Couplet Coffee Review: A Sweet Banana Matcha in Hollywood

All PostsLos Angeles EatsLiving in Los Angeles
Written By Amy Suto

Full disclosure: Couplet Coffee gifted me a drink and a pastry to come in and try the cafe. The opinions in this review are my own.

An iced banana cream matcha topped with cream and crushed banana chips, held up in front of the Couplet Coffee logo on a mustard-yellow wall at the Hollywood cafe in Los Angeles

The first thing you notice at Couplet Coffee in Hollywood is the yellow. A whole mustard-yellow wall of it, painted with a rainbow, a smiling cloud, a pagoda-roofed tower and COUPLET in big white letters, which is a lot of personality for 8:40 on a Thursday morning. I loved it.

Couplet Coffee is a colorful cafe at 6318 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, and its banana cream matcha is pretty solid, if a little on the sweet side. Couplet also has cafes in Echo Park, Downtown LA, Santa Monica and West Hollywood, plus a bakery in the Arts District, and the brand says its matcha is ceremonial grade from Kagoshima, Japan.

What to Order at Couplet Coffee

I ordered the Banana Cream Matcha, which lives near the bottom of the menu board, right under the Iced Cafe de Olla Americano. It comes iced: matcha on the bottom, a thick layer of cream on top, and a crumble of banana chips over everything.

The flavor is pretty solid. It does run a little on the sweet side, and I like sweeter drinks, so for me that’s a point in its favor. If you’re not a fan of sweet drinks, you probably want to order something different. The same board lists a plain Matcha, a Cortado and Drip for anyone who takes their caffeine without dessert attached.

The menu board at Couplet Coffee Hollywood, with drinks from espresso and cortado down to the Banana Cream Matcha, next to the espresso bar and a small pumpkin on the counter

The Banana Cream Matcha is near the bottom of the board. The pumpkins are seasonal.

Inside Couplet Coffee Hollywood

I loved how ~ colorful ~ Couplet’s stores are. The Hollywood one pairs that yellow mural with a bright orange wall (smiley face included), a long wooden bench lined with small tables, and little plants hanging in glass vials.

It’s also pretty well located. The cafe sits on Hollywood Boulevard just west of Vine, about a block from the Hollywood/Vine Metro B Line station and the Pantages Theatre, so it’s an easy stop before a show or a walk down the Walk of Fame.

The mustard-yellow mural wall inside Couplet Coffee in Hollywood, painted with a rainbow, a smiling cloud, a pagoda-roofed tower and the word COUPLET above a long wooden bench and small tables

Yes, the cloud is smiling at you.

The Verdict on Couplet Coffee

  • Best for: A sweet matcha fix in Hollywood · a cheerful place to sit before a show at the Pantages
  • My order: The Banana Cream Matcha, iced
  • Damage: $0. Couplet gifted me the drink and a pastry (see the note at the top)
  • Where: 6318 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood (Google Maps) · coupletcoffee.com

For the best matcha in the city, check out my best matcha in Los Angeles ranking. For the rest of my favorites, start with my best restaurants & coffee shops in Los Angeles list.

For more places worth your appetite, my Los Angeles page pins my LA reviews on one map, and the best restaurants in San Francisco covers the other half of my eating life. Subscribe to my newsletter for new reviews as the research continues — I spent five years rating restaurants around the world in my travel guides, and old habits die delicious.