Grid Coffee – Diamond Bar performative haven

It has been roughly a month since I have been coming to Grid Coffee consistently. To my friends, whenever they check my BeReal or my location, I am always in this tiny coffee studio tucked away between a Chinese market and an insurance company.

Grid Coffee is a trendy coffeehouse with two locations: one in Diamond Bar (the one I go to about four times a week) and one in Santa Ana. Because their store is open every day from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., it gives the flexibility and reassurance that you can grab a coffee or get some work done whenever you would like. Personally, I don’t make it a routine to stop by this tiny warehouse-looking studio because of their drinks or the proximity to my house. Let me explain.

I think what the people working at Grid Coffee nail is building the atmosphere of this ‘performative’ vibe that many teenagers or young adults like myself are seeking. On any normal day here, you will encounter at least three pairs of Doc Martens, wired headphones and of course, the matcha. What’s funny is their most popular drinks are probably their matchas, yet I come into this store asking for a Kyoto Cold Brew every time. The baristas always just give a subtle nod and quite frankly, I think they have caught on by now.

Besides the diverse people that elevate the environment of this place – the classic fashioned DB people, or the old Asian couples coming down from The Country, or even that one NVIDIA tech bro I saw today – there are some little things that are outside the grid.

My posture has seriously deteriorated from my hours of studying for AP and building my media organization here because of two big reasons: I am sitting on a literal tree (even with the gray seat pads) and none of the seats have back support. I understand why they have these seating arrangements to keep the vibe “lowkey” and “performative” but I feel like a few more weeks of sitting like this and I might become one of the old Asians walking into the store with a limp. Another picky downside is that three out of the four tables on the left are wobbly. If you want to draw something or do some calculus calculations, it’s better you take the big table that you have to squish with seven other people.

But even with those mildly annoying features, it is hard to hate on a place like Grid Coffee. Some people might call you performative for making this place a daily or even weekly, but I wouldn’t care. The creatively-mixed drinks, amazing aux and daily customers build a vibe that you won’t find anywhere else. So if you want a performative matcha or just want to people watch, Grid is a go.