Starbucks to close one of its 2 cafes in Orange’s historic Old Towne Plaza

Has Orange’s Old Towne Plaza finally reached its caffeinated tipping point?

A month after Urth Caffe debuted on the city’s historic traffic circle, Starbucks is shuttering one of its two cafes on opposite curves of Chapman Avenue.

The coffee shop inside the Wells Fargo bank will brew its final lattes and espressos on Valentine’s Day, an employee confirmed Wednesday, Feb. 6. The staff will have an opportunity to transfer to neighboring stores, of which there are many.

Was it a surprise, we asked? “We saw it coming,” said the employee.

Locals have long bemoaned the presence of two Starbucks in the small plaza, the second of which arrived after the closure of Diedrich Coffee, a local chain bought by the Seattle-based coffee titan in 2006.

Since the Great Recession, the plaza has seen a number of new restaurants and cafes descend on the quaint cross streets at Chapman Avenue and Glassell Street, once chockful of antique shops. (Some locals have bemoaned this, too.)

Among the newer tenants are a host of eateries that feature coffee prominently, including Pandor Artisan Bakery & Cafe (formerly Lucca’s), the Aussie Bean, Portola (inside Provisions), Pie Hole and now Urth. At Chapman University just north of the plaza, there’s a Starbucks on campus and nearby a modern Subway Cafe, which has an updated coffee bar.

Calls to Wells Fargo went unanswered. We’ll see if the bank, housed inside the former Bank of Orange of 1888, has any plans for a lobby that features soaring ceilings with ornately inlaid wood tiles.

The Starbucks inside the bank closes at 7 p.m., Feb. 14.