Neotte Caffe

Five stars go to Neotte for having available wifi on the WEEKENDS!!!
Who knew that internet is incredibly hard to come by in downtown Palo Alto on a Saturday night!!! I certainly didn’t! I had to traipse all the way up and down University Avenue before finding Neotte, bitching and moaning all the while about how «something like this would NEVER happen in San Francisco!»
All my typical haunts just didn’t come through: University Café was closed; Coupa had their wifi turned off, as did Café del Dodge, next door; and forget Starbucks with their lame-​ass T-​mobile exclusive connection… not gonna happen!!!
But thanks to Neotte and their wifi, I was able to get right online and finally managed to make some very important travel arrangements with my aunt, all while enjoying a cup of their green tea… it was sooo good! I have never liked tea this much before in my life… or was it the internet… well, who knows, but THANK YOU, NEOTTE, FOR HAVING A REASONABLE WIFI POLICY!!! They now have a life-​long customer in me!

I joined the multitude of bespectacled laptop users at Neotte Café today in hopes of checking my email and sucking down some liquid fruit. I did get free (albeit ssslllooowww) wifi, which came in handy while waiting nearly 10 minutes for my overpriced ($ 4.50 plus tax) tiny (12 friggin’ ounces) room-​temp (ever hear of ICE??) banana/​strawberry/​blueberry smoothie. The socially-​awkward girl behind the counter was running around like a chicken with her head cut off, I guess she had a backlog of tea to make. I stood at the counter for 5 minutes before even being acknowleged. The place is quiet, mellow, and relatively comfortable, with free wifi.
In Summary:
1. Bad service
2. Bad drink
3. Slow-​but-​free wifi.
Only come here if you have an email emergency, otherwise walk down the street looking for signal and sit on the curb with a Peet’s coffee.
In summsry

This is really more of a 3.5 star venue, but I’d rather go up then down…
The upside: the staff is very friendly, teas are quite lovely — I usually go for the red tea, or the jasmine dragon tea. Also, the WI-​FI connection works well and is free of charge.
The downside: a glass of tea is VERY pricey, ranging from around $ 2.25 for tiny size to around $ 4 for a large — I’m assuming this is to pay for all the free loaders who sit there for hours on end soaking the free WI-​FI and only ordering 1 thing… or it could just be the insane rents in downtown palo alto… either way, I’d go there more frequently if the prices we not so OOC. Also, Neotte’s in downtown PA, so parking can be tough (I usually walk to avoid this) and the venue could use a little make-​over love to make it less sterile — I don’t find it very inviting, though I suppose some people may like that sort of feeling…

Not a huge fan of this place. The tea is fine and probably reasonably priced (I always have issues with paying $ 3 for water and a tea bag, but I guess here you’re paying for tea LEAVES). However, I just haven’t had a great time the two times I’ve come here. The service is just not super good — whoever is running it is skimping on labor so there’s only ever one person working. This is fine, unless it gets busy. The decorating is pretty spare, which goes with the zen-​ish vibe, but then I want to know where all my money is going.
I guess it must be going to the free wi-​fi.
One more comment — the Hong Kong Milk Tea was strange to me. I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like, but the milk tasted like tofu juice instead of milk. I’m OK with soy milk, but this was like… tofu water. blegh.

Q: How long does it take to serve ONE smoothie and a cup of tea at Neotte?
A: Two inquiries and 25 minutes.
I know they import their tea from China but the smoothies, too?

After a nice lunch on a particularly nice day, I stopped by here for a cold beverage to enjoy the rest of the day. Was looking for something along the lines of of a matcha green tea blended but they didn’t have one. So I talked to the worker and he gladly made me a blend of Jasmine Dragonball with some half and half with ice. Hit the spot and props for the guy for going above and beyond to make something that wasn’t on the menu.

We stopped here for an afternoon break 9÷22÷07. I’ve walked in many times just never got anything until today.
I asked one of the workers what were some of the popular drinks. He said: Jasmine dragonball (out when I went), Jade Sprouts, Eight Babes, Ginger Honey. Cold drink: Phoenix.
I got a small Phoenix iced tea $ 2.75 and thought it was nice and light.
Hubby got a small latte $ 2.45 and it was pretty good.
Credit cards taken over $ 5. Hate that, but I made it. My total was $ 6.17, damn expensive.
Indoor & outdoor sitting available. Many people with their laptops inside.
Hubby said Unisex bathroom was nasty so didn’t use it and went to Border’s bathroom (across the street) instead.

It’s great. quiet place, a nice range of teas. They have several that don’t have caffeine, too.
They have a few desserts, and there’s bubble tea as well. I’ve had good experiences here.

I’ve supported this tea house from the get go. The owner is a sweet Chinese man who pours himself into his business. He is obviously not in it for the money, but it brings him obvious joy to see us enjoying his imported teas.
The tea world is huge… did you know tea can be more pricey than cocaine? Although this isn’t the ultra-​premo stuff, it’s still very good, and the method used to brew is accurate and a fun lesson (just watch or ask). My fave is the 8 babes… I could be off on the name, but it has flowers, goji berries; basically the prettiest warm beverage ever!
Wireless was free here last time I checked and you won’t get the Starbucks jitters we are all too familiar with.

Well, I had high hopes… what a disappointment!
The service was ridiculously slow. We were the only 2 waiting on food, and it took over 30 minutes for 2 basic sandwiches. The food was fair and far from fresh.

I went to Neotte about a week after it opened. The girl serving me was not only incredibly snotty, but completely uninformed. When I ordered a cup of jasmine tea at 9pm, she told me that I really ought not drink it so late at night. She informed me that jasmine had the highest level of caffeine of all the teas. This contradicted everything I’ve ever been told about green tea, but I did not fight her on it and asked for a recommendation. I asked for something with a similar flavor to jasmine and what I got was bitter and earthy, not light and flowery. I was so put off by the service…
My brother visited a couple of months later and wanted to check out the various tea venues in Palo Alto. Against my better judgment, I included Neotte on the tour. By this point, they had put up posters with information about tea. Hmmmm… wouldn’t you know it, the posters agreed with what I understood about jasmine tea and directly contradicted what the server told me on my first visit. I felt completely vindicated and have no desire to return again.

Note (5÷9÷2008)
Neotte is now Red Mango.
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Neotte is such a nice little place to sit in the afternoon, with the comp (free wireless is a plus), taking in the scenery, enjoying a nice cup of iced jasmine dragonball with tapioca. I am all about texture however, and I have to say, in all the times I’ve been here, they’ve gotten it right once. Most of the time it’s too hard, once it was bordering on too soft. Hence the three stars.
I suppose Neotte is not all about the boba, as I am, and therefore I shouldn’t give them such a hard time. I will grant that they have very nice teas. Very nice people work there. And it’s interesting to watch all the dudes with their macs, either working alone or planning out projects with their classmates.
One other thing, a couple months ago, I found that they had revamped the menu — they had gone from just a few pastries to a bunch of other food (salads, sandwiches, etc.). A whole new set of people were working there. And the very pleasant Asian guy behind the counter has not been there since. New ownership? I miss that guy…

Very zen. This place is absolutely perfect after a big meal in downtown PA — assuming you finish before 9pm when they close. The manager /​owner guy will quite happily recommend a tea that will be perfect for your needs. Oh oh oh try a tea latte — they are actually good.
Yes it is just as infested with laptoppers as the average Starbucks but usually you can still find a table. It’s really too bad that Stanford had to shut down their libraries due to funding cuts which is why everyone spends all day with their laptops here. Oh wait a minute I totally forgot Stanford has 10 Billion dollars and their libraries are open all the time.

A bit pricey, but the tea here is the real deal. The people who work here are very friendly.
The only downside to this place is that you don’t normally find a place to sit.
I would highly recommend the «Seven Babes» (I think that is what it was called) tea — seven!

Great selection of Chinese teas. They go to China and get their own tea which is cool. None of the items are certified Organic but they claim that the tea is effectively Organic. I quizzed them, and they know their tea.
Their White Peony was good but not killer. When you order a large tea, they actually give you two servings of tea — not just extra water. They have Pu-​Erh from 1995 that is naturally decaffeinated.
By the way, my favorite tea distributor in the U.S. is

The tea is good, but the prices are a little much. I’m a huge tea fan, though, so being able to drink quality red, white and green teas in a nice atmosphere (read: No Screamo in the background, unless its from my computer) is worth it to me.
The décor is not as comfy as I’d like, but its not dingy, either. Trade off, I suppose. A clean, modern, «Cali» tea bar.
The staff was a little too cool for me, but they were happy enough to take my money.

Any place that has good tea gets 5 stars from me as places like this aren’t easy to find. The prices are reasonable — the small green tea I often get in the evening (so I can fall asleep by 1am) is only about $ 2.50.
The décor could be a bit more inspired, but I’m fine with spending the entire afternoon there reading or working. Upholstered chairs are an underrated bonus as well for that four hour coding session.

Tea connoisseurs, like my bujinkan teacher, come here often.
Why? Because, unlike 99% of cafes out there, tea here does not equal tea bag + hot water + hope for the best.
Tea here is the main attraction. So, each variety is given its own proper procedure, and it does take time. It takes about the same amount of time as a «gourmet coffee drink». Then, instead of the usual mug of hot water with a bag of mush in it, you are served a tea beverage.
If you’re a beginner with tea, come here to have people who know how to brew it make it for you, because there are quite a few ways to ruin a pot of tea, making it taste nothing like what it should be.
Even then, don’t be surprised if you don’t like what you get the first couple times. You’re going to have to experiment. Pu Erh is way different from White Tea, which is way different from Green Jasmine.
Eight Babes is yummy. I support any beverage that gives me floating fruits and things to poke at.

Yeah, I like Neotte.
When this place first opened, I was one of the first customers there. The waitstaff was very friendly and customer focused. I sat down and wondered, at the time, how the place could possibly make the rent payments at $ 1.50 for a cup of tea. The math didn’t make much sense to me, but the tea was pretty darn good for that price…
Alas, two weeks later, their price had doubled/​tripled. The tea is still pretty darn good… maybe nothing special, but a nice cup. However, with the higher price, not quite the deal it once was.
For tea it is better than Starbucks. Better variety and probably less chainy feeling. It’s a good place to hang out if you want to relax while surfing via free broadband, as many people do.

Okay, so this place has a couple of things going for it: firstly, the design factor is amazing… if Apple opened a tea shop, it would look very similar to this.
Second is the product. I had the Peony white needle and it was delicious.
The bad: employees. Now I can understand the occasional cranky person now and again, but in both occasions that I have frequented the establishment, someone gave either me or my friend bad service — the first time, a girl acted like she couldn’t comprehend that one wouldn’t know the vast array of teas available and practically refused to help me understand and learn what I was about to drink. I don’t expect a full historical background on the tea, just a little help!
The second time, my friend and I came in and granted, it was later in the evening and a different lady acted as if we the customer were imposing on her time.
Two stars lost: one for each rude employee.