The food was amazing and the staff were very nice the boba is like none other,my favorite thing to order is the popcorn chicken it is so delicious. read more

High oolong mountain tea presso milk tea -less ice -50% sweet -it just tastes like milk with sugar -I was scared by the light color that the tea wouldn't be strong and I was right. read more

RareTea - High Mountain Milk Tea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

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First time trying RareTea. I had Oreo milk tea with less ice and 50% sweet. Despite asking for less ice, I felt the ice initially diluted the Oreo flavor. I use the word "initially" because once I shook the drink, I could taste the Oreo flavor more. My friend got a fruit tea but unfortunately I don't remember which one. The employee was friendly and patient with my questions as a first timer. Our drinks came out pretty quickly. They also have a good selection of games. Cash or card accepted and prices are reasonable. I'd come back if in the area and would either get the Oreo milk tea hot or try another drink. read more

RareTea - Oreo Milk Tea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

Pretty 'meh' experience. RareTea is on the lower end for boba options. The interior isn't modern, but it's not ghetto either. The tea flavor was unsurprisingly lacking despite asking for no sugar. Service wasn't terrible though. The drink came in a timely enough manner. Pretty much an in-and-out experience for us. read more

RareTea - Rare Tea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

Best place ever, prices are cheaper than the other places. I always get a duo grape or the jasmine matcha.

I stopped by this RareTea location for a quick drink before dinner. Parking is a bit difficult here, as they are located on a busy street - I was able to find street parking within walking distance around the corner. I ordered online, so my drink was ready by the time I arrived. I did not have the best luck with their jasmine milk tea at their other locations, but I decided to go for it anyway, so I ordered a jasmine milk tea with boba and grass jelly. I thought their jasmine milk tea was okay, but it was better than their other locations that I had been to. I wished my drink was a bit creamier with less ice though. read more

I got the Peach Yacult tea, spam musubi, fried shrimp and tater tots. Tea= delicious! Highly recommend! Spam= decent, not the best, but still good shrimp= excellent! super crispy and yummy batter tater tots= okay, could use some seasoning on them otherwise fine I ordered this on DoorDash and everything was packaged properly so as not to get soggy and mushy. I would definitely get the shrimp and tea again! read more

I RARELy seek out a milk tea, boba/jelly drink or fruit tea as I'm not a fan of chewing my drink and usually, find the drinks too sweet for my liking. I was in the Oakland's Rockridge area and hoping to grab something quick...Zachary's Pizza had a line even after the lunch rush so opted to try RareTea. Their picture menu of items looked promising and decided to give it a try. I ordered the chicken teriyaki and Mango- Passionfruit green tea and both were ok - the chicken teriyaki was tad bit salty as it's pre-marinated, cooked and then sauced. I wasn't too keen on the flavor or savory to sweet ratio...meh...yes, I've had better. Also, it wasn't as quick as I had hoped as they were fulfilling plenty of delivery orders. The Mango-passionfruit green tea was good but at the lowest level of sweetness (30%) was still too sweet for me so I let it sit to let the ice melt... Staff friendly but wasn't a huge fan of the food. Sure, I'd return for another try of their fruit teas but that will be a RARE chance I seek it out...gave it a try but not rushing back. read more

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I love this place! I come here so often by myself and with friends since it's a 2 minute walk from my house. I love that you can order 75%, 1/2, or 30% sweetness, but keep in mind some things cannot do less sweetness like any of the drinks that have rose milk tea and any of the drinks that have mango passion fruit flavoring. If you want less sweetness, I'd highly recommend checking with the cashier if your drink can actually have reduced sweetness. I also order their spam musubi a lot and they always come out hot and yummy because they make it fresh. Appropriately, the waiting time for the spam musubi is usually several minutes longer than the wait time for your drink. Busy times: Lunch time/school lunch time/hot days. Sometimes it's super packed when it's hot, when it's lunch time, or when it's school lunch time (Claremont & OTHS). Since Claremont Middle School and Oakland Technical High school both have off campus lunch, a lot of the kids come here for boba and food so if you come here during the school year at lunch time or after school is out, the line can be out the door and packed with kids. It will also be loud and cramped. Just keep that in mind! read more

RareTea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

While I was in the Rockridge area, I decided to order ahead a roseflower milk tea with 0% sweet, lite ice for pickup. It was ready on time, and the drink was actually very sweet so I assume that is from them using rose syrup for the flavor, which would prevent them from being able to adjust the sweetness even if they didn't add any sugar on top of that. The drink was decent, it did have a nice floral taste and I personally don't mind that it was quite sweet but did want to note that if you're trying to cut down on sweetness or sugar, you should probably pick a different drink. It's also aesthetically pleasing as a nice pastel-colored drink. read more

RareTea - Roseflower milk tea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

Come here a few times to try this place out and have gotten the rose milk tea, mango milk tea, strawberry matcha milk tea, Hokkaido milk tea, and caramel milk tea. Each of the drinks tasted really watered down even when we don't order them w ice and got them w full sugar. Strawberry Matcha milk tea was bitter and not sweet enough. read more

RareTea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

The boba tea is amazing it's the only boba place that I like ,and I get the strawberry milk tea with almond milk and tapioca. All of the people that work there are very nice. It's a nice and cozy vibe except for when it's busy. I hang out with friends after school and it's not too far away read more

RareTea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

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So far, so good after coming here a few times. I've tried an inordinate amount of boba places and usually get the same simple order. Including zero sugar, which means I really can taste if the tea and milk are no good. After recently moving and no longer being near my all-time favorite boba place, I was in search of a new one. So far, this is a great contender. Quick, friendly service, consistent drinks, nice tea flavor, milky (hate when they are watery), fresh boba with a good texture (not too soft, not too hard) and mildly sweet flavor, and they always get my order right. Also open fairly late (do wish they opened a smidge earlier on weekends) and you get points for drinks. Main downside is it's not the most vibey place to hang out and enjoy your drink, but, I'm usually getting it to go anyway. So far I plan to return when in the area and in the mood for boba. read more

I go to RareTea CONSTANTLY. It's always so so good, a perfect refreshing drink after school.

After a week of contentious IEP meetings, unruly students, and flakey parents, I go out of my afterschool to reward myself with a delicious cup of High Mountain Milk Tea from RareTea. Of all the High Mountain Milk Teas I've ever tried, this place makes it the best. The only issue I have with this place is that they charge an extra 50 cents if you don't want ice. I don't drink it the day of but save it for the next two days. The ice melts and dilutes some of the tea. I will venture out to try more teas, but I cannot get enough of their High Mountain Milk Tea. Black milk tea- 4.5/5; strong Ceylon tea flavor High Mountain Milk Tea- 4.5/5; strong oolong tea read more

Good variety boba/milk tea shops. I initially walked into the place next door I went to the right place after the host redirected me. My order was ready on time. I ordered my drink at 80% sweetness but it was still too sweet, maybe it was due to the mango popping boba syrup at the bottom. I'll take that into account next time I order toppings and order it even less sweet. read more

RareTea - Passion, Orange and Grapefruit Tea 80% sweet + mango popping boba - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

great staff and very fast even when it's busy. best to order ahead and have it ready when you get there. Still waiting for a vegan item on the food menu though read more

Ordered a Thai tea. They ask what percentage of sweetness you want and if you want normal ice It's a bit too much questions I appreciated not having it so sweet, tho I have no clue what he meant by normal ice I ordered at 2:15 pm and it wasn't ready for over 10 minutes read more

I'm a new patron & was rather surprised about the flavor and the taste of the chewy adds. Their boba is nothing like the quality of Yifang--- But was seriously happy customer, and coming back again within 7 days!! PS tonight I got a dragonfruit tea with jellies, and a wonderful boba with red bean softened--- omg transportive! Made my toes wiggle!!!! The cups are gorgeous material and very sleek design. read more

Almost but not quite Ordered the basic black tea milk tea with boba and popcorn chicken. The boba in the milk tea was warm-- that's a good sign. Even though I ordered regular sweet milk tea, it was not too sweet at all. The popcorn chicken here smelled really good-like I really wish they'd let me sit indoors and eat it kinda good (no indoor dining). However, it was very crispy--too crispy where I think they used too much starch. I also feel that the pieces were too bulky and thus not popcorn enough. Would come back for tea but not the food. Kudos on the straws though!! read more

RareTea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

We have been frequenting this RareTea once a week for over a year. It seems like there has been a change in the last few weeks. New cups are cheap and the customer service is a bummer. Grumpy people working there. It used to be such a pleasure. read more

Yikes, stay away for at least 6 months- 1 yr until they get better drink makers. I got their watermelon since it's their new flavor and it was awful. The drink separated immediately with the watermelon pulpy stuff from the tea and the tea flavor was soooo strong. I said 100% sugar and the tea was way too strong to notice any sugar at all. The watermlon flavor was so light and barely able to cut through so it seemed like the artificial flavoring. This is suppose to be the new flavor they offer. I was told it'd be like the berry 2.0 which I usually enjoy from their other locations but this was not made well. The only reason this place gets a second star is because the staff were nice and the owner double checked my ticket and made sure everything was correct. Too bad he didn't supervise the drink made or he might've caught that it was made poorly. Besides the flavor of the drink, the boba needed to be cooked for a little longer. I'm not sure what they did but the outside was gummy, not just soft/smooth and yes there is a difference. This is not quality boba, you'll know the difference if you go to other spots in the bay area like boba guys, happy lemon, sharetea, sheng kee bakery, purple kow, etc. For the food, sweet potatoes were only lightly fried and the fried oreos were crispy. Not much flavor in seasoning but it was all steaming hot! I had high hopes for this RareTea location since there is no other boba spot in rockridge. If I do give it another chance, I will taste the drink before I leave and make them re-make it or give me a refund. Otherwise it's worth the extra little drive over to Mr. Green Bubble in Piedmont. read more

RareTea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

***3.5 Stars*** The first boba tea joint to hit Rockridge! Woot wooooot! I'm so excited about that. But as exciting as that is, RareTea is still in their developing stages. I've been to their location off Telegraph a few times and their teas have really grown on me. Stopped by here last week to check them out and my first impression was that it was pretty good overall. What I wasn't too excited about was how high their prices are at this location. I know it's Rockridge, but why the hell does every new place raise their prices so damn high? It just don't get it. It's effing milk tea... that's all it is. But anyways... The teas are about $.50-$1.00 more than their other locations. It doesn't sound like much of a difference at first. However, once you start adding in toppings, salted cheese, tax, and a tip, you're walking out the door with an $8 tea! Hmmm... um, no thanks. I also noticed that this location doesn't have all of the flavors that the other locations offer. I was excited to get my favorite milk tea from here (Hokkaido) when I found out that they didn't even have it. Maybe it's because they're still new. I guess I can give them a break on that until I find out if their current menu is permanent or not. Not only are the drinks priced higher, but the snacks are waaaay overpriced here! $6.50 for popcorn chicken and $5.25 for fries? Wtfaaaack? You have got to be kidding me. Neither one of those can even pose as a meal on its own. So, if I want popcorn chicken AND fries plus a milk tea, I'm pretty much looking at a $20 meal. That's just ridiculous. Make sure you tell them light ice if you want more than just a few sips of your investment. I made the mistake of not doing this, and most of my drink was just ice. I ordered the handmade taro fresh milk which was quite tasty, but their plastic cups are smaller than most other boba spots and they fill it with a ton of ice. So at the end of the day, it felt like I only got a few sips for $6. They have snow cream here which is similar to sea salt foam and salted cheese, but they charge a whopping $1.50 to add it to your drink. Ouch! Maybe I'm cheap, but that's just too damn pricey for me. The staff is nice and the interior was really clean as it should be since it's new. I don't know... I wanna love it but I'm just not there quite yet. They're still in soft opening so we'll see what changes that they make when they have their grand opening. I just can't justify spending this much on a milk tea simply because it's in Rockridge. read more

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Expect a long wait time and customer service that's difficult to understand. They have a decent variety of options from tea to smoothies and many food options too. The pricing is ok, and the drinks (mango mango and watermelon juice with boba) were both ok, it's just the really long wait time (60 minutes) for the online order of 2 drinks to be prepped for takeout, and the difficult customer service that caused me to make this a 2.5 star experience. More specifically, We were told 15-20 minutes by google after ordering our drinks, so we called 10 minutes in to just check and see the status---- at which time they had no idea what our order was and how long it'd take. Yeah. ... well, we got our watermelon juice with boba and mango smoothie! The watermelon drink was fresh, the mango drink was decent, being a little watery and jasmine tasting :/ It also had the mango hairs in literally every sip I took---- which told me it was fresh, I guess? There's street parking available under trees, which is wonderful, and it's also a stones throw from the neighbourhood Trader Joe's. read more

RareTea - Mango hairs in my drink---- I'd recommend the watermelon drink instead with ice. - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

Stopped by while cruising through Rockridge. Apparently they're the only boba place in Rockridge so they were fairly crowded on a Saturday afternoon. We looked over the breadboard sign outside and found a few we liked to we headed inside. Unfortunately the first one, Lychee Tea, they were out of. She ordered a watermelon tea which was just so-so. I ordered a passion fruit mango green tea which was also just so-so. Boba apparently is extra (many places include it), so just tea for around $5. Son ordered a mango milk tea which was actually OK. The service could be improved. They set the thermostat at 73 so it was too warm inside. 6-7 small tables with steel stools, nothing special. Overall, in the very crowded boba marketplace RareTea fails to standout. Don't think I'd come back. read more

RareTea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

I came in for a Too Good To Go order, and there was already a bag full of drinks made and labeled. The guy looked at me, looked at the bag, paused, and then proceeded to take one drink out of the bag, put it in another bag, and handed me that one. He then made another drink and gave that to me. It didn't seem right and felt like I was being stereotyped as soon as I walked in. I've been here before and didn't have this problem. The bags were already made, and last I checked, there was only one bag available before the sellout. I won't be spending any more money here. read more

4 stars for the brown sugar fresh milk drink and 2.5 stars for the boba itself. I came here around 5 on a Tuesday and I didn't have to wait to order. I ordered the brown sugar fresh milk with boba and got it within a few minutes. The drink is yummy--very sweet but that's normal for this drink. The boba, however was hard after a couple of sips--this was disappointing. If I come back, I would not order a drink with boba. There seems to be a lot of delicious drinks on the menu, and I think I'd come back if I was in the area. read more

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The tea and snacks here are both pretty good. I recommend the har gow. Goes great with RareTea's selection of drinks. However, I do not recommend the chicken bun. Not terrible, but mostly dough. read more

RareTea - Chicken bun and oolong tea. - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

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I came here around 7:50 pm and it was open. The service was contactless and my drink was super good. I got the earl grey milk tea with boba. The boba also tasted very yummy read more

RareTea - Earl grey boba - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

Delicious popcorn chicken, shrimp dumplings and Thai tea smoothie w/ boba!!! Forreal, hella tasty. My only complaint is the paper between the dumplings and the container got extremely stuck to them, so I was forced to forgo some of it so as not to eat paper. I'd just put them in the container as is and this won't be an issue! read more

RareTea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

Typical boba place. Clean, good customer service. I got the taro smoothie and popcorn chicken. Popcorn chicken was just oh-kay. More chewy than crispy. read more

Review #190 - 2019 After I picked up my niece & son, we made our way over with some pretty high expectations since we've been going to a lot of new milk tea spots together since summer started. We showed up around 1 PM on Friday, July 26th, and there was a short line for their BOGO free grand opening offer. A few seconds later, a group of about 8-9 college kids show up. Thank goodness we showed up before they did! I went with the signature tea snow cream and it was ok. I think they put way too much snow cream to the point that's all you taste for the first few sips because it doesn't mix very well. Flavor wise, it's nothing special. My son & niece got the brown sugar boba fresh milk tea & they both said it was just ok. They didn't think it was any better compared to the few places that we frequent. I got my daughter the strawberry berry 2.0 since it's the only drink that's made with real fruit. She drank about half of it & decided to give up. I guess it wasn't to her liking. Service was actually pretty good considering it was their grand opening day. They had sufficient staffs on-hand so the line moved fairly quickly. Unfortunately, their drinks aren't all that special so we probably won't be coming back, but they do have potential so I still wish them all the best! read more

RareTea - 07/26/2019: Drinks are just ok. L-to-R: signature tea snow cream, brown sugar boba fresh milk (2), strawberry berry 2.0 - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

Thank you for the Thanksgiving treat. Their tea is the best quality and is always packaged nicely. We love the big straws to suck up the bolba pearls! Thank you for great service! read more

RareTea - Thanksgiving free drink! - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

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When I first drove past this place, I had to do a triple take because it looked like there was a bubble tea place in Rockridge? Yeah...omg there's a bubble tea place in Rockridge now! Thank you RareTea for opening up this location! Same block as Zachary's and Barney's and not too far from the Bart. I visited a few times during the soft opening and everything went pretty quickly and smoothly. I haven't been back since the grand opening so I can't wait to see if there have been any changes. There's like 4 small tables so not much space to chill. It's street parking so you've got to walk a bit--you'll be fine once you make it past the crowds picking up pizza at Zachary's. It may be very difficult to find your tea spot but once you've found it, you can never go wrong! Are you all about those toppings? (Jellies, bubbles, and puddings galore) They've got em here but it'll cost you. Are there times when you like a lil boba or alotta boba? No options here, just one size cup ("large"). Do you want some tasty snacks with your bubble tea? There are a few options for you here (popcorn chicken, FOUR different kinds of fries to choose from - incl. sweet potato and curly)! Do you need alternative milk options? They have almond or oat milk for you! I like this place a lot because: 1) their classic milk teas actually taste like tea. 2) they serve my favorite drink combo: coffee oreo milk tea with little to no additional sweetness. 3) I love fries! They've got me hooked so I'll be a regular for sure! read more

Ordered spam masubi and popcorn chicken at 5pm. It's now 5:23. Those after me with food order got theirs. I'm still waiting and they have no response why my order is still not ready. Won't be visiting this place again. read more

Read my other reviews: i don't normally knock a place because they're rude or not very good at their job...... But Rare Tea on college not only has sucky parking and crazy prices ($6-8 for POWDERED tea), but the lady working there was really clipped, cut me off, and when i got my drink, it was wrong. And it might be a personality thing but I never asked for boba but she said I did .. and it's a pet peeve when people say I did something that I didn't do (my inner 8-year-old). Worse still, the popcorn chicken felt like I was eating a salt lick. Also their tip minimum is 15% so basically for 2 drinks and a chicken, I paid almost $25 (bc I didn't want to look like a duck for typing in a custom tip during COVID). I could've freaking got Zachary's next door or a week's worth of grocery's at Trader Joe's down the street!!!!!!!!! Pass. read more

Nice to see a boba place in the Rockridge area. Came here on a Friday night and sssoooo asian to still have grand opening sign still hanging in front of the shop. It was pretty empty at 7pm granted it was also cold. I've read previous yelpers about the higher menu pricing- well what do you expect? The shop is located in the Rockridge area so it has to blend in with area standards. This place has a serves food and boba which is nice for a one stop shop. The drinks have organic milk, almond milk and oat milk options. We had the high mountain and tin guan yin milk tea. The drinks met our standards. The boba on the other hand wasn't as sweet as we prefer and no chewy consistency of each boba. Note: Street parking only. read more

so excited to have a brand new tea place in rockridge. The milk tea was really really awesome and I definitely recommend also the staff were super friendly. I hope they do well please come to this tea place. read more

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place is just small and sorry to say but staffs are not that nice so do not expect much for service. i just bought one drink which is mango passion fruit green tea. taste is great and i think i chose the right sweetness which is 50 percent. this drink is recommended. they also sell some snacks and i ordered popcorn chicken which i almost cannot taste the meat, the batter is so thick. spring roll ~ the filing is very little and only cabbage which is mushy. chicken wings ~ just ok. i did not try the rice bowl so not sure. anyway, stars is for the drink... read more

RareTea - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California

From left to right....Okinawa Pearl Milk Tea (not too sweet), Snow Cream Tea (very sweet), Caramelized Milk Tea with Boba (caramelly sweet), Kiwi Fruit Tea with Aiyana Jelly (taste orangey and tea has after taste). We got everything as normal (sweetness and ice). Boba was very soft! Haven't tried the cream tea at other places so it was surprisingly a good drink, though too sweet so next time may ask for 75%. read more

RareTea - Had to try this out....since BOGO! - Bubble Tea Near Me - Oakland, California