The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf — Restaurant in Riverside

My Coffee Bean saga!

Summer 2018: I fell in love w/ CBTL's hot vanillas (with soymilk). The Coffee Bean closed a couple of months when they transitioned from UCR to corporate, and reopened Nov 2018 in time for holiday drink specials!

Spring 2019 🎉 I joined Coffee Bean Rewards, and enjoyed their Social Hour. They closed for a few months, remodeled and reopened August 2019 UCR campus was closed Mar 2020-Sept 2021 due to COVID19 😷

Fall 2023 🍵 I understood UCR's CBTL was one of few locations where you could try The Collection Boba & Brew! I tried the Ceylon Milk Tea but without the brown sugar boba.

January 2024: I started skipping my vanilla lattes with oat milk as the dairy in the vanilla powder became a GI trigger, and they raised the price of the drinks and the cost to replace the regular milk with oat milk. March 2024: CBTL drew me back with their vanilla bean latte cold brew, and I wondered if I could request vanilla bean syrup in lieu of the powder for my hot vanilla lattes 🤔 July 2024: CBTL lured me back in with a 50% coupon so that I'd qualify for my birthday reward. I requested oat milk as usual, and to replace the vanilla powder with syrup, and they said they could do that. The cashier even suggested I use my 'Customize any Drink for free' reward for the oat milk. They were out of receipt tape, but I was surprised to see the order total on my app at $5.79 using both offers 👀 I reached out to CBTL on how to best order a large dairy-free vanilla latte but they could not offer a solution. Holiday season 2024: The white chocolate powder reappeared at this location and although it contains Sodium Caseinate (a milk derivative), it thankfully does not contain nonfat dry milk as the vanilla powder does. The White Chocolate Winter Dream Tea Latte was so good, it should at least be in stock through Winter! Especially since this location closes once the students leave for winter break.

May 2025: My go-to is now the Layered Vanilla Latte, because it is their new designated dairy-free, made with syrup and oat milk. 👏 I tried to use a $5 large offer and was told it wasn't valid on that drink 👎 July 2025: I ordered both their avocado toast and everything avocado toast, they look just as pictured and both were delicious! 🥑 September 2025: I got an email saying 2 for $10 beverage starts now, it was for any drink but my co-worker pointed out that it was only valid 12-6p on the app whereas the email didn't have that restriction. We entered the line right at 12p, and were followed by a mob of people also waiting for the deal to start. I thought I'd get myself a Layered Vanilla Latte for the PM and try to make a hot version for the AM. I ordered a large Vanilla Latte with oat milk, SUB syrup for the powder. My coworker ordered a Hot Vanilla with Oat milk. I think with the chaos of everyone ordering at once, we got the same drink - a vanilla latte with oat milk (it was missed that she didn't order a latte and that I said sub syrup). They made it right after the fact, but she had unnecessary caffeine and I had unnecessary dairy dietary distress from Friday afternoon through the weekend. October 2025 I tried a hot Honey Oat Latte. I am glad it already comes with oat milk but when I asked I was advised it does have vanilla powder. So the cashier punched no powder but I would like a hot dairy-free drink that doesn't need to be modified.

I always jumped at the chance to try something new at CBTL happy hour; now with their $5 or 2 for $10 offers being so difficult I really miss their specials. For years I've enjoyed their iced Tropical Passion tea, and enjoyed the best of both worlds with their Tropical Passion tea latte (until the vanilla powder became a trigger). In addition to their avocado toast, if you can handle the dairy, I highly recommend their caprese sandwich 🥪 I tried and loved their pretzel, egg and mozzarella sandwich and Beyond breakfast sandwich, but unfortunately both have since disappeared 😕 I can also recommend their surprisingly tasty everything croissant, if still...

I ordered a pick-up drink today, just a couple minutes ago, specifically a mango iced tea. I asked for it with very little ice and even left a note, in the special instructions, that it was okay if they couldn't do it. But when I got there, I waited a few minutes. I then overheard a man with curly brown hair mention my order, mocking what I requested along with his supervisor, I didn't get a good glance at her name tag but I think it said Roberta? She had her brown hair in a long and low braid and was wearing a white cap and white striped shirt. Anyways, she started joining in and they were making fun of what I requested very loudly and I heard everything. I usually love ordering drinks from here, especially since I don't drink coffee, but overhearing them make fun of a very simple request that shouldn't bother them in any way was very disheartening. All I asked was for little ice due to having very sensitive teeth, and I get to overhear them mocking and laughing at my request very loudly? Like, I understand. I work in customer service, especially fast food, but it was incredibly rude and...

F21-S23: teas are overly sweet, i’ve asked for half the sweetener and they give me sugar free still sweetened to the max. (it ends up having that weird faux sweetener taste)

lattes always have chunks of sugar

chai tea is poured over ice while still smoldering, almost always watery.

cold brew quite bitter — some may enjoy if you lack taste

i feel horrible for the staff because they were super busy, but for some reason every drink tasted like salted caramel :(

asked for a macchiato and got a gallon of milk & the staff were rude

the expresso tastes like olive oil

F23: they forgot to make my order

boba is stale, not chewy, breaks apart...