Tea Era

Not sure what the whole hype around this place is all about. Enormous menu that will cater to anyone, but lacking on execution. The sugar cane addition brings little to no real increase in flavor or satisfaction and the low serving of ice left me with a warm drink.

$ 6 minimum charge on credit card purchases.
It’s so cheap there! All their flavored teas and milk teas are $ 2.75 each for a regular size –but the cups do seem a little smaller. or is that just me?. Special add-​on toppings range from $ 0.50-$ 0.75 each.
We had.
Iron Buddha Milk Tea –small taro balls, less ice + extra sweet. I liked the flavor and sweetness of my drink! I like super sweet milk teas though. I’d pass on the taro balls next time. they tasted powdery and the texture was similar to mochi balls but firm in the middle. (.but maybe that’s how taro balls are supposed to be?)
Roasted Oolong Milk Tea –no toppings, regular ice and sweetness. A little bland for my taste. My boyfriend likes the traditional Taiwanese milk teas, more tea flavor + less sugar and he thought it was good, still a little too sweet for him.
We only ordered two drinks to hit the minimum charge so we came to a total of $ 6.80, yes! Haha.

The chrysanthemum tea was way too sugary. Over powering. Tasted like liquid chrysanthemum rock candy. =\ Boba was okay, but nothing to write home about.

Tea Era is another favorite Taiwanese boba-​snacks place of mine. I love coming here for a quick and affordable bento meal, as well as trying on one of their many selections of boba tea.
I always enjoyed their popcorn chicken bento box — Served with the accompaniments of soya egg, veggies, pickles and ground pork. For $ 6.99 cheap, It was another hefty set that leaves me full and satisfied.
Besides bento sets, I love their Honey green tea and Iron Buddha. I particularly favored the Iron Buddha, simply because it taste quite unique… in a sweet way! The service here could be friendlier, but it was quick and efficient. Not bad overall, I would definitely be back for a quick bento– boba fix.
Tip: $ 6 minimum for cc use.

The drinks here are good but they are lacking customer service. They need to be more friendlier to their customers. The cashier looked miserable when he was taking my drink order… at least smile. When I asked him for a tray he tossed it on the counter in front of me. He didn’t even bother to help me.

I mean, it’s Tea Era. Obviously the MV location is well established. I still think the MV quality is slightly better (idk why).
This location has more seating!
I like their menu options but this is the one place I’ll be basic and order the roasted barley milk tea.
Their boba has a clean taste, not super sweet like most boba shops.
Card transactions are $ 6 minimum FIRM.
If you like boba, why not try it?

Oh man, the line here is crazy. My mom had to meet someone in the area, so I decided to check this place out, because I am on a mission to try all the boba places in the South Bay lol.
So the workers here are alright, not extremely friendly, but not rude or unhelpful at all. The inside of the shop is average sized for a café, but beware, it will be so crowded in there that you will only have a 1 – 2 feet radius of personal space at all times. It is also extremely loud in there from all the college students (from De Anza, I suppose). There is also a $ 6 minimum for credit cards, so watch out for that if you’re just getting a single item. There is also a restroom in the back so that is a plus.
The menu is INSANE. The have several options from non-​milk tea to milk tea to smoothies, as well as snacks such as popcorn chicken. They also have a wide range of toppings from taro balls to egg pudding, so that is a plus if you want another topping instead of boba. So their menu is much more extensive than most boba places so that is impressive. So I ordered a peach green tea, no milk with pearls (my signature drink) and I was impressed. The tea tasted almost exactly like the one from Fantasia, which is my all time favorite boba place. However, I will say that the pearls aren’t perfect for my liking. They aren’t hard, but instead the complete opposite. They are too chewy to the point that you need to chew on them for a long time in order for them to break down. I prefer my pearls to be slightly more hard so there is some substance to actually chew.
So overall, I do enjoy this place and would definitely want to come here again and try the other things on their huge menu, but it does get a bit too crowded and loud for my liking if I wanted to stay there and hang out with friends.

Great place for boba. Excellent tea flavor and lots of options for flavors and add-​ins.
I got the Dragon Well tea (no milk) with almond jelly and grass jelly. The consistencies of both jellies were perfect, although I couldn’t really differentiate the flavors between the grass and almond jelly too much.
While I was there with friends, there was a consistent line out the door, but the line moved quickly. Good sign of a good boba spot. Can’t wait to go back whenever I’m in the area.

Hot grass jelly is one of my favorite desserts, so I was really excited to try it at tea era seeing how many positive reviews they received for their drinks. However, I am very disappointed in the quality of the hot grass jelly here.
Not only did they mess up my order, the hot grass jelly served here is just plain nasty. It was very sour, pungent smelling, and tasted like it had gone bad.
Either the hot grass jelly drink itself was made incorrectly or the toppings went bad. Anyhoo, l it left a bad taste in my mouth. I chose red bean, green bean and taro balls (which btw are puny, about the size of peas, compared to fantasia).
I only finished a fourth of this «drink» and tossed the rest. If this is their standard for hot grass jelly, they need to take it off the menu.

Ordered the Jade mountain tea and the boba is not as chewy as I’d like but the milk tea is decent. Definitely not worth driving out to, unless I’m in the plaza w/​some friends.
So far I’m not too impressed, but I’ll check out another flavor during mid day to see if it’s a bad batch tonight on the boba.

Wow this place gets really packed for a boba and tea café. I was stunned when I came here on Friday night for a late night dessert run. There was about 10 – 15 people standing in line out the door. It made me really anxious to try their boba. I got a guava smoothie with taro pudding and taro balls. The wait wasn’t too long from the end of the line until I got my drink. The drink was default to a large size, no other options. The guava definitely was on point, although I’m sure it was from syrup or powder. The fruit itself is hard to get, and I read that they import their ingredients from Taiwan.
Anyway, the taro pudding was very unique to this place, although my favorite was the taro balls, which had a mochi texture to it. :D
The prices were all reasonable, it’s the additional toppings that may add up.
I’d love to come here again to try more flavors. Great spot to also hang out.

Two for tea and tea for two!
Another tea place to add to my list! It isn’t a huge place, but it isn’t small either. However, the line can go out the door in seconds! We came out here on a rainy friday night and people still come out for their tea! The selection they have here can be overwhelming because they do have a lot, but I’ve tried some many things, and every drink I’ve liked for different reasons.
I REALLY like the black sugar milk tea, although I also enjoy a good Taro milk tea and an Almond flavored one. Thai tea here is also very good! I can just go on and on! Service here is also very good! The gals up front are always quick to help, and the people making the tea do it very fast without lacking in quality.
Overall; this place has become a more recent stop for us for some good quality and not so sweet tea at a good price and with good people!

So different than the Tea Era in Downtown Mountain View. Instead of a hole in the wall, this space is clean, modern and spacious. There are plenty of tables and chairs to go around. They have a large selection of teas, milk teas, slushes and toppings. They have the typically Taiwanese style snacks like popcorn chicken, squid balls, etc.
I ordered a lychee green tea with boba, which was refreshingly cold. I hate it when my tea is tepid with some ice cubes. The boba were nice and chewy. I also ordered popcorn chicken. It doesn’t come with any spice — you top with the chili powder, salt/​pepper, etc from the condiment bar. The chicken was juicy and piping hot, with a generous helping of fried basil. It was a little greasy at the bottom but delicious none the less!
To top it off, the employee who took my order was very friendly!

Quickly becoming one of my favorite places in the South Bay. We first came here looking for dessert, we found them through Unilocal for the shaved ice. We also got the popcorn chicken which was delicious had lots of basil fried inside it very very good.
We came back tonight to try the hot grass jelly, which is also delicious and loaded with a lot of stuff. Compared to ten ren it was good, just not as sweet.

This is the second location of Tea Era. It is located in the Homestead Bowl/McDonald’s shopping center.
It was pretty crowded about two hours ago during the lunch hour. At times, the lines were out the door.
I decided on this place as it was the closest to Sunnyvale, which I was heading back to for the afternoon. Good and not so good.
First, the good thing is that there is a combination discount when you order a food item with a milk tea. Cool!
However, the bad thing is that they seal the drinks too tight. Therefore, it can be very hard to poke it and can cause a big mess if you are successful in puncturing the hole with your straw. It is not the first time that I have experienced it. It is obviously a Tea Era thing as I had the same exact experience at their other location in Mountain View.
Due to the repeated experience, I would rather not visit this place as there are so many others located in the area. Also, they have so-​so experience in treating their customers.

For consistent boba drinks, you all have to check out Tea Era. I highly recommend the roasted barley milk tea. It’s the only drink I ever order; hot or cold. The pearls here are my favorite. Sweet but not super chewy, perfect.
This place is larger than the MV location but still small. Lines are normally always out the door unless you go during off hours during the weekdays. The service is quick. The drinks are made and called out in a timely manner. The only thing that really holds up the lines are people digging for change as there is a minimum of $ 6 to use a credit card, lame.
The only thing I don’t like is how the MV location offers 5 stars. There, you don’t need to carry a stamp card with you. You get text messages for special offers; free add on or upgrade in size. BUT, it’s cash only. Here, there is a minimum for $ 6 to use a credit card. They take stamp cards and do not offer or accept 5 star offers. It’s confusing as heck– especially when you’re not carrying the right amount of cash & change.
But with that aside, Tea Era is still my favorite boba spot and I can’t take a star off for the huge cash only/​5star con. I’ll continue with this location and just remind myself to take a friend with me to meet the $ 6 minimum.

Hook: Taiwanese drinks and food.
This place is my second favorite boba milk tea place (After U-​Cha on Bancroft in Berkeley)! If you ever want to try out drinks that always above par at an always popping location, Tea Era is the place to go. My top recommendations for boba drinks include anything on their menu that says roasted — roasted oolong, roasted barley milk, roasted earl grey are all great choices. The taste of the teas are very comfortably authentic.
In addition, a great big plus of this place is the food. Alot of places offer popcorn chicken, but I’ve found Tea Era’s offering to be one of the top. In terms of my top recommendation — the chopped pork over fried rice. As anyone that hails from Taiwan would agree, this particular dish (pronounced roo-​roh fan) is quite the staple in terms of quick meals you can get in Taiwan, and it also happens to be one of my personal favorites. Tea Era’s Chopped pork over fried rice has been one of the most authentic ones I’ve tried in California (which to be fair, is a bit limited as not many places offer it).

So many new boba places have opened up in the area the past couple of years, and I find that Tea Era has been slowly moving down my list. My go-​to place right now is Tea Top, and after getting used to their super enormous generous serving size, the cups here just look tiny. The one thing that I think about the milk tea here, though, is how strong/​delicious the underlying tea aroma is. I always get the oolong base milk tea, and it hits the spot every time! Not a big fan of the boba here, though. I find them to be a little too chewy…
If I could give half stars, this place would be a 3.5. Prices are reasonable and quality is always consistent (minus the boba). Will probably still come back every now and then :)

I don’t understand the over praised reviews in regards to this place.
I went in for the first time with my husband and we both ordered a smoothie with pearls. It was an average wait time & average drinks. Nothing extraordinary.
What really got me? One of the 6 gals working was dazed off in a day dream while PICKING HER NOSE. It threw me off so bad & happened so quickly… I couldn’t capture it on film. Maybe that’s a good thing? YUCK!
Thank goodness she was handling cash and not the drinks. I could’ve and would’ve threw up.
Will I return? No thank you.

The seating is limited and the store is pretty small. It was fairly loud in this store when my friends and I went. The drinks were good though. My friend got the blueberry milk tea and it tasted a little strange but not bad. I got a regular jasmine green tea and it tasted as any decent jasmine green tea would taste.
The staff is definitely helpful in recommending any drinks though.

I think I’ve found my new favorite tea place!
Of course, I’ve said this countless times before, but this time it may actually be true :). Tea Era is the one! I think.
I would’ve given it five stars, but I’ve only been here twice and there’s still a lot to try, therefore a lot that remains to be seen. But so far, so very good!
I’ve had this bookmarked for a while, mainly because the Mountain View location has 4 stars and 1,000+ reviews. This is the newer location but as far as I’m concerned, it’s just as good.
My friends and I usually come here after one of our epicurean adventures on El Camino Real, and it is quite the excursion since we live in the East Bay. But given the choice between ramen or K-​BBQ in the East or South Bay, we’ll pick south just so we can get Tea Era after. I wish I was joking.
Given the distance, I’m not a regular but I wish I was. They have frequent drink specials that they concoct in their evil labobatory (or so I like to fantasize), such as the Iron Buddha or Flaming Dragon – my friends are fans. Those being too mysterious for me, I just stuck to the classics and got the Pineapple Green Tea and Grapefruit Green Tea, both freaking bomb!!! And I’m hard to please. Seriously, just ask my friends.
Tea Era seems to have something for everyone. The stronger tea-​flavored drinks («where you can reaaally taste the tea») for my purist friends, really sour drinks for my friend who loves plums and is actually an old Asian lady on the inside, and the delightfully fruity, just-​right drinks for people like me.
In their impressive arsenal of boba weaponry, they have one of those machines that shake the tea cups violently in order to ensure a well-​mixed, perfectly balanced drink. I can definitely appreciate it :).
Toppings-​wise, egg pudding is good and so is their boba. They do have a $ 6 minimum for credit cards so spotting your friends is caring.
It’s also relatively popular since there’s always a line; never that long though.
Authentic, high quality and consistent, this is the new it spot and for me, worth the drive (if I get to eat first).

Love the tea, love the snacks,
Love the food, so I’ll be back!
Even though mixups are whack.
But it’s alright, it’s okay,
I’m gonna drink it anyway.
That’s right, my very own original poem AND a song reference. With their powers combined, I can kick off this review on a lively note. ‘Lively’ is definitely the right word to describe this place; it’s always bustling with people in line, drinks being whipped up, and orders called out. Often it’s so packed there isn’t anywhere to sit, but nothing wrong with taking balls to go! (I’m talking about boba.)
DRINKS:
— — —
* Taro Milk Tea with Taro Pudding — One of my favorite drinks here! It was recommended to me on my first visit and I just can’t get enough. This is my go-​to when it’s evening because it’s caffeine free. But it’s not sugar free so watch out.
* Oolong Milk Tea with Egg Pudding — Another top favorite of mine. This is the one when I want something with a little less strong of a flavoring. I love the herbal toasted notes of oolong.
* Almond Milk Tea — Classic choice. Refreshing and simple.
For all drinks you can add any or all of their toppings including boba, jelly, and/​or pudding. You can also order your drink less sweet to match your taste buds.
FOOD:
— — -
* Ground Pork Dry Noodle — So tasty and very filling!
* Popcorn Chicken — You can’t go wrong with this at a Chinese milk tea spot.
AMBIANCE/​SERVICE:
— — — — — — —
As mentioned above, tables may be hard to come by at peak times. Lines may be long but they move pretty quickly. The cashiers are good with making recommendations.
My only issue has been one mixup with my drink order. My friend ordered taro milk tea with boba and taro pudding (per my recommendation) and I ordered oolong milk plain. My friend ended up with boba only and I got the taro pudding. Whoops! Not gonna complain about an extra topping though, hehe. Luckily my friend was super chill about it.
TIP: You can mix and match your teas and toppings. This is a good place to explore.
DATE TIP: Mixups aren’t a big deal. You get to try something new (and delicious) if it happens!

My favorite place for milk tea in the bay area! I went to school just down the street at Homestead! Hi friends! :D
Now down to business… this place has damn good pearls. I’ve been to T-​Pumps, verde, tapioca express, and others, and the pearls here are chewy sweet perfect. They are the reason I keep coming back again and again.
The milk tea’s are pretty good too, and I’ve tried a couple of flavors but my favorite, by far, is taro. But the smoothies are the real deal here.
Try the smoothies if you haven’t! They come in the large cups and end up being the same price as a large milk tea so it’s worth a try. The taro smoothie is consistent and classic. They’ve never let me down.
I’m going to miss this place when I head back to the east coast for school tomorrow :’)

Tea Era’s tea is always consistently good and their boba is perfect, not too hard and not too soft. Good service, reasonable prices.

I love the pudding here! This is probably one of the best boba places in the Bay Area.
What I have tried:
Earl Grey milk tea: not the best but it’s still good.
Honey Green tea: absolutely love.
Wintermelon Tea: Love. Love.
Roasted Barly Milk Tea: probably my favorite here.
The food here is okay. I don’t like the popcorn chicken. It’s kind of dry and after awhile you get tired of eating it. I like the the spicy pork dry noodles. A little oily but worth the try!
When I got at night there’s always a huge line but during the day not so much so if you go after dinner beware the line.

One my favorite boba places in the area! I’m so glad they opened here because before that, the closest one was in Mountain View. Price is average/​normal for boba places and they have a punch card where you can get a free drink (up $ 3 value) every 10 drinks you purchase. The lines can be long during weekends, making parking a bit of a hassle, but you can always park further away (near the bowling alley) and walk over.
The storefront is relatively small, with only about half a dozen or so 4-​seater tables, with one or two tables outside, but it’s a great hang out spot. The servers are pretty good at getting your drink right (they print little tickets that go on each cup) and they give you a sturdy paper carrier (or bag) as needed. They also have some Taiwanese food/​snacks/​bentos, but I’ve never tried those before.
My favorite tea is the Iron Buddha (which is tie-​guan-​yin — a form of oolong tea) with boba or small taro balls. The jade tea and royal darjeeling tea are also pretty good. Compared to other tea places, I feel that the tea flavor is stronger here and I really enjoy that extra hint of tea beneath the milk.

I finally made my way back here yesterday only because I was with a friend that insisted I give this place another shot because she really likes their black sugar milk tea. I was kind of shocked because that’s what I had gotten my first time here, and I didn’t really like it, but it’s been quite some time, so why not.
We both got black sugar milk tea with pearls, but apparently they give HELLA pearls here, so my friend asked for less pearls. We got our drinks in a few minutes, and yup, there are hella pearls, but me being a big fan of pearls, this was not a problem. Compared to most other PMT shops they give around twice as many pearls, so I guess at least good bang for your buck. Now more importantly the drink itself was actually quite pleasant. Not overly sweet, but it still had a good black sugar flavor. I was quite stunned, and I found myself drinking my drink nonstop. Of course since there are so many pearls, I finish my drink and was left with still a bunch of pearls.
Pretty glad that I decided to give this place another shot. Not sure if I’m willing to risk trying other flavors, but I definitely would recommend the black sugar milk tea.

This place has all the flavors that all other boba places have (if not more) but one thing that stood was their prices. Their boba on average are cheaper than other places yet the quality is roughly the same. Another thing that stood out was the variety of toppings they offer. On top of regular pearls, they have many different flavored jelly, as well as coffee and almond jelly. (As far as I know only boba guys have coffee and almond jelly).
I tried their thai milk tea with almond jelly. I have always enjoyed almond jelly at Boba Guys but this is the first time I get to have it with Thai milk tea. The combination was amazing. The sweetnes of Thai milk tea blended so well with the almond flavor from the jelly. The texture of the jelly resembles tofu which I find pretty neat!

Great food, good value. This restaurant may not have a huge menu but they do provide delicious healthy Taiwanese food at good prices. I tried the Taiwanese sausage combo, popcorn chicken combo, fried squid, mango smoothie, and earl gray milk tea. The drinks were light and refreshing, not overly sweet. The combination dishes provided a nice variety of different items such as chopped pork over rice, delicious Taiwanese sausage, crispy popcorn chicken, fish cake, light salad, and tea egg. The food temperature was great, the textures were as expected, the food wasn’t overly seasoned, and the combination of everything was very pleasant.
I’d be happy to return here for a delicious drink or to satisfying my Taiwanese food craving next time I’m in the area.

I ordered the roasted Barley with egg pudding as recommend by a lot of Unilocalers, but it tasted too watered down, and lacking tea flavor. The egg pudding was also unflavored, just like eating flavorless gelatin. We also got the Genmai Brown Rice tea, which was too thick, too much milk, and again only a hint of tea flavor.
Décor needs some work done, and the place looks dirty. I’m disappointed. Might come back to try the snacks, but not the drinks. :(

Best bubble tea in SF!!! Located in Cupertino, so like 45 min from downtown SF.
I got the caramel milk tea– so good! We also got the popcorn chicken– so flavorful and juicy/​tender– sprinkle the spicy flakes on!
If I lived in the SF area I’d come here everyday.

A hit-​or-​miss place. Although I will argue Tea Era is one of the more favorable boba stores in the area, I had my fair share of overly sweetened drinks that hindered the taste of the tea. Consistency is lacking here.
One thing to note is during peak hours, lunch/​late night, the line is through the door so expect 15 – 20 minutes to order during that time. I will say the wait from order to pick-​up is super quick, so can’t complain about that.

Try their barley milk tea, it’s one of the popular items here! I’ve never seen this flavor at other milk tea shops (or maybe I just haven’t recognized it) so it was a nice experience. The drink + added on grass jelly was surprisingly refreshing and a great combo together.
I also ordered the fried calamari, which was really crispy and fried well! I’d say it’s one of the better fried calamari’s I’ve tried. However, it had a little too much seasoning and there was definitely some MSG added which made me super sad and thirsty when I finished my drink but still had calamari leftover :(.
Would I return? Yes, but only if I’m around the area. I wouldn’t necessarily make the drive out here since there are favorites of mine more local to me!