The opening of Starbucks stores in Los Angeles unexpectedly helped Coffee Bean's business, by driving curious customers to the area.

[13] In 1998, the Sassoons, along with longtime friend Severin Wunderman, purchased the parent company, International Coffee & Tea LLC, from the Hymans, and took it global.

[15] In 2009, Mel Elias (Sassoon's brother-in-law) assumed the role of president and CEO of the company, after spending seven years as chief operating officer.

[26] The beans come from farms in Costa Rica, Colombia, Kenya, Indonesia, Jamaica, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.

[26][27] The firm offers several seasonal holiday drinks, in flavors including candy cane, gingerbread, red velvet cake, eggnog, and peppermint.

[33][34] CBTL, a single-serve system for home use, was launched in the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and the Philippines in 2010.

As of June 2020, Coffee Bean ended its storewide kosher-only certification for stores and bakery items in Southern California.

[37] Storewide kosher certification was ended for Coffee Bean locations in the Las Vegas area months earlier.

[48] On August 24, 2015, the firm announced they had signed an exclusive area development agreement with South Korean retail conglomerate E-LAND to enter into the Chinese market.

[50] A popular coffee shop chain was under fire for how it addressed repeated discoveries of a bathroom peeping Tom at a couple of its stores, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

[51] According to Courthouse News, lead plaintiff Roderick Smith discovered the first spy camera nestled in the u-bend of the sink in an Encino, California, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf store in October 2011.

In light of the pending litigation surrounding this matter, we are unable to comment further at this time.” [52] The Singapore chain of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has apologized for a blunder in its original promotional artwork to mark SAF Day, which featured a soldier in uniform.

"[53] A few hours later, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf shared a new promotional artwork on Facebook that featured an ice-blended drink, instead of a soldier.

After the news hit that the friendly neighborhood felines of One Bonifacio High Street suddenly disappeared, rumors began to circulate that the adjacent hotel had hired a pest control company called Pestbusters to get rid of them.

The angry people of the Internet discovered that The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is part of the Table Group, which also runs Pestbusters, the pest control company that “dealt with” the cats.