RareTea

This is one of my favorite boba shops when I am around Berkeley. I think it is pretty fresh and…read moreauthentic compared to some shops that tend to be watery. I got myself a peach oolong tea with mousse. It was a bit tart maybe because it wasn't peach season but the mousse made it sweeter and creamier. I still liked it very much. I went with some friends who wanted the collaboration drinks. Surprisingly, they were able to get the character they wanted. The shop was decorated for Halloween. I shocked myself knocking into one of the skeleton decorations.

I've been to enough tea shops that the memories of them start to meld together. However, I had a…read moretrip to Chicha today and it is one I'll remember. After ordering at kiosks, it took about 20 minutes for our drinks. Good things come to those who wait! We ordered: Bubble Milk Tea, light sweetness, less ice Dong Ding Milk Tea, perfect sweetness, less ice Both teas had really good tea flavor. Bubble Milk Tea being more of a traditional black tea and Dong Ding being closer to a green tea. The Bubble Milk Tea had more cream, not sure if this was on purpose. For sweetness, light sweetness was good for me with boba. Perfect sweetness would be good without boba. Overall, the tea was fantastic. 90th+ percentile, but also on the pricier side. Each tea comes with a disposable cup carrier. The space is also really nice place to hang out - modern, spacious, and with a couple of interesting tea-related things to look at including a running video of tea harvesting and processing. As we were looking around, we noticed they have free tea tastings, but reservations look like they book out at least a few days in advance. Really impressed with this shop and will make a point to visit next time we're in the area.

0.1 mi•Rockridge, North Oakland

Main counter

Busy any time. Lots of nice table configurations

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HH signage

Boba Guys

3.9(184 reviews)

We parked at Rockridge and walked the couple blocks. We were craving Boba after a nice walk and got…read morethere at 11:30. Seems like they only start serving boba at 11:30, so we lucked out. We ordered at the kiosk and the drinks were made so quick! Mine was good. I tried a black sugar hojicha latte with boba and it was refreshing! I've been to a few locations but never this one. There's not much seating inside or outside. Staff seemed nice but I didn't get the chance to engage.

This was my first time at this particular Boba Guys location and it was mainly because our 8:30p…read morereservation across the way at Millennium was running 20 mins late.... Nevertheless, at least this place was warm inside granted they had no seating areas, but I bet that's due to the unwanted types of people around the areas passing through.... We ordered on an iPad, which I thought was weird because I like human interactions, but I guess everyone company wants to make budget cuts to extra humans being employed. My boyfriend wanted some spicy chips, but I didn't see a button on the kiosk to order them, as as the barista came from the back to drop off our drinks at the countertop, he was able to pay for the chips with the baristas register. They shut down RIGHT at 9p, so we left and within minutes, the baristas had everything a lockdown tight! Haha I was rather impressed with how fast they got everything cleaned and prepped. So watch their store hours! Our drinks were both enjoyable and the mango Fresca was delicious as well as my lychee oolong tea. The only "problem" was it was cold outside and my drink was also cold, so I didn't want to drink it THAT fast! Hahaha I will be back! Hee

Pink Cocoa Cloud (Oat Milk)

Matcha Peppermint Chip (Oat Milk)

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Tie Guan Yin Oolong Milk Tea with Boba

TP TEA

4.3(392 reviews)

Honestly one of the better boba spots in Berkeley! I've been here wayyyy too many times to count…read more Will say the service has been a bit inconsistent lately, but I think they've had some new workers so it's understandable. I think what makes this place stand out is the variety and price. You actually get a decent sized drink for the price, not those short cups that a lot of newer boba shops use nowadays lol. They're also pretty generous with their toppings, which I love. Most of the drinks I've tried are pretty standard, nothing crazy special, but they definitely hit the spot when you're craving something sweet. I also love that you can order ahead on Snackpass and skip the wait. Plus you get rewards if you go often, which clearly works out for me considering how many times I've been here haha. My favorites are the lychee milk tea, mango milk tea, and the classic milk tea with boba, QQ noodles, and grass jelly. Love having all those different textures in one drink!

One of my favorite milk tea chains in the Bay Area, always consistent. My favorite is their TGY…read moreMilk Tea which has great tea flavor, but they also have a huge variety of other choices, including seasonal ones. Small spot with only a little seating, but it's quick and easy to order from their self service kiosks.

Interior, self order kiosks

C6. Strawberry Milk Tea Osmanthus milk tea

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C4. Taiwan Classic Milk Tea C6. Strawberry Milk Tea

Hui Lau Shan

4.5(414 reviews)

1.7 mi•Downtown Berkeley

We ordered the jumbo mango cup and it came out larger than expected. We usually order the smaller…read moresize but felt ambitious today. Jumbo Mango Cup: It came with a mango sorbet in the center, sides of glutinous rice balls, mango chunks on top of mango pudding. It was very good despite it not being mango season. A must stop-by every time we visit Berkeley! Love their mango specialty desserts and excited for their San Mateo location.

Tried Hui Lau Shan for the first time and got the mango sago, which was fresh, refreshing, and a…read moredelightful dessert! The menu was a little confusing as a first-timer, and unfortunately the associate didn't offer much guidance or help with choosing as it's self order on a kiosk. Shop is also small, so likely to fill up when busier. I'd still consider coming back to try some of their other desserts and drinks, especially now that I have a better idea of what to expect.

C8. Coconut Jelly With Mango

Inside

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Pomelo and Mango with Sago

Rare Tea

3.8(582 reviews)

1.6 mi•Telegraph Ave

Great drinks here. The sweetness scale is truly Asian and 50% sweet is not very sweet at all, I…read morelove it!! Strawberry berry 2.0 - this tasted like it was made purely from puréed fresh strawberries. Delicious fruity flavor. Okinawa milk tea - great flavor and not water down at all. Boba - not bad, but a little soggy in texture. I probably just didn't get a fresh batch.

I ordered ahead for a dragon fruit tea, less ice, 30% sweet. It was done within 5 mins. It was…read morestill quite sweet, and had an acidic sour tang. While I'm satisfied with the strength of the fruit flavor, I do wish it would've been less sweet since that is not what I would've expected for 30% sweetness. They are on the SnackPass app, so there's occasionally discounts available on there.

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Purple Kow

3.5(757 reviews)

crazy.... the most chill weekend back in the yay area but not complete w/o Purple Kow…read more - @eatingwithricardo

Parking can be rough! There's a restroom…read more I got the Purple Kow Black Milk Tea with boba. Drink was pretty quickly prepared. I do like the tea flavor and I got it 0% sweet so I love how it came. The boba has the subtle sweetness and was a good texture. The staff taking my order was nice.

Ice milk with TCHO chocolate pudding

Garlic Fries

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Sweet Potato fries

Plentea

3.9(236 reviews)

Absolutely love how late Plentea is opened in comparison to other tea spots in the area. My…read moredaughter is obsessed with their matcha potted plant drink, aka matcha with cookies n cream or something + a lil leaf to make it seem sort of like a potted plant. It's also one of the few spots I get almond milk tea. The drinks themselves are pretty good, especially in their signature glass bottles. Sometimes I do feel the drinks are a bit inconsistent with the sweetness and how strong the tea flavor is. Online ordering is easy, and parking can be another story at times. The store itself is clean, and I'm able to pick up my orders with ease.

Bad experience. We ordered for pickup, and upon arrival, we asked the employee if it was ready. She…read moretold us 10 minutes. There were no customers, we just watched her wash a ton of dishes for 10 minutes before starting on our drinks. I got the avocado smoothie, which came with a sweetness level request. 100% was recommended, so I picked that. I watched her literally just put milk, avocado, and ice into a blender. No sweetener such as condensed milk like I expected. As expected, there was absolutely no sweetness in the drink, just milky avocado slush. My husband got a house milk tea with boba, and it was extremely flavorless. Tasted really sweet, but you couldn't really taste the tea at all. Honey boba wasn't bad, not the worst we've tried. Overall, considering there are tons of other boba shops in Berkeley, we definitely will not be back.

Takoyaki and Plentea boba

Fresh taro with egg pudding, lactose-free milk, less ice

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Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea

4.0(450 reviews)

1.6 mi•Telegraph Ave

I got the signature yifang fruit tea, which I enjoyed. There were fresh pieces of passion fruit,…read moreand it wasn't artificial tasting. It was really refreshing and flavorful. It did unfortunately get watered down after I drank 60% of it, though. I got it at 30% sweet (recommended) and less ice. I normally like my drinks sweet, but this was a good sweetness for me. It was a good price at $5.45 since it's 20% off on Mondays from 1-4 PM on Snackpass. My drink was ready quickly. There's only a couple of benches, and it's pretty small inside.

$6.50 Yifang Fruit Tea: delicious and tastes naturally sweet even with 0% sugar. Lovelyread more

Cantaloupe Green Tea @whaevaeats

Yifang Fruit Tea 一芳水果茶

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Mango Pomelo Sago

Sharetea

3.7(72 reviews)

The boba and drinks are just alright, as there are a lot of competitors in the area. They're open…read morequite late so it's a fun place to go to for a late night adventure. I think it's a trustable, baseline boba place that's near Berkeleys campus. The bigger plus is that their chicken is halal and quite good.

Subpar boba spot. - Kiosk ordering is efficient…read more - Service was good. Staff was courteous though not much customer interaction. - The quality of boba drinks was disappointing. Maybe a bad day but definitely not worth it.aunt lack of quality ingredients and/or maybe just too water-downed.

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Souvenir Coffee

4.2(157 reviews)

0.6 mi•Claremont

Showed up for breakfast today. Friendly staff recommended the Vietnamese coffee it was good…read more Breakfast sandwiches are to die for. Nice decor , laid back atmosphere, however do be kind and bus your own table as sign says. I didn't see anyone not doing it . just that's the vibe here if you come here just keep the good vibes flowing 5/5 way recommended

This is a cute little spot in Claremont, the herbs patio is very charming specially when the days…read moreare nice and sunny, and is pet friendly, internet works great and space is comfortable. The coffee was good, we had iced and hot latte and shared a veggie egg sandwich which was okay. They have a selection of coffee bags for sale and a few in a discount table.

Brown sugar sage latte with oat milk~7

Inside

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Outdoor area in the back

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Yuxuan M.

5 years ago

Mango Passion fruit Green Tea is good for me. But the space is small, also, sorry to say that the staff is not with great services. Never tried snacks, so, not at position to commend on. The stars are for the drink! Will come back. read more

RareTea - bubbletea - Updated November 2026

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