Los Angeles’s café culture has leaned increasingly into ritual-driven drinks, and DAMO Tea House — also known as DAMO — is no exception to this. The Korean-inspired teahouse centers its concept on tea culture, pairing traditional elements with a modern presentation. More than just serving drinks, DAMO leans into the atmosphere of the ritual itself, offering a space to intentionally feel calm and slowed down.
To see how that experience comes into practice, we first visited DAMO in Koreatown, where we ordered the Korean snack platter and some of their featured matcha drinks.
This DAMO location is in a tucked-away strip mall, providing a hidden gem in K-town. The atmosphere offered a clean, minimalistic look with smooth white counters and accents of wood lining the walls. There was minimal seating, with only a few small tables and chairs, which could also deter visitors seeking to study or work while they sip on green matcha foam.
Due to its smaller size, this location felt more like a grab-and-go spot: a place to get your matcha fix, but not the place to lounge. This location had little seating available and a line inside to order a drink. Despite the business, we received our orders within ten minutes.
Location aesthetics aside, DAMO’s matcha was everything to crave in a sweet drink: creamy, flavorful and most of all, a potent green. The Matcha Einspener, one of DAMO’s most popular items, is a sweetened matcha latte with a white cream top and a topping of matcha dust. Presented top-open, the matcha offers a delicious creamy taste and a picture-worthy presentation. That being said, the matcha costs $7.75 and is on the medium side of iced lattes (no ounce size is listed on the DAMO menu, but the sizing is likely a 16oz).
In comparison, the Strawberry Matcha Einspener is $8.50 for the same size, and essentially the same basic components with an additional strawberry purée at the bottom of the cup. Though these lattes held true to deep shades of green rather than leaning more heavily on milk bases, their prices – particularly as they rise with add-ons like strawberry flavoring – make DAMO only a treat for those looking for an authentic, over-priced, LA matcha experience.
Besides matcha and lattes, the K-town DAMO also offers, unique to this location, the Signature “Da-Gwa,” which is an assortment of Korean snacks. Many of the items on the carefully designed wooden board featured nuts, from mochi to dates to crunchy rice snacks.
Though each item was presented both beautifully and distinctly, containing unique textures and flavors from sweet to savory to chewy to hard, the portions were incredibly small. The enjoyment from eating this snack plate is short-lived, mostly just because each snack is no larger than a quarter. From medium matchas nearing $10 to one-bite snacks, what DAMO suffers most from is a lack of complete satisfaction.
Next, we explored the DAMO in the Arts District. At this location, their emphasis on calm and minimalism becomes much more apparent. Here, DAMO feels less like a stop for drinks and more like a space designed around pausing: one that encourages focus and slow-rhythm while getting work done.
The atmosphere inspires community as strangers share long tables, work remotely, and create a sense of collective productivity. The space itself mirrors the industrial style of the Arts District architecture, while keeping the minimalism employing neutral tones, clean lines and elongated furniture.
We ordered the strawberry matcha– the same one we tried at the previous location, as we wanted to see if the presentation, flavor and taste were the same, which it was– and a Korean fig-and-cheese pastry. The matcha is exceptionally smooth, with a lightly sweet aftertaste, topped with their signature cream cap and of course, strawberry puree at the bottom. By color alone, the quality of the matcha is apparent — showing a vibrant green tone, rather than a muted ashy one. The pastry felt perfectly sized to accompany the drink: a small, roughly three-inch bread with a slightly firm exterior yet soft on the inside, it leaned sweet without becoming overpowering, making it a great complement.
However, expanding on the food options could strengthen the overall experience. Snack additions, such as small sandwiches (a staple of tea culture) or light options like salads, overnight oats or chia seed puddings, could complement the menu without overwhelming the concept.
A model that could work might be something similar to Yoboseyo Superette’s, where pre-packaged Asian snacks are available for purchase and allow for variety without disrupting the concept visually. This approach could maintain DAMO’s atmosphere while allowing guests more options to pair with their tea.
Though the K-town and Arts District DAMO locations are united by minimalistic aesthetics and deep-green foamy drinks, the Arts District location offers a more complete, immersive experience than the K-town location. With purple-tone images projected on the wall, small tea displays, and branching plants, the latter feels expansive and peaceful, evident by the number of people who visit just to work alongside their sweet drinks and snacks. For L.A.’s matcha-holics, DAMO is the exact place to soothe your smooth latte desires, if you’re willing to pay the cost, all with a side of minimalistic focus.