White Sparrow Coffee
In Old Town Tustin, another very good coffee, matcha, and pastry shop – with an attached market
Tustin’s collection of very good to great coffee and tea shops isn’t limited to Old Towne Tustin – Ayêr Coffee and Raised by Lions are just a couple of examples – but the quaint, walkable district hosts multiple coffee and tea shops, notably including Morning Lavender Cafe and White Sparrow. Opened during the pandemic, White Sparrow actually spans two connected storefronts: a bodega-sized, healthy pre-made drink and snack shop called White Sparrow Market on the left, and a similarly small cafe called White Sparrow Coffee on the right. If you’re looking for packaged pickles and olives, organic canned sodas or bottled juices, visit the Market; handmade coffee, tea, and tonic refreshers are on the Coffee side.
Between seats inside the cafe, a few tables outside, and nearby benches, they can accommodate around 15 guests at once. When we arrived, there were several people behind the counter taking orders, preparing drinks, and serving pastries produced by Long Beach bakery Nonna Mercato.
White Sparrow Coffee’s menu remains substantially the same throughout the year, starting with mostly espresso-based “specialty drinks” including lavender, vanilla, Spanish, and maple syrup lattes, a house chai, dark chocolate mocha, and a yuzu tonic mixed with espresso or matcha. “Classic” coffees, several matcha and hojichas, and basic brewed teas are available as well – notably none with printed prices. The most compelling part of the menu, for us, was a collection of seasonal specials that ranged from four holiday drinks online to three spring drinks when we visited: winter peppermint/dark chocolate, peppermint/matcha, stroopwaffle caramel espresso, and eggnog horchata gave way to blueberry matcha, orange creamsicle, and black sesame matcha choices. Additional specials may (or may not) be flagged on White Sparrow’s Instagram account.
We sampled an iced blueberry matcha ($8.50) – a strong tea base with a creamy oat milk top and obvious but not powerful blueberry syrup mixed in – and a hot Love on the Weekend ($6.50), a cinnamon-vanilla latte built with a strong espresso and properly frothed steamed milk. While neither drink was particularly hard to find elsewhere in the area, we felt both were very nice second choice options: we had initially been excited for the seasonal drink specials listed on White Sparrow’s website, but discovered when we arrived that the web menu hadn’t been updated in months.
The Nonna Mercato pastries were also substantially impressive: an oversized pistachio croissant ($7.50) had laminated green traces outside and a ridiculously large core of pistachio butter inside, discovered only a few bites in and then savored, while a ham and cheese croissant ($7) was tasty, but served at room temperature without an offer to warm it up. That small issue aside, White Sparrow’s service was very friendly, and neither the handmade drinks nor the Nonna pastries took long to get into our hands after placing our order.
Overall, White Sparrow Coffee is a very nice cafe, and a good alternative to nearby Morning Lavender, depending on the sort of experience you’re looking for. We’ll likely return when the winter seasonal specials do – and next time, will confirm in advance that they’re actually available.
Stats
Price: $
Service: Counter
Open Since: 2020
Address
100 W. Main St.
Tustin, CA 92780
Instagram: @whitesparrowcoffee