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Knowing that there's only one mocha-flavored God standing between Angelenos and a stress-free, high-energy Monday morning, the sharp minds at LAist decided to introduce The Coffee Buzz.
What is The Coffee Buzz? Each and every Monday morning, LAist will be highlighting one of the fifty-two Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shops across Los Angeles (Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Ventura/The Valley, Malibu and the rest of Los Angeles proper) in an attempt to provide you, the obsessive-compulsive coffee drinker, with a full-scope view of your local coffee choices. (Choices being limited to the one chain that has not expressed their desire for world domination.)
After fifty-two weeks (yes, we'll still be doing this in July of 2005), if you don't know where to get your double-mocha, one-percent milk, easy on the whip, Ice Blended Vanilla Malibu Dream Scream on ice; if you don't know which group of clientele you find most calming as you imbibe your Monday morning elixir; if you don't know what's closest, easiest to get to and most pleasant on the eyes, we give up. Seriously, we'll give up. No, we're not kidding. Buh-bye.
52 weeks. 52 Coffee Beans. 52 punches on your punch card. (At 12 punches per card, that's four free coffee drinks. Woo-hoo!) So, without further ado, LAist gives you The Coffee Buzz.
Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf #1
Palms & Sepulveda
3470 S. Sepulveda Boulevard
Los Angeles
Hours: Mon-Fri 5:00 AM–10:00 PM / Sat 5:30 AM–10:00 PM / Sun 6:00 AM–10:00 PM
LAist knows that there's a coffee shop to serve each O.C.D. coffee guzzler here in Los Angeles, and The Coffee Bean at Palms and Sepulveda is way ahead of the curve in that area. This shop has the distinction of being the only Coffee Bean in all of Los Angeles that has a drive-thru. A drive-thru coffee shop, people. Upon closer inspection, LAist has decided to dub this particular location the lazy person's Coffee Bean.
The clientele turns out to be a very eclectic mix. The regulars — those who actually get out of their car to walk inside and order their drinks (and those who sit out on the faux patio over parking lot concrete) — are locals who live in the general vicinity. But drive-thru patrons? It's been rumored that those who have something against putting on clothes or showering on lazy Saturdays and Sundays will take the extra twenty minute drive down to Palms and Sepulveda so they can get their coffee without emerging from their designer SUV's and low-to-the-ground sports coupes.
As a result, the drive-thru at Palms and Sepulveda is often backed up, servicing an in-car wait of about 10-15 minutes. And people who have come to this particular Coffee Bean are there for a very specific reason as illustrated by this recently overhead conversation:
Man (in car, to woman): This line is so long.
Woman: So, just go inside.
Man: But it's a drive-thru Coffee Bean.
Woman: So? You have legs. Use them.
Man: I'm not driving to a Coffee Bean drive-thru to just get out of my car and walk inside. That's insanity.
Woman: You're insanity.
On the whole, if you're heading down to the South Bay from the Westside and looking for a somewhat quick coffee stop without any real sit-down charm, the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Palms and Sepulveda is the place to go. With extremely friendly drive-thru window staff and a centralized location, it's the best drive-thru Coffee Bean in all of LA.
And, well, that's saying something.
