Tea Restaurants near Berkeley, CA

“I got the hojicha and it was hands-down the BEST hojicha I’ve ever tried in the bay!!! The hojicha was so rich and my drink was sweetened perfectly—not too sweet, which didn’t steal the thunder away from the hojicha’s notes and flavor! I do want to disclose that they did take over an hour for my drink to be ready, BUT I went for their soft opening weekend, so that may be why many people were there (there were around 25 orders ahead of mine). They whisk the hojicha and ceremonial matcha right in front of you, which was a blast to see. The ambience was great! I’d definitely go again at a time where there aren’t as many customers there.

Update: my friend went a few weeks after me, and their wait is still just as long (about 40-50 minutes). Definitely place your order, explore downtown Berkeley, then come back for your drink. There aren’t a lot of seating options available in the tea bar.“

“A very friendly, lovely people who are ready to engage and talk about tea. I’ve always loved to have Monk’s Blend as a nostalgic choice in the morning, but their puers and oolongs are also quite nice. I’ve been away from the Bay Area for a while, but recently dropped by their location to discover a very pleasant and tranquil place. If you get a chance, do check them out.“

“Teance is a Berkeley institution. The shop is beautifully laid out: elegany and sparse. Their tea inventory is beautifully crafted. Teaware such as Chinese Yi-jing teapots and fine porcelain tea cups are available. The shop features tea tasting with staff offering friendly, knowledgeable advice and answering questions with detailed explanations. Teance also holds on-site social events with different themes which are free or moderately priced (~$30). Its worth a visit, even if you need to make an out of the way journey there. Highly recommended.“

“I feel that Heytea's quality is really consistent, even though its price are a bit higher than other boba shops.

This time I tried their Coconut Matcha Bbo, which has cloud, macha, coconut milk and boba. It tasted great, the flavor was on point. I ordered on their app, which makes it easy to customize your drink. Highly recommended!“

“The tea here is nothing short of magical. Absolutely everything I’ve tried and look forward to finally making it into their shop one of these days!“

“Good tea house. Bad place for a breakup 😭. You’ll find yourself wanting to come back and won’t know if it’s for the tea or the relationship you’re missing… it’s the tea.

Asha is often crowded but there’s a seat or two open. The tea is high quality, especially the matcha and HK milk tea! Pretty classic Berkeley spot if I do say so myself 🤭“

“It's nice to see a Chicha San Chen in the East Bay! The first time I had it was when I was traveling in South Cal, and then they opened their first North Cal location in South Bay!

We ordered the Bubble Milk and the Dong Ding Oolong Milk Tea with boba.

I really like their Dong Ding Oolong tea, it's very fragrant and tastes really smooth! Thet boba was large, chewy sweet, and has a great texture.“

“Delicious. Wonderful staff. I was visiting from out of town and made it a point to visit this place again.“

“Uncle Gee is so knowledgeable, hospitable, gregarious and compassionate. I went in there looking for a healing tea because my daughter had suffered a miscarriage.. immediately he expressed his condolences and explained with such detail why the tea he was giving me was for her and I explained other situations and all I can say is, I bought everything he recommended. It was my first time there and we have been drinking it properly and it has made all the difference in the world for our health & has brought us together. Tea is an experience for sure & drinking it correctly makes it even better! Thank you & continued blessings“

“Afternoon tea. Interesting experience. Recommend reservations. We went here recently (brother recommended this place). The place was quaint. We selected the tea for one. Each of us chose 2 sandwich flavors and a pot of tea. I got the flowering tea, it has a mild flowery taste and is visually pleasing. Sandwiches were an interesting experience. The coconut jam was surprisingly good. I personally got the meatfloss and the turkey with Brie and fig jam. The turkey was somewhat sweet. The scone was good too, along with the savory canapé. Dessert was good. I’ll have to come back again with my spouse and friends next time.“

“The Rotunda is one of my favorite spaces in San Francisco. I’ve celebrated quite a few milestones in the restaurant, and I plan to return, but today’s service ruined an experience that otherwise could have been quite memorable. For reasons unbeknownst to us, our server was downright hostile. Eye rolls and constipated grimaces were her go-to reactions to each of our benign requests. It got to the point where we became so uncomfortable in her presence, that we shrunk ourselves into obsequious church mice, shivering in her scolding utopia. Truly unacceptable. It was like dealing with Kathy Bates from American Horror Story. She needs a nap or an SSRI.“

“I have been here a couple of times but not since the pandemic started. I’m so happy they were able to stay open and the food and tea is even better than I remembered! Excellent service and marvelous food.“

“Delicious. Wonderful staff. I was visiting from out of town and made it a point to visit this place again.“

“Great food and we will definitely visit again“

“Great tea tasting experience with Yen today. I think she would have let us taste the whole store today, if we had more time we would have. Front of shop is the modern bubble tea kind of place. Back of shop is retail bag & loose leaf teas with the tasting bar. We really like the TenRen teas, especially the Taiwanese Alishan and Ti Kuan Yin. Looking forward to going back and trying more.“

“Experts on Asian tea and a fantastic selections. Also beautiful teapots and tea cups. This is the right place if you want to learn or are an experienced tea lover. Also a nice and informative web page and excellent service.“

“One of my favorite was spots in financial district! Delicious matcha and sweet boba! Avoid going right after work ends. Long lines during rush hour.“

“Locale giapponese, menù pure. Porzioni americane, molto abbondanti. Servizio veloce. Prezzi molto contenuti. Bene arredato, con un cortiletto attrezzato a giardino tzen. Carino!“

“I had the elephant chai and it was delicious service was good, the peace looked funky, pricing was ok Unfortunately it looked like there was maintenance or renovation work being done and I was there at an odd time, but generally it looks like it could be quite pillar and cool.“

“Very close to Union Square. Very small spot indoors so it's mainly an order and go boba spot.

I wanted a drink with boba already included so I ordered the black sugar latte ($5.95 before tax). The drink comes cold and I picked less ice, medium sweet, and in a paper cup (they offer this as the sustainable option). The straw is also compostable commercially so yay! My drink was sweeter than I anticipated, given I ordered medium sweet (which is the less sweet option), but still delicious.

There's minimal interaction with the employees. You order at the self serve kiosk (unless you want to pay in cash. I didn't see a discount mentioned for paying cash) and then they bring out the drinks and call out the name of the order. Also didn't realize that SF has a healthy mandate of 6%, which looks to be separate than the SF city employer mandate of 5%, so my order was applicable for the 6% mandate, but not the 5% mandate.“