This post was updated Sept. 22 at 10:44 p.m.
Westwood’s latest matcha spot fails to deliver the premium quality it promises.
CITEADRINKS, a cafe with locations in San Gabriel and Rowland Heights, soft-opened in Westwood on Sept. 12 and hosted its grand opening Monday. Located on Weyburn Avenue next to Xibei Eatery, CITEADRINKS offers matcha, hojicha, milk tea and fruit tea drinks at a price range of $7 to $10.
[Related: Restaurant review: Xibei Eatery serves flavorful northwestern Chinese cuisine in new Westwood spot]
The chain’s website features an eye-catching graphic promoting its “ceremonial-grade” matcha. However, the image appears AI-generated – the stone mill’s strange texture resembles random patches of gray and brown swirls rather than stone as matcha powder nonsensically spills out of the mill’s side, and a matcha glass seems to float beside the powder. Scrolling down, an AI-generated image of an old woman – with creepily smooth facial features and unrealistic lighting – is even more uncanny.
The website’s AI use left a bad taste, and so did the drinks.
The Einspanner Matcha Latte delivered neither einspanner nor matcha. The einspanner resembled salted cheese foam rather than whipped cream, and the drink lacked any distinct flavor. Despite several focused attempts to detect hints of matcha, each sip tasted like watery, vaguely sweet milk.
If the Einspanner Matcha Latte’s problem was not tasting much like anything, the Banana Matcha Latte went wrong by going too far in the opposite direction. The sickly taste of artificial banana was unpleasant, overwhelming and difficult to clear even after several sips of water. The matcha was, once again, nowhere to be found.
The Citeas Tofu Pudding Black Tea Latte was the least immediately offensive of the three drinks, though it still left much to be desired. Its flavor profile, even at the “perfect” sugar level, was dominated by sweetness. According to CITEADRINKS’ website, its teas are harvested from Nantou County, Taiwan, and have won three-star certification from the International Taste Institute. However, that flavor was instead stifled by sugar. Rather than tasting like tofu pudding – which is sweet but not excessively so with a distinct and refreshing soy flavor – the drink tasted like a generic brown sugar milk. Although the drink was not as off-putting as the two matcha drinks, it was still difficult to finish.
[Related: Restaurant review: Milksha fails to hit the mark, is saved by its quality, in-store experience]
At $6.99 or $7.99, the matcha prices are about average when compared with other cafes and beverage stores in Westwood, such as Alfred Coffee, Ministry of Coffee, Boondocks Coffee Roasters, Just Boba and Sharetea. With middling prices and mediocre-to-poor flavors, there is little reason for matcha aficionados to choose CITEADRINKS.
The store itself was pleasantly quaint, featuring an interior amply decorated with plants for a refreshing atmosphere, and the seats facing the street make a nice spot to study or catch up with friends. However, given the limited seating, the aesthetics are not enough to redeem the menu’s lackluster taste.
CITEADRINKS took over the Weyburn storefront previously occupied by Junbi, a beverage store that closed in May 2026 because of rising costs and increased vandalism incidents. Unfortunately, CITEADRINKS lacks the freshness and genuine matcha taste of its predecessor. The straw provided with the drinks – which still used a Junbi-branded wrapper – felt like a taunt.
For a store that emphasizes its high-quality matcha in its branding, the drinks’ lack of matcha taste was disappointing. Rather than letting any of that flavor shine through, each drink was either milky, artificial or excessively sweet.
Bruins seeking to scratch their matcha itch are better off looking elsewhere.
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