The Caffeine Club

Some coffee and tea shops keep their espresso machines hot and their matcha whisks wet all day; others don’t. If you’re the sort of coffee or tea drinker who believes that either of those things matters when ordering drinks, you’ve probably found an artisanal shop somewhere in Orange County that caters to your preferences, so consider yourself warned: The Caffeine Club isn’t that sort of cafe.

Located immediately next to Bonchon Chicken in Costa Mesa, very close to Deli Seoul, Green Chilis, and Yubuya, this coffee, tea, and pastry shop opens early in the morning, serves largely batch-made drinks, and seats around 25 people across indoor and outdoor tables. Like Better Buzz, it doesn’t appear to be catering to coffee or tea snobs – on our visit, fellow guests appeared to be regulars who were stopping in after visiting a local gym.

Served iced only, Caffeine Club’s “signature drinks” ($6.50 each) include three matcha options – a Matcha Einspanner topped with cold cream foam; a Matcha Forest version mixing matcha, espresso, and cold foam; and a Strawberry Matcha made with strawberry milk and cold foam. The Matcha Einspanner we ordered tasted almost entirely like milk and cream with very modest tea flavor, likely because the radio of dairy to tea was approximately 2:1, not including the ample portion of ice. Three other “signature” items include a coffee-based Einspanner made with vanilla hazelnut latte and cold foam; a Teddy Latte made with brown sugar, honey, and cold foam; and a Peach Espresso Tonic mixing peach soda and espresso – each a bit unusual.