Best place for milk tea on that end of Chinatown. Perfect for togo orders. The owner is patient, offers advice, and always gets it right. Always seems to be a place to park right in front for pickups. I travel a mile out of my way to go here when there are other places closer or on my way. read more

First time experiencing a tea based tonic. I got the green apple tonic with green tea. The actual tonic itself was fairly plain, but when you drank it with the popping boba at the bottom, it was like a pop of flavor that I didn't expect. I also liked how you can actually taste the flavor of the tea in the tonic. Overall, it's quite a cute shop north of Chinatown with a different kind of boba menu than most places. I can see myself coming back if I'm in the area but I wouldn't go out of my way to come here. read more

They rebranded this place lol, but the drinks are good and the pricing is reasonable and affordable! The puff cream is what really makes this joint unique and it's a great location to hang out with friends! read more

Decent drinks for the area. I ordered matcha latte with puff cream- good. I've ordered their ice teas with boba and it's nothing amazing but I recommend telling them light on the ice. I haven't tried any of the snack items read more

The worst boba place I've try in SF. We got it at 7:30pm while they close at 8:pm and the cashier gave us a very disrespectful looking. More ridiculous that this place doesn't have boba ( as what the cashier said) while they have topping boba on the menu. The drinks were ok but the customer services is very disappointed. Never come back. read more

Loved the kumquat lemon tonic, and the jasmine green milk tea was great too. Great little spot for tea to go with your to-go dim sum / bakery stuff in Chinatown. read more

Friendly service, delicious white peach milk tea with boba, large selection of hot and cold drinks, and plentiful, comfortable seating. What more could you need?! read more

Tancca is my latest discoveries in milk tea. I was driving near Broadway and then I'm like WHATTT THERES BOBA HERE? I immediately parked and went inside to give it a try. I got the Jasmine milk tea with boba (There's matcha in there too. WAAAA :0) It was around $4.10 ish. They gave me a lot of boba. Which I liked :3. This place makes GREEN Jasmine milk tea o: Interesting haha! I really liked how I tasted the real tea taste other than the taste of sugar. That means a lot to me because I'd rather have tea over sugar. Overall... Drink: 4/5 Matcha: 4/5 Boba: 5/5 Price: 4/5 Customer service: 4/5 Would I come back? Yes. read more

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We ordered the Assam MT with puff cream, Matcha MT, and Mango Snow with lychee jelly and boba. Everything tasted so good!

One of the better milk tea joints in the city, the sizes here are ginormous and it's rarely crowded. We just moved into the hood recently, so I've only known this place as 'Tancca' but it used to be called HiTea, which btw is an appropriate name for a 420 friendly city. :) Tancca is the first place to have served me something new on milk tea - the Puff Cream topping. It sounds like it might be some kind of puff pastry but it's actually an eggy, milky, slightly sweet n salty thing that is all over the top and sides of the milk tea. It reminds me a bit of Japanese egg custard with a more runny texture. Imagine that on top and mixed in with your milk tea.... I usually get the Assam milk tea, 50-75% sweet, puff cream, and less ice. The sizes are generous so you could probably split one between two people. All in all, more authentic than places like Boba Guys - just go to Taiwan (birthplace of boba milk tea) and you'll notice all the Boba shops are more closely aligned to places like Tancca, not Boba Guys. read more

Very meh boba drinks. We came on a weekday around 2pm and it was crowded with kids. It was definitely popping but not my scene as it was way too loud to enjoy a drink with friends. They took our order quickly but honestly there's not a lot of drink variety at this place. I got the rose milk tea and I barely tasted the rose flavoring. The milk tea was overpowering and there were remnants of leftover tea bits which left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Service was quick but that's all I can say. I would stay away from the milk tea drinks. Sad face. read more

I thought the boba here was good! The place itself is really cutely decorated and there's spacious seating inside. I got the assam milktea with puffcream ($4). The serving size is large. This was the first time I had ever had puffcream. It reminds me of the pudding toppings you get only more condensed and really sweet. It was almost too sweet for me so if you get this I would recommend making your milk tea less sweet. I got 50% sweetness and still thought it was too sweet so I would try 25% next time. read more

HiTea is now rebranded as Tancca. Whenever I visit Chinatown I always make a trip to this place for the 50% sweet Assam milk tea with puff cream and boba, I have never tried anything like it before. It's like an airier/foamier mix of the sweet custard filling in Beard Papa's cream puffs? Either way, it's so thick it sits on the bottom of your cup and I just end up scraping the sides of the cup when I'm done because it's so tasty. The boba has always been nicely chewy and sweetened. However, the first time I tried the salted cheese foam it was...sour. Like yogurt. I spent months thinking it was just a disgusting combination other people liked until I had the savory-sweet-thick perfection at Honey Lemon and read other reviews. I guess I actually just had a bad batch but I'm not willing to try it again here. There's a decent amount of seating in the back, free wifi, and a bathroom. Seems like a good place to just hang around with friends. read more

I've always been curious about this place because of the cute mascot on their sign and while it's relatively clean and up to date inside, it's really mediocre at best. I ordered my usual milk tea and it was very meh. I've had better milk tea at Vietnamese restaurants that sell boba (you should know what I'm talking about if you know anything about boba). The selection isn't really that great either. So really, I think it's just bleh and you could do so much better with all of the other boba places nearby. read more

The one star is for the super long wait when they only hire one person to work. It makes me mad, I waited 30mins for my two drinks when they are not busy. Won't come back since the wait is long for my two drinks. read more

Tancca - Bubble Tea Near Me - San Francisco, California

Stumbled upon this place while walking around Chinatown with the bf. Decided to try it out since we were pretty parched. They do carbonated drinks with Boba, which was actually kind of interesting. They offered Yogurt in it, but we both thought that probably would have tasted awful had we decided to include Yogurt in it. We're pretty sure it was torani syrup for the tea we got since we saw the pumping, but I don't really care. It was a refreshing drink, pretty cheap and the Boba was good. Having good Boba is a big deal for us when we order drinks. Service was adequate, nothing to write home about. Not sure if we'd drive all the way out to chinatown just for this place, but I certainly enjoyed trying the carbonated tea drink with the boba in it. Entrance of store could use more seats in my opinion. A bit of an awkward set up with everything being more to the back and then a long bench kind of placed up front for people to wait. Seems like there's enough space to put in a couple more tables. read more

This is definitely one of the better places in the Chinatown and Embarcadero area of SF. They take their creams very seriously and they definitely taste good. The milk foam (extra $1) with jasmine green tea was strong enough that the milkiness was not masking the tea. Definitely get 100% sugar because their levels are way less than other milk tea places (around 50% at other places) but the milk foam will make your drink a little sweeter. Prices are also reasonable and sizes are perfect. read more

A new boba place on the outskirts of Chinatown and very close to Robert C. Levy tunnel. It is very easy to spot, is nicely decorated, and spacious lounging/waiting area for their guests. So, why less stars? Their register is right by the door and they make their customers wait for quite a ridiculous amount of time even when there isn't a lot of backorder. When I arrived there, there were two gentlemen before me waiting for who knows how long. They ordered together, and I was surprised that rather than getting my order right after, the woman had me wait a very long time before she eventually got to me. There was already a woman making drinks on the other end of the counter and another woman messing around with her coworkers. I understand that they do phone orders and they want to make their workplace fun, but literally ignoring a customer right in front of you while messing with your coworkers is just plain rude. When I finally got my cherry blossom green tea without milk or cheese foam from the older woman on the other end of the counter (who was working hard the entire time in my opinion), I was a bit disappointed with my drink. Yes, they allowed me to have no foam on top (their drink selection is pretty much either milky, foam on top, sparkling tonic, or thick smoothie), but the tea itself was rather bitter (bottom of the pot type of bitter) even with my lychee jelly topping masking it a tidbit. Personally, based on my experience, I wouldn't want to go again during my timed lunch break since it is a rather long process from start to finish. I'd only want to go there to try a tonic or smoothie one day, but not their milk teas. Maybe someone else will like this level of service and type of drinks, but it is not my type of place based on today's experience. read more

I was thrilled to find out that a new milk tea shop opened up a block away from my boyfriend's place. Especially since Cool Tea seems to have shut down a couple of their locations. That was my go-to for tea on the Chinatown/NB border. But when we walked up to HiTea, we were awed by the shiny, new shop with the big adorable signage. We were also totally puzzled by the menu! Now I'll admit, I'd never had milkfoam or cheesefoam style tea. I just haven't seen it around here. The menu is puzzlingly, needlessly complicated. I totally appreciate the level of customizability in drink choices--but the layout of the menu is bizarre. The font is soooo small, the illustrations don't illustrate anything about the drink categories (because they're too small), but just take up space. So, here's the skinny. Hopefully the owners figure out a way to fix the menu because it's bonkers confusing. There's puff cream and there's milk foam. Puff cream gets all mixed into your milk tea. Milk foam sits on top. There's two types of milk foam--salt milk foam and cheese milk foam and you can choose which kind. If you want milk tea but you have a foam phobia, you can get it without the foam or cream and they call it "Classic Aromatic" on the menu. If you want puff cream all up ins, it's called "Originate," and if you want milk foams all up ons, they call it a "Pure Milk." I know. If you want some of that salty foam or cheesy business, but don't want a milk tea, they have a Teaspresso called a "Pop Star." If you're scared and confused you can just get a snow or "Italian Snow" or I'm not sure which it is because ITALIAN is capitalized on the menu but not Snow, so maybe it's just an "Italian." If you're lactose intolerant then maybe try the "SPECIAL" Iced Sparkle Tea or just take a Lactaid and live a little. All that said, the tea is yummy, the shop is cute and spacious (for SF), and the staff is really nice. I've been here like four times already. I think my boyfriend would drink a whole cup of just cheese foam. I really like the Royal Ceylon milk tea with pudding and pearl. Suggestion to the owners: Do drink specials for people with ADHD who can't read your menu. So they can just point at the board and be like, yeah I'll just try that I guess. (Like how ShareTea just has a bunch of pictures of drinks up). I guess I can only speak for myself, but I know I'd just randomly try whatever the drink of the day was. Last but not least, @ The girl who posted outrage that her Matcha was made from powder--I hate to break it to you, since powder apparently gives your cousin mud butt or whatever. But Matcha literally means powdered tea. read more

I don't understand why the owner of this milk tea place is so unfriendly. So, I'm going elsewhere to buy my milk tea since there are so many in chinatown. I guess this owner is too rich so he decided to push some customers away. It's fine with me though! read more

I was pretty under impressed with Tancca. We came around 6 on Sunday, they were out of boba, and the doors were wide open, making it nearly unbearable to sit inside and relax. The tea was mediocre, and was pricier than other places just a few blocks away. I got the jasmine black tea and was pretty underwhelmed. read more

I like that you can customize with sugar level and milk options, unlike many Chinatown boba places

When a friend of mine mentioned a new milk tea shop in Chinatown, I didn't hesitate to find it on Yelp and walk over to give it a try within minutes. And by minutes, it was a 12 minute walk from Union Square to the outskirts of Chinatown. The interior is spacious and cute. It's perfect for high schoolers to hang out and play games or study. (Just a cool story I thought I'd like to share) What's interesting about these drinks is that they include "Asian puff cream" in their milk teas, which give it a sweeter and a tad thicker flavor (like sea salt crema) than most places. However, unless you have a sweet tooth, you will most likely have to cut down on the sugar, as the cream makes it pretty sweet already. I tried it once at 50% sugar, and again at 0% sugar. Personally, I'd probably go for 25% or 30% next time. In spite of the sweetness irregularity, I found the actual tea to be quite strong (a good thing in my book)! They also serve food, but in terms of milk tea only, it's an interesting concept, and I can see this place being a solid stop for milk tea in Chinatown. Not a place I would be frequenting many times, but I wouldn't say no to another trip to HiTea. read more

This's the fourth time I came back here for the boba. The girls working here was so friendly and nice. Specially Susan, she helped me out which drink I should try and I love Royal Milk Tea with Tiramisu Milk Foam from her recommendation. OMG, I love that drink and I strongly recommend you guys come there to get your drinks. Awesome... read more

Tancca - Bubble Tea Near Me - San Francisco, California

I was in SF and walking around ChinaTown with a friend, when we passed this place. Not sure why, but somehow the name caught us, although we didn't initally go in because we were still being touristy and walking around. This store is actually located just outside ChinaTown, and we happened to pass by it a second time and decided to go in. I thought the place looked super clean and new, so I checked it out on Yelp, and yup, only a few reviews, so I guess this place just recently opened. Their menu is not extensive like other places, but they seem to focus more on their teas. At the top of the menu there was a section of drinks that all included milk puff, and when I asked about it, the cashier had a hard time explaining. She basically said that it was similar to the salted cream you can get on top of drinks except it's sweet, and it goes on the bottom on their cups. I was intrigued since I've never heard of this kind of topping before, so I decided to go with the Matcha Latte with Milk Puff with pearls. My friend is lactose, so she was browsing through their tea options and settled on the Cherry Blossom Green Tea. The wait for the drinks took a little bit longer than expected, but I was okay with that because I noticed that for my friend's tea, it was fresh brewed, so that was a pleasant surprise. The total wait time I think took about 15 minutes, which might not sound like long, but at the time, we were the only customers in the store, so they could work on efficiency a bit. Drinks are sealed, which is nice, and the cup and decoartion on the seal is quite cute as well. Purely aesthetic, but hey it doesn't hurt to have a pretty cup to drink from haha. First sip of my drink, the matcha latte is pretty much what you'd expect and not too sweet, so that was nice, but I had to sort of dig my straw into the Milk Puff to get a taste of it. Oh boyyyyyy, this is some pretty good stuff. A bit hard to explain, since I feel like this topping might be unique to this place. It's a bit creamy with a slight sort of custard taste and sweetness, and it is like, so I guess that's why they chose to name it Milk Puff. Not sure if this is some new topping from Asia, but I'm sold on it. The pearls however could use some work. They had a slight firm texture, which I like, but they kind of didn't have any flavor to them. My friend's Cherry Blossom Tea was extremely floral and fragrant. The flavor was wonderful, and I think she got it at 50% sweetness, so the bitterness of the tea came through, but it wasn't overbearing. Overall, I definitely enjoyed my experience here. My friend and I already discussed coming back sometime even though we're in South Bay, so SF is kind of a drive, but the drinks were great. They also have a cheese milk foam that is also quite intriguing, so I'll have to give it a try next time. I would have given 5 stars, except the workers weren't too great an English, so there were some difficulties when ordering, and initially, my drink didn't have pearl in it, so I had to ask them to remake it, even though I had already waited like 15 minutes, so -1 star for that. But if you're in the area, you should definitely check them out, and try one of their yummy fresh brewed teas, or something with milk puff!! read more

Great cozy spot inside Chinatown for a quick stop and sip! This place is neat in all ways - a menu to the point, fun decor, great ambiance and importantly, lots of space for big groups. We got the Jasmine Milk Tea. It had a light hint of Matcha tea which makes it very nice. Totally loved every sip and the place made for a great spot to rest my tired legs. Do pay a visit. read more

I saw this place open a few months ago, did not have time to try it till today. HiTea is a really cute place! It feels like one of those Anime cafés. Cashier is really nice and friendly. Ordered a Roasted Oolong Tea with Milk Foam, super delicious, the tea flavor is very strong. Their Milk Foam some what taste like Sea Salt Crema, but a bit more on the sweet side. I customized my drink to 30% sweet and 100% ice, but when I got my drink, the ice level is a bit more on the low side. I wish my drink had more ice. Definitely will come back again next time I visit SF, but next time, I will try to order my drink to be 200% ice! ^w^)/ read more

I absolutely love the Matcha Latte with Puff Cream. I've had it twice and the puff cream does add a bit of sweetness to the drink so recommend trying it out with 50% sweetness. The puff cream makes the drink really smooth and creamy. The café itself is super cute. Love the Koala décor! Drinks run about $4, decently priced for good boba. read more

Rose milk tea with real tapioca pearl makes sipping like crem de la creme through the hollows of your mouth and tongue. read more

Tancca - Frozen by the rose of milk tea - Bubble Tea Near Me - San Francisco, California

Super nice staff in a town where you don't always get that. Parking right next door. Probably only a matter a time before this place takes off. read more

With a new establishment you always need to be concerned that the reviews will be those of friends of employees or owners. However, I am no shill and my reviews are legit. I can say after trying this place on multiple occasions that this place does a few things pretty well and has become my go-to for tea in the area. First, the tea! Its probably the best in the immediate area (or at the very least tied with Cool Tea Bar). My favorite tea here is currently the peach oolong tea with agar boba. Its nice, and I can taste the strong tea flavor come through. The selection is not expansive as others tea places, but they do the tea and boba part well here. Ambience wise, It's all brand new and clean. Big plus! Also the space is pretty roomy. The tables and chairs are all in the back. This makes for a quiet and sort of private space to drink, study, converse with friends, etc. Every time I take a look, I see one or two people studying or working in this area. Its a decent space for sure. Hey, I'm in Chinatown. I can get lunch for under $5! That's why initially I thought that this place was expensive, but for boba the price is only slightly above average (but only very slightly). $3.75 for most of the drinks, extra 50 cents for additional boba toppings. I think they cups are decently big, so I think its an okay price. . The tea baristas are all very pleasant. I made a comment about how I should have signed up for five star earlier, since I only just recently signed up, and they credited me a few extra points toward a free drink or snack, out of kindness of their own hearts. Good service! Finally, for snacks they don't have popcorn chicken but they have some chicken wings, and curly fries. The snacks are all about $5 or less, though I have not partaken. read more

Come here if you want to have your day ruined by people who don't understand the concept of customer service. You can order milk tea with boba and receive it without any boba. You can ask why and have them tell you they ran out, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. But hey, they'll throw in the fun fact that they're making a new batch (which will be ready in 25 minutes!). Too bad you were planning a quick drink on-the-go. And you already have your drink in hand. You can explain that you wouldn't have ordered any milk tea if you knew they didn't have boba. You can even ask for a refund like any logical person would. But surprise! They'll look you dead in the eyes and emotionlessly state "We don't do refunds" because you're worthless to them after you pay. As you can see, I'm bitter because I haven't had my dose of sweet boba today. read more

Checked in here after get my nails done around North Beach area. Amazing drink I ever had. I ordered Rose Black Tea with 30% sweet, i love the way they mix with Tiramisu. Will be back then. read more

Tancca - Take a look inside the cup, will see the Tiramisu on top... Totally love it... - Bubble Tea Near Me - San Francisco, California

Great, reasonably priced drinks compared to other Bay Area overpriced boba places. Who needs a long wait at Boba Guys? (I still love Boba Guys!) Just be aware that sometimes their boba is not ready when they first open. read more

The assam milk tea with puff cream is good but I made the mistake of getting 100% sweet. It was suuuuper sweet stick to 50% or 75%. But the puff cream here is really yummy and would def try adding the puff cream into a drink. read more

Highly recommend the Assam tea with tiramisu foam on top. I got 30% sweetness and less ice.

my favorite boba shop ever!!!!!! the price is still really cheap considering every other boba shop charges 6-8$ for boba now. really simple menu, & my absolute favorite is the assam milk tea with grass jelly :) read more

I had a good catering experience with HiTea. I called around 15 places to look for someone who could cater some bubble tea for my wedding. No one would deliver (or one place would deliver but it was expensive). Vivian at HiTea came through. She was prompt, the bubble tea was reasonably priced, and they even delivered and picked up the equipment afterwards. I would say that catering may still be new to them, as half the straws they provided were too thin to drink boba with (and confused the guests), and the sugar provided came in a container that was really difficult to poor with, so was also confusing. Apart from those minor issues, the bubble tea was a hit with my guests! Really appreciate Vivian's flexibility with arranging this, and would work with her again! read more

Tancca - The sugar container in the corner was a little strange (and large!) but overall looked great! - Bubble Tea Near Me - San Francisco, California

I've been here several times already - milk teas are consistently good, and staff is consistently friendly. Milk tea and jasmine milk tea are both tasty, though not spectacular. Jasmine actually tastes a little like a mix of matcha and jasmine green tea. But their specialty stuff makes everything comes together great! Both the Cream Puff and crema (Himalayan or cheese) are very creamy and addictive. Milk tea (instead of tea) with crema is pure indulgence! However, I'm not sure how fresh and healthy the ingredients are-the crema is very thick and stays that way, but usually fresh cream melts pretty fast. So I'm not sure if the pricing is fair. I have yet to try teas and boba toppings, but I will. Fried chicken wings comes hot, tasty and juicy. read more

I tried their original matcha cream puff tea, added boba and made it 50% sweet. The drink was perfection! I didn't know what to expect for the "cream puff" name but I would describe it as a cross between egg pudding and crema froth. The boba was cooked perfectly as well - just the right amount of sweetness and chewiness. Man, the drinks are quite pricey since I paid 5 bucks and some change for my one drink, but it was very fresh and made to order. Also, the store is hard to get to if you're driving through Chinatown, but I can't wait until my next trip back! The cafe is cute and spacious too but there's only a handful of seats for taking a break or perhaps studying. read more