Seed & Water

Since it opened years ago in Buena Park, The Source has never lacked for cafes (Basilur Tea & Coffee, The Bakery Cafe, Cheesetella, Old Ferry Donut, and Yozm) or coffee options (such as In-Sīt Coffee). Despite all these alternatives, Seed & Water (sometimes styled Seed ⭐️ Water with a red Sanpellegrino-style star in place of the ampersand) is trying something different: Soft opened in May 2025 after a year or two of construction, it spent roughly six months getting separate drink and bakery counters up to speed – sort of. As of early 2026, it appears to have moved past its extended soft opening period, though some of its elements remain in flux.

Seed & Water’s space is astonishingly large: With more square footage than all of the above shops put together, it’s sort of like a Korean take on Porto’s. Arched booths with circular padded benches line one wall, while circular and rectangular tables accommodate countless small and large groups next to a semi-transparent conference room or office that appears to be for the cafe’s management, looking out into the mall. It’s one of The Source’s most prominent spaces, with large window letters that draw attention even from floors away.

For the first month, Seed & Water solely offered 16 beverages – primarily espresso drinks including lattes, sweet cream-topped einspanners, and flat whites, plus two banana milk drinks and a handful of matcha lattes and einspanners. In June, the menu expanded with another dozen or so drinks including fruit teas and fruit sodas (“ades”). All of the drinks we ordered, including a Matcha Einspanner, a Banana Matcha Latte, and a Peach Ade, were full of their promised flavors, though a little too sweet and expensive at their official menu prices ($8 to $8.60). That said, each was discounted by 50% during the soft opening period, and with price adjustments, we thought the drinks would certainly be worth ordering again.

Midway through the soft opening, the cafe introduced a number of drink toppings, ranging from a namesake “Seed & Water” cream cheese foam to matcha and regular cold foams, and more drink options, including a Korean mixed coffee, honey latte, and dark chocolate milk are expected in the near future. Seed & Water is also the only Source coffee shop with its own coffee roasting equipment, here fenced off in its own section of the cafe’s spacious dining area. As of early 2026, none of the equipment appeared to be in active use.

Seed & Water’s bakery remained in a soft opening stage for longer than its beverage bar, having evolved from offering only four items in early days to 20 items after four months, then 35 or 40 after five months. As of January 2026, it still hasn’t filled its display cases, and what initially appeared to be a globe-spanning collection of baked goods has been scaled back to mostly Korean-influenced western offerings.