Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

UPDATE 12/1: Coffee Bean Location At 392 Columbus (@ 79th) Appears Confirmed

The Upper West Side Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf saga continues…

Today, a CBTL pop-up shop opened at 2169 Broadway (between 76th & 77th), but with a catch: it’s not really a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

While it’s set up to look like a cafe, all they sell are CBTL coffee/tea machines — they’re very similar to Keurig if you’re familiar with those, and they’re giving out free samples. Thanks to MUW readers Angela (that’s her photo) and Chari for the tip.

I stopped by earlier today to try and get some more information and they were surprisingly secretive — you’d think they’re trafficking arms rather than selling hot beverages.

The guy I spoke to indicated that the pop-up on Broadway would remain open through the end of the holiday season. It was empty when I walked in, but he said they’ve been getting some foot traffic today (albeit some of it was from people who thought it was an actual coffee shop).

As for the other UWS locations that have been linked to CBTL (previously posted here & here):

The outpost slated for 86th & Amsterdam that multiple MUW tipsters wrote in about is supposedly going to be a REAL coffee shop. It’s scheduled to open sometime within the next few weeks.

The mystery deepens when we move to the CBTL that was supposed to open at Columbus & 79th. Apparently that was a one-day pop-up that handed out free samples during last Wednesday’s Macy’s Balloon inflation event across the street (belated thanks to MUW reader Myrna for a tip and photo I never got to use).

It seems like they went to a lot of trouble to open that location for just one day. When I pressed for more details (full-disclosure: I never identified myself as a writer, just an interested customer) as to whether or not the 79th Street location might turn into a full-fledged CBTL he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) answer, only saying the plan is to open “lots” of CBTLs around the city.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see one open there (392 Columbus, at 79th), but it’s hard to say for sure right now. It’s also sounded conceivable that the pop-up could turn into a “real” CBTL at some point.

When news first broke in September that “The Bean” was finally opening locations in New York City, there was only a mention that four stores were scheduled to open before year-end. It now appears as though there may be big plans for 2012. How many end up on the UWS remains to be seen.

I’m not a coffee drinker myself, but I’ve been getting a ton of e-mail about CBTL — apparently people are really into them.

For the record, the pop-up shop on Broadway is located in the former TeaGschwendner space. TeaGschwendner closed abruptly in June and for months had a sign on the door saying they were “remodeling.” It became pretty clear after a while they were never going to reopen, but I guess this makes it official.

FYI — today is the last day for half-price burritos at the new UWS Blockheads. They’re open until 11:00 pm tonight (Amsterdam & 91st).

Filed under: Food & Drink, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Openings/Closings, Shopping, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 5 Comments »
Tags: 2169 Broadway, 392 Columbus, CB & TL, CBTL, Closings, Coffee, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, New York City, NYC, Openings, pop up, Tea, TeaGschwendner, Upper West Side, UWS