The Whale Tea DC

The cat ear cup lid is so cute and I got a purple straw🥹

Fantastic and welcoming service everytime I go! I love their variety, and especially their bubble tea and foods, keep up the great work!

The worst bubble tea that I tasted ever!

We go to Whale Tea pretty regularly since it’s opened up. My favorites are the oolong tea with foam and aloe, and my kids like the brown sugar milk teas with pearls. They also really like trying the seasonal drinks and that there’s cake pops and macarons :)

The shop aims to be a third space, to integrate with the community - it’s modern and cozy, excellent bathroom, and whoever selects the music does a good job. I like sitting there and reading around lunchtime, and often there are uni students on their laptops.
For warm weather, there’s a waiting area for dogs with toys and water bowls/jugs. Right now in winter, they’ve put out a dome for outside seating and decorated it with lights :)

I love chatting with the owner and the staffers, and learning a bit about the business and them as people. They don’t mind my adhd kids 😅😝

The only thing I hope they see growth in is figuring out their target market. They started as a clear high-end-tea boba shop, with a taste that is probably more accepted in Rockville than DC (fresh fruit in the tea, tea base that is never oversteeped, excellent boba prep, foam that is salty - all the things i like).

As they are figuring out their business model, the menu has expanded vastly and hasn’t stabilized yet.

I think this business wants more to welcome and love people than it cares about selling a particular food. Once they figure out how to present this consistently as a brand, it’ll be perfect.

I ordered the whale crystal and a taro fresh milk tea online I then ent to go pickup my order, but when I walked in I said hi and the lady that was at the register didn't even respond or say anything, and then I went to the register to tell her that I have a pickup but she just ignored me for at least 5 minutes, later when I got home to try the drinks, I took a sip and could already taste the stale old jelly, for the 2nd drink which was the taro fresh milk tea the boba pearls were so small for some reason and there was barely any boba, also I could taste that the drink was mostly water and barely had flavor. I also noticed that the tiramisu they had was the ones that are sold in Costco like at least make your own tiramisu instead of buying ones from the store just to resell them. Also at least half of the picture that they have online is Ai like you guys couldn’t even put effort in taking pictures of the stuff. Never ordering from there again.

Great start to my trip to DC and this was near the hotel. Cute atmosphere, creative menu (I got the blackberry cloud matcha and it was delish!). They even have a geodesic dome style tent out front.

Today was my first visit to this establishment, where I ordered a lychee bubble tea. The tea itself was mediocre at best, and I was given excessive amount of tapioca which made it difficult to enjoy the flavor of the tea.

Stick with the bubble tea. That's good. But the food items are a tad weird.

Weeks ago I had a bagel with crab meat on it. It had a spiciness I wasnt expecting but it wasn't bad.

Then this last visit I had a chocolate croissant. Granted the picture on the ordering tablet did look like this but I'm used to the French chocolate croissant. It tasted good but I was surprised at the presentation.

Once again, the bubble tea is good. The food items are... different.

I live nearby and often stop by The Whale Tea for delicious bubble tea. It’s always fast, tasty, and has a very cozy atmosphere. You can really tell the team created this café with love.

Wishing them great success and prosperity — I’ll definitely be coming back again and again! 😊

A welcome addition to a neighborhood starved of breakfast joints.

👌👌👌👌

Great bubble tea

I visited the Whale Tea for the third time today. After eating a few bites of the danish, I looked at the bottom and found mold. Very scary health wise and disappointing.

I enjoyed the strawberry milk tea the first time I visited which is why I am leaving 3 starts and not 1.

Tea was INSANE. Cute moody playlist too - so lovely and quiet - a perfect place to work, study, or unwind. Food was unreal. Loads of options for a good price 🩷🩷

Good Thai tea and excellent pastries.