The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

This is my local coffee spot when I’m too lazy to walk down to Starbucks. Staff is super nice, and surprisingly there are not a lot of homeless people showering in the bathrooms. Don’t get me wrong there are A LOT of homeless people on Washington St, but this place does a good job of managing the nuisances.
I’m not a fancy coffee drinker, so my rating is based on their regular hot and iced coffees. I never grab food there either, but the treats do look delicious. The staff is really nice and always remember my drink!
*Not a good spot for a coffee date haha. It’s too small!

Every time I go I feel so welcomed. I would not go to any other coffee shop. They have so many Good drink and they have recommended thing that I thought I would never try in a drink

Pretty chill spot. Although I wasn’t a paying customer. I used their free wifi without any staff harassing me like most places do you knw. So my time here was most relaxing and chill. Friendly staff.

I LOVE this place — their drinks are always consistent and the staff are so friendly and helpful. Plus, their speed of service is awesome. I usually get the Black Forest (recently with dark chocolate instead) and I’m obsessed with it. Not the healthiest, but definitely a great pick me up, esp since it’s walking distance from my work place :)

Still 5 Stars, more than a year later. Management & Staff have changed a bit, but they always hire the best people. My favorite, favorite drink is Iced Matcha Latte but I still get an iced coffee w/​mixed flavors (like today, for instance, I got half white chocolate & half dark chocolate.) It’s a bit cheaper than the iced matcha latte, the struggle is real right now because school semester just started. Lol.

Pretty standard drinks and coffee bean with nice staff. The space is pretty small but not really cozy so a grab and go drink would probably be best here. The cashier was nice with suggestions since I had no idea what I wanted.

The Coffee Bean in Hillcrest is THE BEST! The management and staff are excellent. They know our names and order as soon as we walk in the door. Kevin, Rachel, Emily, David and the entire crew super friendly and always chatty even when it’s busy.

Both the female at the register and the male making the coffees were friendly and helpful. I told them I had been to the one in Mission Valley the day before and that the hazelnut powder in my latte was not mixed enough. The guy making it made sure it was made properly.

The place is good overall. Its clean, organize and it is bigger compared to other coffee shops that I had been. Baristas are very friendly and always smiling.

Caramel latte is my ultimate favorite. Its simple sweetness completes my day. It’s like drinks and dessert rolled into one. It deviates from the usual coffee taste – which is bitter and strong. This one is mild and sweet, that relaxes me more than a bitter coffee.

Quick and easy coffee in an awesomely convenient spot. You’re my go to coffee dealer — the great service and comfortable seating is the cherry on the sundae. Nicely done.

Coffee Bean is promoting their new Tea Granitas this week, so I stopped by after work to try the Pear Berry Tea Granita for $ 2. It was very refreshing, not too sweet, and perfect after a long day of work, on a warm day. The baristas here are very personable and friendly, and definitely make me want to return to this Coffee Bean location again and again.
I’ve tried a good handful of their drinks, but my favorite drinks are as follows:
1) Caramel Latte Macchiato — Get it hot. I didn’t like the iced version as much.
2) Café Vanilla — Light roast brewed coffee with vanilla powder and non-​fat milk.
3) Iced Vanilla/​Caramel Latte — Espresso with vanilla powder and non-​fat milk.
There’s a small parking lot in the back, otherwise you’re going to have to find street parking nearby. I will be back! :)

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf isn’t exactly my favorite coffee spot, I don’t really seek them out too much. I just so happened to be in the area next to this one and needed a cup of ice coffee to keep going at work. Baristas did a quick job of getting me my ice coffee and away I went. Prices were comparable to other coffee places in this area. Parking sucks here, but its Hillcrest /​Mission Hills.

I’m going to write a quick review here because I think the place is good overall as it feature acceptable prices (1,95 $ for a regular coffee). If, like me you don’t really know what you want to pick you can go for the coffee of the day (probably like in most places) but it tastes pretty good.
The room is filled with both chair/​tables and armchairs which are comfortable, you can also get free WiFi is need be. The staff was also friendly and smiling which is always a plus.

Love their blended drinks! White chocolate is my ultimate fave. Next up is rocky road.
Way better than Starbucks. Wish they had more locations throughout SD, especially in the South Bay.

I don’t like their coffee. It tastes like mud. That said:
I do like their Earl Grey tea very much, though. I buy it regularly.
Every time I go to pay for my tins of tea the clerk asks me the same silly questions, after being aggressively cheerful and offering me a series of other products I don’t want.
I am always asked at the end: is it for here or to go?
I give them a look, every time, and tell them: «to go»
Really? 40 bags of tea, for here or to go?
It happens with different clerks; this is obviously company policy.
Please CBTL, don’t make your employees look silly, and in the process annoy your customers with your policy of aggressive «customer service».

It’s sad to say that there isn’t a CBTL in La Mesa. Instead, we have maybe 4 or 5 sbux locations of which ONE can make a drink well, but anyhoo, who is talking about them?
I found this one after craving an original blended mocha. I was worried about parking at first because I thought I’d have to parallel on the busy Hillcrest streets on a Friday night, but lo and behold, they have their own parking in the back.
The mocha was deeelicious; even my non-​coffee drinking man couldn’t stop sipping it. This may sound picky or even impatient, but i hate when my drink is handed to me with a lot of it still as crushed ice. yes, I know, it can melt, but aint nobody got time for dat. plus, it just doesn’t taste the same! it’ll melt, but your drink will eventually be shittilly watered down. the reason why i’m ranting about this is because i don’t have to worry about that with this CBTL. They do a great job, so i’m sure i’ll come back again for a visit.

I had a very nice Americano and everything bagel with cream cheese early morning. (
) The crew who was working here were very cool and on the money with their service.
The bagel had a good medium toast with slightly burned ends, but no biggie. (
) I put a light layer of cream cheese and that’s all she wrote. (
) The bagels had that nice chewy warm texture and with the thin layer of cream cheese, well I was one happy camper. The Americano was very good. It was smooth but had enough kick to flavor wise and caffeine wise, that you knew it was a form of espresso.
I am a fan of places that make good coffee, with good treats, and god service.

#5
Opted to study here as my usual Café Toma Sol (down the street) was lacking parking. The coffee itself I’m sure is a 4 star just like any other Coffee Bean but for study purposes it definitely didn’t give the same study environment as the location in Mission Valley.
It’s just as freezing cold as the other locations and about ¹⁄₃ of the size as the one in Mission Valley. I just so happen to get lucky that I reached the place when it was empty. Within an hour, the place got packed quick. Another option I disliked was that you have to go to the front counter to ask for this ridiculously huge whisk where the bathroom key is hooked on to use the bathroom. The bathroom is pretty well maintained though the key thing is inconvenient especially when it’s busy.
Some of the pros though are the easy parking access in the public lot behind them and the employees there are extremely helpful and knowledgeable.
Stop by for some coffee? Absolutely! Come by for another study sesh? Probably not…

I love this place and often visit when I am in town on business from Virginia.
On this particular visit it was holiday season and I got an iced vanilla peppermint coffee with whipped cream on top.
It was DELICIOUS. I am a huge fan of peppermint flavored anything so I have had my fair share — but this drink was good. Very sugary so if you are not into «fru-​fru» drinks as my all male co-​workers call it — you probably wouldn’t be impressed.
This place has a fair share of coffee for all tastes I believe — it is a bit pricey but no more so than Starbucks or other chain coffee shops and their are pretty quick and prompt.
The only issue I had with this location was the lack of parking for those who were looking to do a quick in and out.