The Tea Leaf Cafe is my favorite place to get boba.
I should note that this fact in and of itself isn't particularly impressive. I've only been to a few other boba places, and the only other place that I know the name and location of had some issues with the freshness of the foodstuffs they offered. So this place had a very low bar to clear.
That said, it cleared that bar pretty comfortably. The tea itself is good. I have no complaints about it, but also I haven't really encountered a place that does boba wrong, so it doesn't get many points for this. Where this place excels is in its atmosphere. There are black faux leather couches that you can sit on. There are tables along the side where UB students are writing their anthropology essays on their laptops. There's a bookshelf in the far corner with books that are free to take and leaf through, and board games left behind by the city's go club, which meets there every Thursday evening. There's always an interesting playlist/station on in the background, but it's rarely the same. Sometimes it's reggae, sometimes it's jazz, sometimes it's a sort of easy-listening form of pop, sometimes it's indie folk. I can't guarantee that you'll like what you hear, but I think you're always going to be okay with it.
I will levy two minor complaints, neither of which are enough to drop my rating down below 5 stars. The first is that the front door needs to be fixed somehow. The inner door doesn't automatically close, which makes the temperature buffer antechamber lose its functional purpose, and it causes the inside of the place to get a bit chilly on colder nights.
My second complaint is that the night time lighting is a little too dim for my tastes, and I imagine for the tastes of anyone who isn't there with the intention of taking a nap. The walls and ceiling of the place are already painted a dark color, so the choice of lighting makes the place pick up a bit of a cellar vibe more than a cafe vibe, and I sometimes feel my brain working more slowly than usual because of it.
But those two minor issues aside, I'm quite pleased with this place's atmosphere, staff, seating arrangements, and quality and availability of tea. Definitely check it out if you're up for some bubble tea.
Buffalicious Bites
🧋Iced watermelon bubble tea
BuffaliciousBites gives Tea Leaf Cafe 5 stars!
Joy S
The hot teas are excellent. Found this place last minute. Fast service. Great group of employees.
Tori
Great study spot and bubble tea. They have some bakery/sweet options as well. I got a brown sugar bubble tea and chocolate mousse cake.
Marilynn Dapp
Consistently excellent The flavors are so indulgent, a great mood booster...
TaM D
Great taste! I got a mango bubble tea with milk and was delicious. My tiramisu was a bit frozen and was kind of hard to cut it at first. But I just had to wait a little and enjoyed it. I recommend!
Madeline Anderson-Balmer
Amazing selection of loose leaf and bubble teas, nice, light-filled space with plenty of seating. Try one of the special teas, milk teas, boba teas. They've got tapioca, bursting Boba, jellies, and more flavors than I could imagine including Ube, hot or cold. Plus yummy desserts. Don't let the condition of the parking lot or the pseudo empty gyms next door scare you. Worth a stop.
Theresa Felle
Great people
Carey Sparbel
Tea always taste so good, if they do happen to get something wrong at first, they're happy to fix it. Always pleasant.
Muhammad Λ.
It's a very nice cozy cafe with very good drinks. The staff is really kind & friendly.
Much of what was on the online menu was not on the actual menu in the store. The girl said it’s not updated very often. 👎🏻
Ben Kyoing
A while back I had vanilla one time and got sick from it, i noticed it was a weird pink color but thought it was just the tapioca, ended up getting sick and throwing up. Recently tho I asked for water with no ice, I said thank you and the person gave me an ick face. LOL i don't know what i did unless having no ice in water is a problem, it took a while for them to make it, but yea i ended up getting sick the same night. All the People there seem to be nice and chill so its not all of them. I usually don't have any problems And i try to be considerate but yea that one little thing made me not trust things. I liked the place but will not buy anything when this specific person isn't around.
Michael Ludwick
Great bubble tea and friendly service!!!
Sara Ciurca
Tea was good, service was very friendly, but establish was very cold. I went to study and a lot of people were seated. It was too cold for me or others to take their coat off.
Candace Marie Nguyen
I had the absolute worst customer service experience from a girl named Angel at the McKinley location. When I had to come back after picking up my order and called after I picked it up to advise of my issue her response was idk what you want me to do you should’ve checked your bag. (The knotted bag) she was so rude and unprofessional. She said to me “clearly it was a mistake and idk what you expect me to do about it” when I came in she laughed and argued with me. I usually would order here every week . I will not bring my business to a place with nasty employees that think they can talk and treat people however they want. DO BETTER, I’ll take the extra drive to the northtowns for better options.
The Tea Leaf Cafe is my favorite place to get boba.
I should note that this fact in and of itself isn't particularly impressive. I've only been to a few other boba places, and the only other place that I know the name and location of had some issues with the freshness of the foodstuffs they offered. So this place had a very low bar to clear.
That said, it cleared that bar pretty comfortably. The tea itself is good. I have no complaints about it, but also I haven't really encountered a place that does boba wrong, so it doesn't get many points for this. Where this place excels is in its atmosphere. There are black faux leather couches that you can sit on. There are tables along the side where UB students are writing their anthropology essays on their laptops. There's a bookshelf in the far corner with books that are free to take and leaf through, and board games left behind by the city's go club, which meets there every Thursday evening. There's always an interesting playlist/station on in the background, but it's rarely the same. Sometimes it's reggae, sometimes it's jazz, sometimes it's a sort of easy-listening form of pop, sometimes it's indie folk. I can't guarantee that you'll like what you hear, but I think you're always going to be okay with it.
I will levy two minor complaints, neither of which are enough to drop my rating down below 5 stars. The first is that the front door needs to be fixed somehow. The inner door doesn't automatically close, which makes the temperature buffer antechamber lose its functional purpose, and it causes the inside of the place to get a bit chilly on colder nights.
My second complaint is that the night time lighting is a little too dim for my tastes, and I imagine for the tastes of anyone who isn't there with the intention of taking a nap. The walls and ceiling of the place are already painted a dark color, so the choice of lighting makes the place pick up a bit of a cellar vibe more than a cafe vibe, and I sometimes feel my brain working more slowly than usual because of it.
But those two minor issues aside, I'm quite pleased with this place's atmosphere, staff, seating arrangements, and quality and availability of tea. Definitely check it out if you're up for some bubble tea.
🧋Iced watermelon bubble tea
BuffaliciousBites gives Tea Leaf Cafe 5 stars!
The hot teas are excellent. Found this place last minute. Fast service. Great group of employees.
Great study spot and bubble tea. They have some bakery/sweet options as well. I got a brown sugar bubble tea and chocolate mousse cake.
Consistently excellent The flavors are so indulgent, a great mood booster...
Great taste! I got a mango bubble tea with milk and was delicious. My tiramisu was a bit frozen and was kind of hard to cut it at first. But I just had to wait a little and enjoyed it. I recommend!
Amazing selection of loose leaf and bubble teas, nice, light-filled space with plenty of seating. Try one of the special teas, milk teas, boba teas. They've got tapioca, bursting Boba, jellies, and more flavors than I could imagine including Ube, hot or cold. Plus yummy desserts. Don't let the condition of the parking lot or the pseudo empty gyms next door scare you. Worth a stop.
Great people
Tea always taste so good, if they do happen to get something wrong at first, they're happy to fix it. Always pleasant.
It's a very nice cozy cafe with very good drinks. The staff is really kind & friendly.
Restaurantji Recommends
Much of what was on the online menu was not on the actual menu in the store. The girl said it’s not updated very often. 👎🏻
A while back I had vanilla one time and got sick from it, i noticed it was a weird pink color but thought it was just the tapioca, ended up getting sick and throwing up. Recently tho I asked for water with no ice, I said thank you and the person gave me an ick face. LOL i don't know what i did unless having no ice in water is a problem, it took a while for them to make it, but yea i ended up getting sick the same night. All the People there seem to be nice and chill so its not all of them. I usually don't have any problems And i try to be considerate but yea that one little thing made me not trust things. I liked the place but will not buy anything when this specific person isn't around.
Great bubble tea and friendly service!!!
Tea was good, service was very friendly, but establish was very cold. I went to study and a lot of people were seated. It was too cold for me or others to take their coat off.
I had the absolute worst customer service experience from a girl named Angel at the McKinley location. When I had to come back after picking up my order and called after I picked it up to advise of my issue her response was idk what you want me to do you should’ve checked your bag. (The knotted bag) she was so rude and unprofessional. She said to me “clearly it was a mistake and idk what you expect me to do about it” when I came in she laughed and argued with me. I usually would order here every week . I will not bring my business to a place with nasty employees that think they can talk and treat people however they want. DO BETTER, I’ll take the extra drive to the northtowns for better options.
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