The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

History

Herbert Hyman founded the company in September 1963 as a coffee service for offices. After honeymooning in Sweden with his wife Mona, whom he married in 1966, the couple decided to import, roast, and sell gourmet coffee. The first Coffee Bean store opened in 1968 in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Innovations included selling whole beans labeled by country of origin, allowing customers to watch beans being roasted, and offering samples before purchase.

By the 1970s, the firm had expanded to ten stores in Southern California and added exotic teas. In summer 1987, an employee brought a blender to a Westwood store and mixed ice, coffee extract, and chocolate powder, creating the Ice Blended drink that became the company's signature. This drink preceded the Starbucks Frappuccino. Starbucks' entry into Los Angeles unexpectedly boosted Coffee Bean's business by attracting curious customers.

In 1996, the Hymans sold Asian franchise rights to Singaporean brothers Victor and Sunny Sassoon. The Sassoons expanded rapidly, opening the first Singapore outlet in 1996 and entering Malaysia the following year. Within two years, they had opened 29 stores in Singapore and Malaysia. In 1998, the Sassoons and friend Severin Wunderman purchased the parent company from the Hymans. Victor Sassoon worked from Singapore, Sunny from Los Angeles, and Wunderman remained a silent partner.

Products

The company is known for its Original Ice Blended coffee and tea drinks, hot coffee, and hot and iced teas. It also sells whole bean coffees, whole leaf teas, flavored powders, and baked goods. Coffees are categorized into seven groups: Light & Subtle, Light & Distinctive, Medium & Smooth, Dark & Distinctive, Decaffeinated, Flavored, and Reserve. About seven million pounds of coffee are roasted annually by hand at the company's facility in Camarillo, California.

Beans are sourced from Costa Rica, Colombia, Kenya, Indonesia, Jamaica, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Seasonal holiday drinks include candy cane, gingerbread, red velvet cake, eggnog, and peppermint flavors. For the 50th anniversary in 2013, a Birthday Cake Ice Blended was introduced. Teas fall into seven categories: Green, Black, Oolong, Herbal Infusion, Decaffeinated, Flavored, and Tea Master's. All teas are hand-blended in Camarillo.

The Chai Tea Latte, a popular drink, debuted in 1998. In March 2014, the company launched Tea Granita beverages in Pear Berry and Passion Fruit flavors. The CBTL single-serve home system was introduced in 2010 in the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and the Philippines, with capsules for espresso, coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. All coffees, teas, and powders were certified kosher until June 2020, when the company ended storewide kosher-only certification in Southern California and earlier in Las Vegas, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as accelerating the plan.

Privately owned franchise stores could opt out of kosher certification even before 2020. All locations in Singapore and Malaysia are halal.

Partnerships

In 2012, Nokia partnered with the chain to bring wireless phone charging to its cafes. The following year, Hilton Hotels struck an exclusive deal to serve Coffee Bean products in its rooms across the Americas. Also in 2013, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters worked with the company to produce a K-Cup for Keurig brewers, which hit the U.S. market in 2014. In 2015, the firm signed an agreement with South Korea’s E-LAND to expand into China. Five years later, in 2020, Coffee Bean joined forces with Smashburger, adding its drinks to the fast-casual chain’s menu.

Controversies

In 2012, a lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court after a customer discovered a peeping Tom camera in the u-bend of a sink in an Encino café in October 2011. The customer reported the device to management, who said it looked like a flash drive. The company stated that its cooperation helped lead to the suspect's arrest and declined further comment due to pending litigation. In 2019, the Singapore chain apologized for promotional artwork for SAF Day that appeared to depict a Chinese soldier rather than a member of the Singapore Armed Forces.