This 7 Leaves Cafe has officially gone bananas! But a good kind of bananas.
Do I mean the fruit? Yes and no.
So honestly, my visit to this 7 Leaves was completely unplanned and spontaneous. At this point, I probably owe multiple explanations for everything I've said up to this point.
I went on a afternoon trip to explore the La Habra/Brea area. Sometime during my trip, I got a notification on my phone informing me of a survey opportunity where I can get 75 leaves, enough for a free upsized drink, for completing the survey. At one of my stops in La Habra, I completed that survey and earned the 75 leaves immediately afterwards. Then, I carried on with my afternoon trip, which actually involved passing by this 7 Leaves location. If you missed the notification, you can still see the survey on the app's home page.
I knew about this location because another notification informed me of their recent opening in La Habra, though it didn't mention the exact location. However, after my last planned stop in Brea, I was planning to take the 57 and 91 freeways to go back home until Google Maps informed me of heavy traffic on both freeways, disappointing me because I had just run out of water in my car, and I didn't want to spend an hour stuck in traffic dying of thirst.
Suddenly, an imaginary light bulb turned on over my head. Why can't I stop by this 7 Leaves first to get a drink that would accompany me on my car ride home?
This 7 Leaves is located on the northwest corner of Imperial and Euclid where Walgreens used to be. The immediate parking lot isn't too spacious, but I was able to find an open spot when I arrived at about 6 PM on a Wednesday.
I came in, and it wasn't too busy inside with a bobarista assisting a customer at the register. If not for that customer, I might have forgotten that when you redeem your leaves on an app order, you can request as many toppings as you wish, and it wouldn't incur an upcharge. With two imaginary light bulbs illuminated over my head, I went outside to place my order.
After placing my order, I went back in, and suddenly, the scenery had changed to a banana at the register ready to take my order. As ridiculous as it sounds, believe it or not, it really happened. A different bobarista, dressed as a banana, came out from the back and noticed me. I showed him my email receipt with my name so he could check on my order.
He was such a great employee that I couldn't help but ask myself "did I really get served by a banana??" It almost felt like something out of a movie!
It took him a couple minutes to prepare my drink, and his joviality remained, showing a great deal of appreciation for my business, much more than all the other 7 Leaves bobaristas I've interacted with at any other location. I actually did ask him about the banana costume, and he simply mentioned he was getting ready for Halloween even though it was 2 weeks away lol.
And suddenly, my disappointment of a longer than expected drive home turned into a serendipitous experience that happened out of happenstance, but one that I couldn't not tell others about.
What did I order? The Strawberry Hibiscus Tea. The regular size is normally 65 leaves, but an upsize is 75 leaves. For the toppings, I chose pretty much every topping except the matcha powder and the caramel, the last of which I wouldn't want to know how it'd fare in a fruit tea.
The toppings were there for the most part. I say most part because I didn't remember any sea cream in my tea. It probably would have been odd to have sea cream in my hibiscus tea, but I still would have been willing to try it had they included it. Besides that, there was an abundance of all the other toppings, which tasted fresh and QQ.
I liked the drink overall, but I didn't really taste any strawberry flavor, probably because of the overabundance of toppings in my drink. Nevertheless, it kept me company for the ride home, and I would even argue that my interaction with the banana bobarista made the travel time fly by since I couldn't help but wonder when would be the next time I'd get served a fruit tea by a fruit, or at least someone in a fruit costume.
I almost wanted to give 5 stars just for the costume, but unfortunately, I decided to remove a star for a couple other reasons. One, their website mentions that the drink is not only refreshing, but also invigorating. Refreshing, yes I agree, but invigorating? I wouldn't go that far and say that. Also, there was a piece of lime in my drink, and the rind had quite some brown spots on it that I'm not sure how that passed quality check?
There are a handful of tables inside, so you can definitely get some studying and/or work done here. Or if you'd rather remain in the comfort of your car, you can also utilize their drive-thru.
Nevertheless, I still recommend this 7 Leaves! Also, I hid a hot tip somewhere in this review, but I'm not saying where exactly. If you missed it the first time, you'll have to read this review again.