Meet Susan Talreja | Coffee Connoisseur & Healthcare Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Susan Talreja and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Susan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Growing up I never liked the idea of coffee. I was more of a tea and hot chocolate kind of girl. Moving forward in my career, I realized that I needed the “extra kick” to help me study when I was on my grind. Then in the blink of an eye, I was drinking a cup of coffee everyday. Whether it was Starbucks, Peet’s Coffee, or Coffee Beam, it started becoming my daily routine. During Covid is when my knowledge for coffee expanded. I started visiting new coffee shops, trying to understand the different roasts, what origin the beans came from, and flavor profile. Best of all, I started seeing different ways to brew a cup, which changed the taste of the coffee completely. This became a passion to the point where I ended up creating “CoffeewithSuzz,” to show the world my coffee culture. This led me to network and promote local coffee shops and be a part of coffee giveaways, try different specialty drinks, and attend different coffee festivals.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Although coffee is a huge passion of mine, my career has been in Healthcare Management. I have been working amongst top hospitals (UCLA/Cedars Sinai) all while pursuing my MBA in Healthcare Management. I currently manage the Heart & Lung Transplant Department at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. If you had asked me 10 years ago of what I wanted to do, I would have said nursing. I went into the nursing program and realized sooner than later that it just wasn’t for me. Over the years, I’ve acquired knowledge and expertise in team management, all while collaborating with my direct reports to develop, structure and implement more efficient workflows. I can say that this is where I’m meant to be.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Can we mention coffee shops?! 🙂 If my best friend was visiting and I wanted to show them a good time, I would take them all over town! A break down would be more or less the following:

Monday-
– Coffee Shop and pastries (Alana’s Coffee) or Brunch (Blu Jam Cafe)
– Hollywood Sign Hike
– Chill day at the apartment, watch movies/relax
– Dinner in Santa Monica at Uovo (best Italian spot), and walk the pier (get funnel cake)

Tuesday-
– Day trip to San Diego
– Flower Fields in Carlsbad on the way
– Little Italy (Food Hall, Restaurante IIando (best Italian food), Barbusa (cute snacks/happy hour)
– Grab dessert at Extraordinary Desserts and catch sunset at Coronado Bay
– Gaslamp- walk around, grab a drink, get tacos at The Taco Stand and head home

Wednesday-
– Disneyland or Universal Studios Theme Park
– eat at the park or outside in Downtown Disney or Downtown Universal for lunch.
– Dinner at Pijja Palace (best americanized indian food)

Thursday-
– Newport Beach (lay at beach and soak up some sun)
– lunch at Darbari Persian Grill (really good chicken kabob plates)
– Go to Resort at Pelican Hill for drinks and a view
– evening sunset cruise (Davey’s Lockers on Groupon has them for cheap!)

Friday-
– Santa Barbara for the day. Walk down State Street and eat lunch there
– Rent bikes and ride them alongside the beach, go to the pier and eat seafood
– Dinner/drinks back at State Street. Sleep at the California Hotel or Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Hotel.

Saturday-
– Drive to Solvang for the day.
– Check out the danish town, eat at Solvang Restaurant and Birkholm’s Bakery & Cafe
– Head home to LA
– play night tennis or golf a the driving range

Sunday-
– Brentwood farmers market in the morning
– Lunch at Local Sandwich Shop with a healthy smoothie from Backyard Bowls (usually good weather for a sandwich)
– Burton Chase Park picnic in Marina Del Rey (read, relax, eat)
– Eat dinner at Etta (Culver City Italian restaurant)

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to thank my boyfriend Neil and siblings (Mona, Vinit, and Jenny) for being supportive and encouraging of all my coffee ventures. They always are down to go with me to visit new coffee shops and try their amazing specialty coffees.

Also a huge shoutout to some of the coffee shops I’ve grown to love over the years: Blue Bottle (for a great pick me up), Alana’s Coffee Roasters (for having the best Mexican mocha and grinding their beans in-house everyday), Home SF (for the crazy amount of specialty drinks and colorful latte art to make every cup pretty), Goodpeople Coffee (for having the best names for your drinks and tasting great of course), and JOJO Coffeehouse (for the cutest mini coffee flights). Of course there’s so many other coffee shops that I have love for and appreciate each one of them for changing the way I see coffee.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coffeewithsuzz/

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=gWp_QG2IT9DuaYZgGF-0NA&utm_source=ishare