LA’s Sleekest New Korean Cafe Doubles as a High-End Perfume Shop

Put into the leading floor of a stone tower in the heart of Koreatown, find Elorea, a New York-based Korean perfumery and cafe. Started by Korean American couple Su minutes Park and Wonny Lee, the name is a portmanteau of the word “components”– all-natural elements feature strongly in the store’s drink motivation– and Korea.

Koreatown’s Elorea is housed in an atrium-like area on the leading floor of a tower right nearby from the busy Chapman Market, in the historical Chapman Court structure. A stairs winds through the structure, emerging into a light-filled room with arched home windows and high ceilings ignoring the community. In the center of the space, 2 low round tables present glass containers of perfumes as personnel clarify scent profiles to site visitors. The coffee shop occupies a whole wall of the space, with its long black stone coffee bar broken up only by capillaries of white going through it. There are a few seats indoors, including a cushioned bench, yet the majority of seating is simply outdoors on the roof deck. A handful of couches and chairs are spread across the deck, with a view of palm-tree-lined Koreatown streets and the hills of Griffith Park in the distance.

The shop’s arrival in Los Angeles comes as part of a wave of Oriental coffee stores opening up throughout the city: The fashionable cafes, with visually pleasing, Instagram-friendly interiors and trademark cream-topped drinks, have seen a spike in appeal just recently. Sea air and flower perfumed Haenyeo is named after the women divers of Jeju Island, and woodsy Hanok is called after a typical Korean dwelling.

Mild Shower, a scent motivated by the Korean term jambi (unexpected rain), makes use of a herbaceous perilla leaf in its solution, which is typically found in gimbap or served together with barbeque. Sea air and floral aromatic Haenyeo is named after the female divers of Jeju Island, and woodsy Hanok is named after a conventional Oriental house.

Put into the leading floor of a rock tower in the heart of Koreatown, find Elorea, a New York-based Korean perfumery and coffee shop. The coffee shop uses espresso, matcha, and much more alongside a schedule of Korean-inspired perfumes, lotions, and soaps. Founded by Korean American pair Su min Park and Wonny Lee, the name is a portmanteau of the word “aspects”– natural elements feature strongly in the shop’s drink inspiration– and Korea.

At Elorea, Park and Lee blend the perfumery experience with a curated beverage food selection influenced by their aromas. Elorea’s very first perfume collection is based on the four components of paradise, fire, water, and earth, a motif that is carried right into the beverages.

Elorea’s initial in-person store, located in New York City’s Nolita, opened up in the summertime of 2023. The store’s arrival in Los Angeles comes as component of a wave of Korean coffee stores opening up across the city: The fashionable coffee shops, with cosmetically pleasing, Instagram-friendly interiors and signature cream-topped drinks, have actually seen a spike in appeal recently.