Kian Abedini founded Compelling Coffee in 2011 as a specialty roaster focused on sourcing and sustainability. The operation began as a wholesale supplier, roasting to order and producing private label coffees, before expanding into retail with a location on Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood. A second cafe in Valley Village features a vinyl record bar, and a third in Lincoln Heights opened in 2025. Compelling has won the Good Food Awards twice and maintains strict sourcing standards, never paying less than Fair Trade prices and offering coffees only within a specific window past harvest to ensure peak freshness. The roastery reduced its non recyclable packaging footprint by 90 percent as of 2019.