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When art, technology and style meets coffee, you can only imagine the kinds of people that come out of the woodwork to take part in such a hybrid experience. And today is no different, as LAist continues our travels across Los Angeles county, using an innocent little generic coffee store in an innocent way so that we may see the innocent people living their innocent lives with said innocent little generic coffee shop as the backdrop to such drama.
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf #5
12501 West Ventura Boulevard
Studio City, CA 91664
Hours: Monday - Friday 5:30 AM - 10:00 PM
Saturday 6:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sunday 7:00AM - 10:00PM
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Whitsett and Ventura Boulevard must definitely be dubbed the prettiest Coffee Bean in all of the Valley, with its brushed metal surfaces and lush, oversized potted plants — it's so damn pretty we can hardly refrain from picking up the canvas and punching out a masterpiece.
Inside is no different. Being on the edge of Studio City and where the 101 starts to invade Universal City, this area of town is almost like the center of a tornado — calm, quiet and on the edge of chaos. Minus the usual morning patrons of this coffee shop, the daily visitors are never regulars and never familiar looking. It's as if they were simply driving by and suddenly saw the majesty that is this particular location, and dropped in for a quick survey.
It's a politeness that's almost alarming when you hear it:
Girl at Register: "Hello, welcome to Coffee Bean."
Woman Customer: "Hi, good morning. Thank you."
Girl at Register: "Can I help you?"
Woman Customer: "Of course. What would you recommend?"
Girl at Register: "Our blended drinks are quite popular. Maybe you'd like to try a mocha blended?"
Woman Customer: "That sound wonderful. I'll have one of those."
Girl at Register: "Great. I'll have that whipped right up for you."
Woman Customer: "Really, that's wonderful. Thank you."
Currency exchanges hands, mocha blended are distributed, and our current visitor takes a seat to admire her surroundings for what seems like an eternity.
It is, indeed, a strange experience to sit inside an establishment known for it's non-stop activity that is in actuality calmer than most libraries. Could it be a fluke? A one of a kind? Only time will tell, as LAist continues it's quest to get to know Angelenos in our exclusive, weekly trademarked, award-winning Coffee Buzz.
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Then again, now that I think about it -- the politeness could be mistakened for "Stepford-esque Corporate Training."
This is the weirdest Coffee Bean around. Natives of Studio City like myself were already used to the Coffee Bean at Laurel Canyon and the Coffee Bean at Coldwater, and suddenly this sprouts up so close to both of them on Whitsett. That picture may look nice, but the Coffee Bean doesn't go with the enormous parking lot behind it, or the LA River in its view.
But I guess if you don't want to hang out with the high school kids on Coldwater, or the CBS Studio employees at Laurel, Whitsett can offer a nice refuge. But with three Coffee beans, two Starbucks, and a Seattle's Best Coffee, all within 2 minutes of each other, one wonders if Studio City isn't suffering from coffee overkill.
I recommend trying the Belwood Bakery at the Coldwater Canyon shops.
A past coworker of mine was working at one of the other studio city coffee beans when they opened the one on whitsett. Her first reaction was why the hell would we need another one there? Now she's working there, and I'll be joining her soon. And that politeness? It's most likely real, they make it a point to hire really cool people there.