Day 1 into the long-awaited Thanksgiving Break, a stop at a local Los Angeles coffee spot was essential in my trip back home to Southern California. The mood of the day was to bring it back to high school. As I sat in the backseat of my high school best friend’s car on our way to get some food on the west side of LA, I felt like I was thrown back to 3 years ago, post-basketball practice, just trying to get a quality snack in with my people amidst the heavy rush hour traffic of the 10 freeway and Pico Blvd.

Lunch was a catch-up affair at Killer Noodle on Sawtelle Blvd. We were three best friends, who attended different colleges, who lived very different lives, and who hadn’t seen each other in months. Seemingly the most appropriate place to hang out, considering that and the chilly weather, was an old high school haunt. Sawtelle Blvd. was a little strip of Asian restaurants and dessert establishments that students from my high school —including us, frequented often.

And while the spicy ramen did hit the spot, the coffee I had afterwards definitely stood out. Keeping up the throwback mood, we decided that we’d go a little out of our way and get coffee in the Westwood Village, another frequent location of our high school hang outs.

Ministry of Coffee is a local cafe right off the UCLA campus that features long communal tables, perfect for laptop and notebook space, and groups of students studying or catching up with friends. The walk to the cafe was cold, but oh so worth it when I got the first taste of my hot hit of caffeine. I ordered a lavender latte with oat milk, and was pleasantly surprised by the cute little mug with latte art on top placed in front of me.

The latte was the perfect amount of sweetness, and I didn’t even mind the fact that the temperature of my drink wasn’t my usual ice cold. From my previous experiences, I’ve noticed Lavender flavored lattes are usually a hit or a miss, I’ve had some good ones, but I’ve also had some that I couldn’t even force myself to finish. This one from the Ministry of Coffee might’ve been the best I’ve ever had.