NICE!!! To me, GooluTea is hands down the best drink spot in the Bay Area I would say. Their drinks…read moretaste genuinely natural, and you can tell they don't rely on artificial flavoring. I'm really sensitive to artificial flavors, especially in milk tea, and I can usually tell immediately when a drink has added flavoring. I've tried pretty much all the popular boba spots around the Bay, and honestly, most of them taste heavily flavored or artificial to me. But Goolu Tea is different -- their drinks taste clean, natural, and the tea itself actually comes through. At this point, I barely even crave drinks from other boba shops anymore. Still waiting for my favorite Golden Tea to make a comeback.

Goolu tea has a distinct citrus flavor!…read more I really enjoyed the refreshing taste, especially with the tea added in. I ordered the strawberry and lime flavor, and it reminded me of ginger in a way. The tea flavor was very strong, and I also enjoyed the bits of strawberry throughout the drink. Staff were also super friendly when ordering!

First time at the CV location. I usually frequent the MV location and am big fan of Boba Bliss…read more After a hike at Lake Chabot, this was a needed refresher. Order at the kiosks or at the counter. This location is a $1 cheaper per drink than MV location. Same drink menu. I got the lemon green tea with less sweetness and less ice. Super refreshing and nice lemon flavor. Service was nice and drinks came out quickly. Parking lot parking

This is a small little boba shop where you can chill with friends or get some work done while…read moreenjoying some boba. We ended up getting the Mango Sago and the Natural Ube Taro Milk, which were served quickly. The Mango Sago was very meh. It had a very artificial taste to it and just seemed to have syrup in it with Sago and Milk. Thankfully, the Natural Ube Taro Milk was better. It had the paste on the sides of the cup. So had a more natural taste to it and wasn't too sweet. Overall, quick service and meh drinks for the price I paid.

Loved their mango blizzard drink. It was tasty and had a great texture to it. Would definitely…read morerecommend getting that drink. We also got some of their fried chicken. It was very juicy and crunchy. I loved it a lot. If you are hungry, definitely try the chicken. Parking is rough here so get the first parking spot you can find or try the free lots. It's alot of one way roads here so be careful with driving.

Once Tea is located close to the Century Theater. There is limited street parking but they also…read morehave some free public parking lots nearby. The service was friendly and nice. The ambiance of the place was...possibly still in a remodeling phase. Otherwise, it was dark and drab. Honey White Peach Oolong Tea - light, decent, yet faint flavor.

Good news: the drinks are good, and the snacks are even pretty tasty. Not haute cuisine but solid…read morefor a boba place. Huge selection, probably the best in the area for options. If you are tech savvy the do have an app or online order option. Bad news. Sterile, with no tables to sit out. It's a gran and go place, so don't expect to sit and enjoy any atmosphere. Not a knock, a valid choice, but know before you go. It's busy, and the staff always seem stressed by that. So, it's popular but don't expect staff to provide much help with that huge selection. They get the job done and all, nice people I'm sure, but yeah, atmosphere is not the priority.

I ordered a Prime Black Tea Kreama but got an ordinary black tea…read more I believe it's an honest mistake and it should've been easy to resolve. However I already left the store and there's no way for me to contact the store and send the proof online. No customer service link or email, and the website is down. I'm disappointed.

If you enjoy cute character desserts, delicious drinks, and an overall cozy cafe experience, I…read morehighly recommend that you stop by Always Yours Bakery Cafe! Not only are you able to purchase from their bakery case, you can also request to have desserts made for special events! (In advance of course.) I very much enjoy their macarons and fresh fruit tarts. They also added Banana Matcha to their menu when it became a craze, and I 10/10 would recommend it. They use high quality matcha powder (Marukyu Koyamaen) for their drinks. This is one of the few things that drew me into their cafe. The baristas are extremely friendly and have a wonderful sense of humor, AND they support small businesses! While you wait for your order, you can browse their shelf full of crystal candies, matcha sets, candles, and they may also have Natsume matcha tins available! (This is not the matcha they use in their drinks, but it's nice to have other options available to buy.) ^^ So if you're in the East Bay and are looking for a business to support, go to Always Yours Bakery Cafe (they're also available on the Too Good To Go app)! They have beautiful outdoor seating available, as well as cutesy seating indoors. Not sponsored or anything, I just wanted to review one of my favourite cafes in Castro Valley. ^^

Over the years, I've been a loyal supporter of Always Yours, dating back to the early days. When…read moreNatalie opened up right here in Castro Valley, I was ecstatic to finally have a high-end macaron and drink spot in town. For the first few months, it completely lived up to the hype. The character macarons were incredibly intricate, and the drinks easily rivaled the top-tier boba shops in the area. However, as the shop has scaled and commercialized, there has been a noticeable shift in consistency. With quicker turnarounds and the typical high turnover of part-time staff, the execution just hasn't been the same. While Natalie has mentioned investing heavily in upgraded ingredients behind the scenes like scratch-made syrups and ceremonial grade matcha, those drinks often lack consistency in sweetness, in toppings, or overall execution. The macaron flavors feel much more muted than they used to be, and the character designs look a bit more rushed compared to the incredible creativity of the early days. I have immense respect for the incredible amount of solo grind and dedication it takes to run a local business for five years, which is why I've supported them for so long. But as a longtime fan, it's just disappointing to see the final execution drift from the incredible standard they originally set. I genuinely hope the team can find their rhythm again and bring back those nostalgic memories.

Props to the solo worker on Friday afternoon juggling all the others and making delicious drinks so…read morequickly.

Put your own order in…read more Fast service Good boba Grab and go vibes Selection isn't bad. Thanks!

After eating dinner, I decided to drive my way to Hayward to go to Sip & Savor since it's close to…read morewhere I ate at. This is quite unusual because this boba shop serves pastas since other boba places serve rice meals. Don't know but I guess that this is supposed to be a fusion restaurant? Inside is very quiet though, but I saw some people come in here. I also really like how they decorated part of the wall with "Sip & Savor" sign. If they covered the whole wall and even the ceiling, it would have looked like we're in a jungle. I didn't get pasta, but my mom and I wanted to try their boba. It's really good though. The Sip & Savor is slightly more expensive and it's quite flavorful even without adding boba. Not too sweet and it's just right. Definitely looking forward to trying one of their pastas if I were to come back!

I ordered the 6-piece Lemon Pepper Wings with Tater Tots... and WOW -- absolutely, freaky…read moreAMAZING!!! The wings were perfectly seasoned, crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside, and bursting with bold lemon pepper flavor. And those tater tots? Golden, crispy perfection. Hands down one of the best combos I've had in a long time. 10/10 -- I'll definitely be back!

We got the rose oolong tea to try and it was well made! Boba was quite fresh and chewy…read more The space is very quaint so they have a few tables and chairs for out side seating. Overall, the place is friendly and hits the spot for a boba run!

My teen and I were craving some matcha on our way to get groceries and found this spot on Yelp ofc!…read moreSan san is located in the small shopping center off Williams, right before you get to the schools. Parking is a little weird and very limited but luckily for us, we found a spot on the side of the building. There were two young ladies working the store and the menu is basically posted everywhere. My daughter and I immediately gravitated to the banana matcha latte. We also saw they had yummy croissant pastries available, so we decided to give that a try. What we got: 1. 2 banana matcha lattes- 4/10 the matcha was okay but we tasted no banana to it besides the slices of banana. The pudding tasted like regular vanilla. Overall just not what we were anticipating. 2. Brown sugar boba milk? - 0/10 This was just milk with a bit of brown sugar syrup. (See pic) I actually dropped this off to my other daughter and she said she just couldn't drink it. 3. Strawberry croissant- 8/10 This was actually good. The strawberries with the jam and whipped cream were very good. Don't get me wrong, service was fine. They also had a few great items but the actual drinks were mid. I think the matcha needs to change or maybe making it more paste like could help boost the flavor. The brown sugar latte was just not it.

Second time to Hay tea this weekend. Today we had:…read more Signature boba 4/5 HongKong style milk tea 2/5 Strawberry Lover smoothie 5/5 Strawberry yakult 4/5 Drinks are decent, service was good, & location is close by where we live so super convenient.

Staff 5/5, very professional…read more Drinks 3/5, standard. Popcorn chicken 5/5. Cheese stick 4/5. Nice seating options 5/5.

After my first experience I would not hesitate to become a loyal customer. I've never had a better…read moreexperience at a boba place. The staff were so kind and friendly and cheerful. They made my day better after interacting with her. I ordered a drink for my wife and she decided i didn't order it correctly so I asked if they can change the order. I was expecting them to do it if I asked but she was so kind. She offered me to keep the first drink and remade a new one for me with a huge smile. Excellent customer experience save. The drinks are also excellent and I really liked the taro drink with fresh taro. It'll be nice with even a little more taro or taro paste. Wish we could choose sugar level but nothing seems overly sweet here. Only complaint is that the drink lids ripe every time you insert a straw. They need nicer plastic lids. Mines ripped and I ask her to re-lid it and it ripped the second time. The other two drinks also ripped when I got home. Easy to spill once ripped.

Pro Tip: This teaspoon offers samples by the register and you can ask for small samples of their…read morerecommendation before ordering. Everything is sweetened at 50% so you can gauge what you may like in your own drink. I've been coming to this teaspoon since they took over the Quickly that occupied this space. Let me say this was one of the best things to happen to this area. This particular teaspoon sets the standard high on efficiency and quality of their products. I can't remember ever saying my drink tasted wrong or took too long to make. The workers are always on top of their game. You can also save some time and order online through doordash. They're usually very quick with online orders. We usually get either the lychee on lychee, peach oolong or the guava sunset. As mentioned, their drinks lean on the sweeter side even at 50% so if you want something more light definitely opt for 25% sweetness and less ice. For fruitier drinks I usually opt for crystal boba but honey boba works too if you want a chewier texture. Overall can't wait to be back and highly recommend.