A Guide to the Best of Southern California : SHOPTALK : Spilling the Beans

Until a few months ago, Starbucks was a stranger in Los Angeles. Sure, some local coffee cultists had heard of it, and even sent away for pounds of it, but the gourmet beans were nowhere to be found around here. Now, the Seattle-based roaster is coming on strong.

It has set up espresso bars in selected Pavilions supermarkets, where shoppers can order a cappuccino or caffe latte to sip as they fill their carts. And later this month, a full-fledged Starbucks store is scheduled to open in the Beverly Connection, with others to follow.

It will offer more than 20 varieties and blends of coffee, from Arabian Mocha Java to Aged Sumatra to Decaffeinated Guatemala to the much-beloved house specialty, a “light-bodied” blend of Latin American coffees. Starbucks buys only premium arabica beans, slowly roasts them in small batches to “full city”--a rich, chestnut brown--then packs and ships them to its outlets in the Northwest, Chicago and, at last, Los Angeles. And the company, whose name comes from the java-loving first mate in “Moby Dick,” pledges to give away beans more than week old to charity.

Starbucks stores are scheduled to open at 100 N. La Cienega, in the Beverly Connection, on July 18; at 2671 Main St., Santa Monica, on Aug. 2, and at 428 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, in late August.