WASHINGTON -- The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, a Southern California-based coffee chain, is entering the D.C. market for the first time when it opens an outpost at the Washington Hilton later this month. With 800 locations around the world, fans of the Coffee Bean in the nation's capital will be able to get their Original Ice Blended drinks.
Although the design of Brutalist-style Washington Hilton creates some visual barriers to draw pedestrian traffic inside the complex at Connecticut Avenue and T Street NW, the area immediately around the hotel lacks abundant coffee options -- though tiny Filter coffee on 20th Street NW is a somewhat hidden, albeit popular, gem.
There are few retail options in residential Kalorama and the closest Starbucks is two blocks to the south, at Connecticut Avenue and R Street NW, across busy Florida Avenue. Residents in the many apartment buildings adjacent to the hotel are used to trekking to Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle to get coffee.
So, should Washingtonians be excited about this new California import?
When we posed that question to Twitter on Wednesday, we quickly got this response:
Our colleagues at HuffPost LA warned us that the Coffee Bean can be known for long waits:
But then again, long lines are a problem facing many Starbucks, especially in Dupont Circle.
The Coffee Bean will offer wi-fi, too.