Kei Concepts — the prolific Orange County restaurant group behind Peruvian staple Vox Kitchen and always-busy Vietnamese breakfast spot Nếp Cafe — has always paid as much mind to its drinks menu as to what’s served on the plate. So it should come as no surprise that the group’s latest opening is a sprawling coffee shop in Westminster at 15691 Brookhurst Street. Opening Wednesday, July 31, Kei Coffee House will bring contemporary coffee trends with Southeast Asian influences to the scene.

Set in a 4,000-square-foot space in the heart of Little Saigon, Kei Coffee House is designed to meet many needs, from quick coffee runs to languid meet-ups and remote work. With its abundance of natural light, leather seating, blonde wood accents, and pops of greenery, the vibes are pure Scandinavian minimalism. It took nearly four years for Kei Coffee House to come to life, with the permitting process alone extending two and a half years.

“Everybody’s doing just Korean coffee or Vietnamese coffee,” says Viet Nguyen, founder CEO, and executive chef of Kei Concepts. “For us, it’s more about bringing that entire region of Asia. On the menu, you’ll see things from the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand — not just one country.” Nguyen and his associates traveled to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore to research those countries’ coffee traditions. Nguyen cites a pair of Ho Chi Minh City coffee shops, the Running Bean and Mille Mille, as primary sources of inspiration.

Kei Coffee House brews Arabica and Robusta beans from South America and plans to incorporate beans from Asia in the future. On the menu are classic coffee drinks like espresso, flat whites, and cold brew, along with specialty drinks like a banana toffee latte that includes homemade banana milk, cheese foam, and toffee, as well as a melon espresso tonic made with fresh honeydew and tonic water. In addition to coffee drinks, there is an extensive list of teas with an emphasis on matcha and coconut-based blends.

A line of baked goods produced in-house daily is available to accompany drinks, including classic and almond croissants, cookies (corn cheese, chocolate chip, white chocolate chip macadamia, cranberry oat), señorita bread (milk and butter, cheese), and the Vietnamese French mashup, beef pate chaud. Dishes like egg bites, popcorn chicken, and even pasta will also feature on the menu given the full kitchen on-site.

Up next for the busy restaurant group is a virtual beverage concept operating within Sup Noodle Bar (locations in Irvine and Buena Park) called Sugarcane Press, serving fresh-pressed sugar cane juice. The Vietnamese-inflected dim sum venture SEA Dim Sum & Seafood is slated for 2025, along with a Kei Coffee House in Los Angeles. “I believe this concept is wide-reaching enough,” says Nguyen. “If you want a regular cup of Joe, that’s fine. Or you can splurge on something very interesting, things that you’d probably have to fly halfway around the world to find.”

Kei Coffee House is located at 15691 Brookhurst St, Westminster, CA 92683, and is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Days and hours of operations will expand in the future.