Okay, it’s official: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is the best coffee chain ever. From Consumerist Ben, this flabbergasting story of corporate caring:

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf… is a Los Angeles-based coffee chain. They’re almost as ubiquitous as Starbucks around LA, and I believe they are only located within the Southwest US.

Anyways, my friend was a big fan of their Winter Dream Latte– It’s got Peppermint, Vanilla, Whipped Cream– delicious stuff, but alas it’s only a seasonal drink and they stop serving it around spring time. My buddy developed a serious addiction for the stuff by then and there was no way he could go cold turkey. He pleaded with the barristas at his local store to keep some in stock. They told him he should contact corporate headquarters, and they gave him all the contact info.

So my friend wrote a nice email to some faceless corporate PR flack expecting a form response along the lines of ” there’s nothing we can do.” At best, he was hoping for a $5 gift card for his troubles.

A couple days later he walked into his local Coffee Bean. The barristas recognized him and without any prompting, they told him that corporate had sent over an entire BAG of the Winter Dream mix, just to keep on hold for whenever he stops by. They also told him that the Winter Dream has a lot of fans internally too, and they’re considering making it a year-round drink (with a less seasonal name, natch).

Now he’s enjoying his enjoying his Winter Dreams long into the dog days of Summer. Kudos to Coffee Bean.

It’s been so long since we came across a thoughtful, caring company that we feel like a virgin, touched for the very first time. Everyone in the Southwest! Go to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf… stat!

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