The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

Clean and cozy. Needless to say anything else. It’s located in the very neat and nice looking area of the downtown. Right across the street from FIDM. I loved indie music playing inside. But no inside seating, only outside.

Disappointed in this place. I’ve been here a few times the past couple weeks and I walk out without a great experience.
Usually the employees lack friendliness, but this time the girl at the counter had a great smile. The problem is that when I waked in there was no customers, I only ordered one drink, and the two people who arrived after me received their orders before me.
You see me waiting here, it’s common courtesy to make my order first, or at least say hey thanks for your patience. but nothing.

I’m not usually a big fan of coffee beans, but the Chai tea latte, Jalapeño cheddar melt bagel and cream cheese was great for this morning!

I got my favorite chai tea latte on the planet and thought it didn’t taste quite right. I realized near the end that it hadn’t been stirred, so much of the sweetness and flavor was at the bottom. Perhaps I should have known, but getting it to go, stirring should not be necessary. Room for improvement.

On the Corner of 9^th and Hope Street, connected to Ralph’s Fresh Fare. Somehow this is a smaller quieter CBTL store in DTLA. Ralph’s CBTL shut down inside their store which would not compete with this one outside.
Most of the time the Baristas are helpful and dial in your drinks well and sometimes not. Great small outdoor area to people watch from this corner. Sitting out in this corner is sweet change from just the other corner of Flower or even Starbucks across the street.

Went in yesterday afternoon for hot tea — I felt a cold coming on. The service was a bit on the unprofessional side. I later told a friend about my experience, and he proceeded to tell me that’s why he doesn’t frequent this location.

Best coffee bean I’ve ever been too the Barista Kenday is pretty cool, and they always have the best selection in coffee and tea, also I heard that allan guy is awesome

Perfect spot for getting a to-​go coffee order in DTLA. If you decide to hang with your java, it’s a great corner for people watching outside at one of their tables. Tables are close to the street but that’s common in DTLA. This is a very small CBTL, not your typical large one with tables spread inside and wi-​fi to hunker down.
Good service. And they have a nice choice of alternatives to milk like Almond Milk, Soy, etc.
If you decide to not sit on the outdoor seating you can take your java across the street and sit at Grand Hope Park. Good people watching in both spots.

This CBTL is one of the calmer CBTL in DTLA. Located across the street from FIDM, you’ll often see students grab a drink from here. It’s a smaller CBTL, so seating is limited to outdoors. The employees here are friendly and have good memory. Also, phone signal here is pretty bad, so load your app before you enter, or get on the Wi-​Fi as soon as you walk in!

I really love this coffee bean. I go to Fidm and commute from the SFV 4x a week. I always make sure to stop by here and get a delicious tea latte. Now, idk if all the coffee beans in the valley don’t know what they are doing, but this location has always made great drinks full of flavor!

Best coffee shop in the area. I have three Starbucks closer to my job, but prefer to walk a bit more to go to this coffee bean. The employees are very friendly and awesome. The coffee and iced teas are amazing, and for some reason tastier than other coffee bean locations.

The girls that work here are very nice and helpful. This location is very convenient for me because it’s easy to walk to from work but always hard to find parking on the street if you are driving.

Quick, friendly service. Came here for Valentines day at 8:30am, and they had the 2 for 1 event going on and it was empty!! Especially since it was during the morning rush!!! So glad I came to this one, there was probably two people ahead of me… not that many for that time.
The girl helping me was super friendly, and helpful with some questions I had. There was only one girl making the drinks and she had my two regular tea lattes ready in 5 minutes! Way to go! I like this coffee bean!

This Coffee Bean is inside Ralphs. What I like about this location is that it’s very convenient. It also has a few tables and chairs surrounding it. I ordered an iced Americano and asked if they have syrup to have it sweetened. The barista said they didn’t, but he told me he could make one from scratch. Now, that’s really good customer service! :)

Avoiding this place in the future. It’s tiny inside, the service is terrible, and the barista named Victoria single-​handedly destroyed the credibility of this Coffee Bean. She was scowling the entire time, did not greet any customers, charged me for a large, gave me a small and proceeded to blame me for the mistake. In just such an astoundingly rude manner.
By far, she was the worst cashier I’ve ever experienced. She made the same mistakes with several of my friends living in the area as well.

This was out first time at this location. I am one of those people that will pass 50 starbucks just to get to my CBTL. We had taken a long weekend to spend in LA, Venice and Santa Monica, of course each day I had to have my CBTL Blended white chocolate with 2 add shots and extra fudge in the cup.
When we got to this store location, I was surprised on how small it was, but was stoked to find that the customer service was above exceptional. Not only was my drink made perfect but the guy making it took note of the extra details in my request and took it to the next level; making my drink off the charts.
Quality customer service is important to me, no matter how good the product is; if the person serving or selling you the product has a bad attitude it can kill my experience over all. My stop to this location was more than expected and I left extremely happy. Thanks to the guys working the swing shift on 3÷17÷2012 hats off to you

I come in about once a day, it’s not usually busy and they get my drink right away. The employees could use more education on Coffee Bean products though– it doesn’t help the curious customer when they ask about other products and the only response is «I don’t know I have’t tried it.»
And yes, if given the choice, I’d go to Starbucks.

Discretion: This is a review for the coffee bean INSIDE of Ralphs.
So everyone knows that if you decide to walk into a coffee bean it is because you are either a: 1) fan of coffee bean ONLY 2) there is no Starbucks around, 3) you just wanted to get some coffee and you figured a chain café is better than others.
Yesterday, I was a #1. I have always been a fan of coffee bean because they have the «dark chocolate» option and I have yet to see a place replicate it.
I walked into Ralphs and waited in line in front of the coffee bean. I see a young lady filling the espresso machine with some beans so I patiently wait. As soon as we made EYE contact, she immediately looked away. I would have appreciated a «be with you in a minute» or a «ill be right there» remark, but I did not mind too much so I continued to wait. After a few minutes passed I decided to creep up against the counter and lean over to see what she was doing. We made eye contact again, and I said «Please let me know when you are ready, Ill be in line.»
‘She looked at me, she rolled her eyes then she WALKED AWAY!?” At that point, I was EXTREMELY upset! I walked out of the Ralphs confused and frustrated.
My theory and my excuse for her actions was: 1) she was on break so she didn’t want to be bothered 2) she needed to go find someone to help me out because she is not a barista
In EITHER of those scenarios, she should have SAID SOMETHING TO ME! argh~
After my encounter with this Coffee Bean, I will now decide to walk into a coffee bean because 2) there is NO Starbucks around.

I’m usually not the type of person that visits chain restaurants or coffee shops. Not only do I normally avoid them, I definitely wouldn’t write a Unilocal review about them. However, this location of Coffee Bean is an exception. The ³⁄₅ star rating is, in my opinion, the highest a chain coffee shop can earn.
This tiny little location in the nicer area of downtown is great. The outdoor seating forces the patrons into people watching. Not only this, but I’m a graduate of FIDM (across the street) so it’s fun sitting at Coffee Bean and reminiscing of my college days.
The coffee itself is actually very good which is surprising for such a commercialized establishment. I normally order the iced, blended mocha with whip. Yum. It’s like a chocolate smoothie with a kick of caffeine. Sometimes I travel into downtown just to walk around aimlessly and visit this café.

You don’t know how sad I was when a few years ago I had to put down the purple straw and pick up the green one :-\
I just couldn’t continue with CB&TL’s bitter iced coffees, so I was forced to find other options. Well, recently I thought I should give them another shot to see if any improvements had been made. To my surprise, it tasted great! I asked if they had changed the way they make iced coffee and they said yes, that people had complained about the bitterness and now they use freshly brewed coffee. They still may try and give you an Americano, so make sure to ask for «brewed iced coffee».
This location may be the TINIEST of all but definitely has the nicest staff of all.