The Tea & Coffee Exchange

Lots of selection, so many loose tea choices. I got the acai blueberry blast it was refreshing. My husband got the Hawaiian raspberry rush, he loved it. They are good choices of you like unsweetened flavored teas. We also got the raspberry sherbet and Café mocha ice cream– my favorite of the day. I will try something warm next time.

We stopped in for a quick bite and coffee before hitting the mountain. In the short 30 minutes we were there, here are all the things that we observed having gone wrong:
–The staff seemed very young and under no supervision nor any concern for efficiency
–They had 2 bagels left by the time I got to the counter at 9am Saturday and NO fruit
–Correction: They had 3 bagels but one of the staff members jokingly threw one bagel to another staff member who dropped it, so they trashed it after laughing it off.
–While waiting for my food, two customers had to remind the staff about their food; one gentleman’s cheese panini had been forgotten and ultimately burnt by a staff member who asked the man «if that burnt panini was okay» or if he wanted another. You could see the customer didn’t want to wait again and risk it with their incompetence, so he took it while waiting for the new one to finish
–I got a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese; it tasted akin to being more than a day old and like the toaster stopped working halfway through. The cream cheese was in a small prepackaged container so that was cold to accompany by cold bagel
–We overheard multiple people have to ask where their drinks were and then correct them about what their drink was supposed to be
–By the time we left, the line was about out the door; not because it’s that popular but because the staff was taking forever to churn out what I find to be pretty simple breakfast and coffee orders

Went here yesterday morning (Saturday) to grab something quick for breakfast before hitting the mountain. We initially ordered Banana and Strawberry crepes but were told they didn’t have any bananas so then ordered strawberry crepes and a breakfast sandwich for my bf. We got there right when they opened and there was only two employees there. The lady was making all the coffee drinks and the man was running the register taking the orders. We were told it would be a minute until he could get to making our order as there was a long line and he said he had to finish taking everyone’s orders before he could begin making our order since there was nobody else there to help them. I was fine with waiting a few minutes but after 20 minutes without our food order being started and a continuous line that showed no signs of stopping we finally asked for our money back as did the people that ordered right behind us. I don’t blame the employees for the horrible service as they were slammed on this Saturday morning, doing what they could between the 2 of them, and overwhelmed with the crowd but there should be more employees scheduled on a Saturday morning during snowboarding season when Big Bear draws huge crowds. At least one more employee to make the food orders in addition to someone running the register and another making the coffee drinks! Disappointed and would like to try their food but don’t have an hour to waste waiting for food…

***Review on service only***
My family and I were on our way home and we wanted to grab some food and coffee. It’s the weekend in Big Bear so understandably it’s going to busy at most places. The cashier explained to me it’ll be a little bit of a wait for the food. I saw there was three bodies behind the counter. I said ok it shouldn’t be a problem. A place like that 15 – 20 minutes. 30 minutes go by… that is not an adequate or reasonable amount of time. A restaurant yes, a coffee and tea exchange no. I can see the line is getting longer but I didn’t see anyone ordering a lot of food. At that point, I go to one of the clerks and I saw she was the one cooking. I told her I’ve been waiting for 30 minutes. I must have not looked happy about it but I’m pretty sure I said it in the most patiently way I could. The clerk said something I didn’t understand and she rolled her eyes. I stood there and she put 2 of my orders on the counter. I said thank you. I waited there for the other order because I didn’t want my food messed with. 5 minutes later she pretty much tossed my order to me. She didn’t say shit but she said it all with a shitty look on her face. I’m not the one to tell you how to do a job but I will comment on the overall experience I encountered. There’s no need to go there again unless I want a long wait or have a shitty 20 year old customer service experience.

Good coffee but wait for food is ridiculous. Only 5 people in the the restaurant and 30 min have passed and I’m still wait for my crêpe.
… Although when it did arrive it was tasty!

The girls behind the counter are so patient and friendly. Great crepes and coffee!
Definitely will return

Gave this place a second chance. First time we ordered crepes and waited for over one hour to get them. Today, two years later, we were told that if we wanted crepes the wait would be even longer as there were two parties ahead of us. Two orders!!! How can this place stay open if a crêpe takes an hour? We were told to get paninis instead that would be real quick as we were first in line for paninis. As we ordered them I wanted what was on the big picture of the panini they advertised. Nope, didn’t have any of those ingredients, not even the sliced tomato. Ok so we went basic with turkey and cheese. 40 mins later (!!!) they were «ready». By «ready» a pale looking panini, cheese still hard and not melted. The turkey wasn’t deli sliced but hand-​carved with a cold center so the panini didn’t stay together due to its thickness and lack of melted cheese. Yuck!
Gave one star at least for the fast black coffee I ordered.
Sorry guys never again.

Went to big bear for a couple of days and i needed coffee, and i LOVE crepes.
The crepes were to die for! I got a caramel apple,(the apples were still cold on one half of the crêpe but i can overlook that because it still tasted good.) and a veggie crêpe.
The veggie crêpe was the crown jewel, it had creamy feta, pesto it was mouth-​watering.
I would go back for the crepes for breakfast/​lunch any time im in big bear!
but… i would bring my own coffee.
I got a white chocolate latte. Usually my safe go to anywhere i visit, because i love white chocolate so much!
My first sip, was not only burnt milk, and expired espresso shots… it was chunky.
nobody stirred in the white chocolate and it sat at the top of my cup where my foam should have been. im not talking about a couple small chunks, im talking about huge glops of nasty «white chocolate». It didnt even taste right, i went to their condiment bar and tried to stir with a fork because that was all they had at the time and i could not break any of these chunks down, it really had me border line worried, because i couldnt figure out what it is, it didnt even taste like w/​c. There was no amount of stirring, sugar, or anything that could salvage this latte. We went back to the cabin and i just made some good old fashion coffee and some abuelita.
****NOTE they also have a B rating. now i broke my own rule and ate here regardless (1÷20÷16), my cousin did ask why they had a b rating and what health code violation they violated. The man at the front explained that their old manager forgot to wash their hands in front of the inspector, which is why they got that B, and they were supposed to be re inspected that same week, but due to the attack that happened at the health department christmas party, the health department has postponed it, and have not sent anyone since. Also i guess that manager or supervisor was terminated directly after.

I see why this business has average, customer service. I was merely looking at the posted menus on the wall, when the cashier rudely commented «we’re not making any food». Hopefully the owners will tighten up on the staff, which reflects their business.

I was tempted to order something, since I had every intention of supporting a local business, but the customer service made me change my mind. The blond woman at the register was rude and her «hates my job» attitude turned me off.

If you’re still wondering whether or not you should try this place out… allow me to help you put it to rest. My group and I had a total of 4 different drinks; Earl Grey caramel latte, pirate bounty latte, Moroccan mint chocolate latte and the caramel oolong latte. Number of complaints: absolutely none. Another point, never in my life have I seen servers who work under a bombardment of pressure and angry customers maintain a positive attitude, you would’ve never known they had a bad day because they kept their smiles wide. Working with positivity makes the work come out good, and that’s why we had a good time. I pray to God that everybody working in this place sees nothing but greatness in their futures and I pray this business excells in a manner they’ve never seen before. You have my ¹⁰⁄₅ stars.

This is why small coffee shops lose business to Starbucks. We want our coffee quick and good. The store was not at all busy, I was the only one with an order and I ordered one tea. The girl at the cashier didn’t seem to comprehend what I wanted and someone else had to step in who kindly helped me pick something. Keep in mind this is my first time in big bear. There were four employees just standing around and chit chatting. It seemed like one of them was being trained. But there was definitely no urgency in making one small drink, none the less I think the owner may want to think twice before over staffing his place. I really felt like I was more of an interruption to their day then an actual customer.

We went to snowboard at Big Bear & we saw this place on the way up.
We figured to go after we went snowboarding.
I could already tell by the outside of the place that the hot chocolate would be amazing.
And I was right.
I also got an oatmeal raisin cookie.
My favorite cookie. It could be a hit or miss with that one.
It was just as amazing as the hot chocolate.
The workers were super cool & nice.
The atmosphere was chill and the inside was chill set up too.
I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking to get a warm drink or some food after snowboarding or skiing.

I got the strawberry banana Nutella crêpe and if you aren’t a huge banana person I would recommend telling them to go light on the bananas and also light on the Nutella sauce as well it felt as if my crêpe was drowning in Nutella. other than that it was really good it took about 15 minutes at the most to get our food but it was worth it!

Food preparation takes sooooo loooong. Every time. So today was my last time, I stopped here

My family and I love The Tea and Coffee Exchange in Big Bear. It’s one of our regular stops in Big Bear, especially when we have friends in town we want to show the best places. They have delicious coffee and know their teas.
Tonight we took some friends there after shopping in town. They were crazy busy with only two baristas. The guy making drinks had about 20 cups in front of him. They had a couple of employees (that were off) come in temporarily to help out. Amazing. All the drinks ended up made, delicious, with happy customers and exhausted baristas. Even in the face of crazy holiday crowds, the employees – whether currently working or not – are dedicated to their customers and an excellent product. Why would anyone want to go anywhere else?!

Wow this place really had a million types of tea — its actually kind of overwhelming! Needless to say they have an obscene amount of options if your looking for tea. I ended up getting a strawberry lemonade that I loved. THe rest of my family had tea, coffee, crepes and croissants, everyone super pleased with what they had. The staff was also really helpful in helping some of my group narrow down their tea tastes.

Cute place with lots of options, but it seems that the employees aren’t quite on top of things… three people working, nobody in line before me, and it took about 2 minutes to be acknowledged. Transaction took another 5 mins (I ordered a latte), and then another 5 mins to get the drink.
My boyfriend ordered a bagel egg sandwich with an extra egg, only to get an English muffin with one egg about 10 minutes later.
They definitely need to work more cohesively, as there is a clear lack of communication going on.
That being said, my sugar free pumpkin latte was really good! And they have more loose teas than you could imagine.

Waited 15 minutes for a small mocha and a large triple white mocha. As we walked to the car, I sipped my mocha only to be met with the taste of hot — nothing. It was almost like someone had mixed milk, water and a drop of unsweetened chocolate — ok, that’s generous. It had NO flavor.
Thinking that was a fluke, my boyfriend and I tried his — blegh! His cup was so heavy too — like it was half way filled with heavy whipping cream. He had a triple and yet you would never know it was coffee — just heavy, unsweetened watery milk.
We should have stayed away when we noticed the B health rating.
I mean, at least their banana strawberry crêpe with Nutella wasn’t half bad? Unfortunately that was the only thing consumed from our order.

The people are are extremely friendly however, they are slow at making drinks and taking order. You just can’t get mad at them because they’re that nice! The baristas take their sweet time making the drinks even though there is a long line, almost out the door. Unlike Starbucks, they are on it.
Bought 9 cups of Almond Hazelnut Macchiato for $ 40, which isn’t too bad. The coffee was good, but not the best. I’ve had better.
Overall 3.5 stars for this coffee shop.