blow to the endlessly embattled Village.

Profeta built their reputation around carefully trained baristas — and exclusively used 1990’s Seattle legend Espresso Vivace beans, even as many of LA’s trendy coffee shops moved toward lighter roasts in recent years.

But the shop displayed impressive staying power anyway — which may have had much to do with the atmosphere as what was in the cup.

It’s a place where UCLA students studied alongside professionals and neighborhood families, with co-owner Choncey Langford telling the Daily Bruin that staff had watched customers progress though four years of college and families’ children grow up before their eyes.

Even this year, Espresso Profeta was recommended by The Infatuation as one of LA’s best coffee shops for getting work done, praising its quiet back patio and reasonably priced drinks.

For Profeta’s regulars, there is one week left to get their caffeine fix before another piece of old-school Westwood is gone for good.

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