On Sunday, Oct. 4, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf threw itself a 63rd birthday community. The prize wheel was spinning at Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, cold brew samples were available and the brand’s official mascot Mr. Ice Blended was taking photos with fans and dancing along to the Power 106 DJ in the pop-up booth, who was raffling off fun prizes. Coffee Bean’s birthday festivities kicked off on Sept. 29, National Coffee Day, and will last all month long with exclusive collectibles and special offers.
Although competition is fierce in the coffee space, Coffee Bean is proud to be born and raised in LA. All of its coffee is roasted in Camarillo — and has been roasted locally since the brand launched in 1963. According to Dana Castaneda, Coffee Bean’s Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Herbert Hyman launched the company before coffee was as popular as it is today.
“We were the ones that started the movement of the ice blended and cold brew coffee,” Castaneda said. “There were a lot of things that we were doing ahead of most of our competition. What I love is we are deeply rooted in LA, and we’re a big part of the community.”
Castaneda was all smiles as she walked around chatting with local customers on Sunday, explaining how the cold brews were made. For the cold brew midnight mocha latte, the team steeps it for 20 hours and adds chicory and chocolate. The mango cold brew energy tea is steeped for five hours and then mango is added as well as green coffee and tea infused with vitamin B12.
“Growing up in LA, I’ve always been passionate about Coffee Bean,” said Castaneda. “It was more prevalent than Starbucks back in the ’90s and 2000s. There was one right around the corner from my high school, so we’d always sneak away and get an ice blended mocha.”
Castaneda joined Coffee Bean in 2018 and has worn many hats over the last eight years, from merchandise planner to head of finance to leading strategic operations to landing the role of vice president of marketing & communications one year ago.
These days, she has grown out of the ice blended mocha and enjoys more coffee forward drinks. Her personal favorite “is very espresso forward. I like to drink a dark chocolate iced Americano, but I do it dry. It’s four shots of espresso on top of ice. Then we hand whisk in dark chocolate powder. I add a little splash of oat milk. I’m a slow coffee drinker. It lasts me for a long time without getting watery.”
Besides its local pride, Coffee Bean has two other standout features that have made it an especially attractive coffee choice. The first is pebble ice.
“It gives such a better balance to our drinks,” explained Castaneda. “When we invented the ice blended in 1987, the pebble ice gave it a much creamier texture versus some of our competitors that use regular ice that gives it more of an icy, watery texture. It definitely helps in the actual blending as well.”
The second is its emphasis on and attention to its tea selection.
“We have an amazing tea selection,” Castaneda relayed. “We’re focused on quality. We only pick the top two leaves in a bud for our tea. We make sure that we have a variety because tea is just as important as coffee for us.”
Yet another way the brand aims to stand out from the coffee crowd is by listening to its baristas and guests to get inspiration for beverages. It’s a strategy that has worked well for the company, and in November, it will launch the Barista Edit, a new menu of five items created by baristas. The same is true for guest creations, which have increased in popularity in the past few years. The dry iced Americano, for instance, was created in 2024 by a guest. Coffee Bean learned about it on TikTok when it went viral and everyone started asking for it.
“They would ask for a vanilla iced Americano, and they would order it dry, which is without any water,” shared Castaneda. “They would sub half vanilla, half cookie butter and then add a caramel drizzle to the cup and a splash of half-and-half. This was created even before all the customization went wild this past year or two. We have passionate guests that tell us what they like all the time, and that’s where a lot of the inspiration comes from.”
In its perpetual quest to innovate, Coffee Bean sponsored the LA Marathon this year for the first time, promoting its new product: protein add-ons. Adding to its matcha offerings, it recently introduced Hojicha beverages, a slow roasted bean similar to matcha with an earthier flavor and less caffeine.
“We have seen a huge shift, even from 2019 to now,” Castaneda said. “People were drinking more brewed coffee, and now it’s all about lattes and cream caps and dry iced — for us dry iced Americanos. There’s this treat culture now that I think wasn’t around 10, 15 years ago. We had the ice blended mochas, but now even a latte has become such a treat as well as an occasion to meet with your friends or work alongside others and just be out of your house, like that second or third space.”
Currently, guests who spend $15 or more in-cafe will receive a free limited-edition mini tote and one collectible patch (while supplies last). There are 12 exclusive patch designs total — four will be released each week. Check Instagram @thecoffeebean for details about special offers happening across LA locations.