Community Goods Review: Overhyped, Overpriced, and Worth It

All PostsLos Angeles EatsLiving in Los Angeles
Written By Amy Suto
An iced vanilla bean matcha from Community Goods on Edinburgh Ave in Los Angeles

The vanilla bean matcha, earned the hard way.

While we were waiting in line at Community Goods — and you WILL wait in line, somewhere between 30 and 80-plus minutes — a guy cut ahead of us because he had to get the matcha for his girlfriend before their flight out of Los Angeles, and he was going to miss the plane if he didn’t.

Someone let him. Everyone understood. That is the exact level of obsession we’re dealing with, and honestly? It’s the whole review in one anecdote.

Community Goods is a million percent overhyped — painfully, influencer-grade overhyped — and the vanilla bean matcha is so good that I’m telling you to go anyway.

The Vanilla Bean Matcha Problem

Here’s my dilemma as the person who wrote an entire matcha-snob ranking of San Francisco: nothing has topped this drink. Not in Los Angeles. Not in San Francisco. I’ve never had anything that quite tasted like it — the vanilla bean is real and present without smothering the matcha, and the whole thing lands like someone solved an equation the rest of the industry is still writing on the whiteboard.

Is it overpriced? Yes. Is there anywhere to sit inside? Functionally, no. Is the line an influencer parade? Absolutely — it’s all very in line with Los Angeles. And the drink still wins the argument.

The Verdict on Community Goods

  • Best for: The single best matcha drink I’ve found in LA (or anywhere, currently)
  • Order: The vanilla bean matcha. That’s the pilgrimage.
  • Know before you go: 30–80+ minute lines, no real interior space, priced like the hype
  • Where: 710 N Edinburgh Ave (Google Maps)

Community Goods wears the crown in my best matcha in Los Angeles ranking — and makes a suspiciously good long-walk destination in my LA travel guide’s matcha-walk-then-brunch routing with Blu Jam Cafe.

For the full picture of eating (and working, and tea-tasting) in LA, start with my Los Angeles travel guide and my best restaurants & coffee shops in LA list. Subscribe to my newsletter for new reviews — and if the “host a meetup in a great café” life appeals to you, that’s the Make Writing Your Job community at work.