Tea Era has literally NEVER let me down. They have a great variety and my family can always find something on the menu to suit our desires. I always get the milk tea 100% sugar with lychee and it's amazing. This is my go-to boba spot and that will likely never change. read more

My favorite boba shop! Consistent quality, fast, friendly, and not expensive. I love the barley milk tea.

Tea Era is one of my favorite places to get boba in the Bay Area! Their tapioca is so soft and sweet. My favorite is their roasted oolong milk tea- so so good! I've also tried barley milk tea, but I didn't like it as much- not my cup of tea (no pun intended). This place is really small and I always accidentally walk past it so keep an eye out when looking for it. Oh and it's cash only! read more

I love the variety here! They have more unique flavors like Gen Mai, Barley, and roasted Oolong that you can't get at a lot of other boba places. And the quality of their boba is good, but it's not sweet... Although there is often a line, it goes by quickly and they are very fast at making drinks. Also, it's cash only! read more

Cheap boba with good quality taste! I got the lavendar milk tea and it was really good! Didnt taste like the powdered stuff most places use!

Went here a couple of weeks ago...and it was great! I had the Taro Milk tea. It was not to sweet or powdery and the boba was delicious! I also tried the Strawberry Milk Tea...it has real strawberry pieces in it! I'll be back for sure read more

SO crowded! there were no seats, and we were barely able to get our drinks! i guess it's 'cause their drinks are great. i ordered a barley milk tea with less sugar. i appreciate them asking me if i wanted sugar in my tea. i didn't realize this was an option! i hope to try other flavors but also hoping for less crowd. read more

Today was my first time at Tea Era, and it definitely won't be my last! While the service was a little blah, this place has some pretty tasty milk tea. I ordered the jasmine milk tea with regular boba. The milk tea surprisingly still has some tea taste to it, which is something because a lot of places have milk tea that just taste like milky sugar water. Definitely a refreshing change! The menu is definitely extensive, so I'll be back soon to try some of the other drinks. It'll be hard to choose though because there are so many options and they all sound so good! :) read more

The Tea Era on Castro street is so ghetto. There is a tiny waiting area but no place to really sit. I tried it and found it not as good tasting as the one in Cupertino. This one tasted so watered down...like sweet water with a little bit of milk. I don't think I will go back to this one. read more

my fav spot for tea now bc they let you customize with fat-free milk and sometimes no sugar. honeydew 4stars strawberry apple read more

I've searched for the best boba tea from SF to Milpitas to Sacto and this is the best place so far. Prices are reasonable. The have the frequent buyers card. And they have this cool drink shaker to mix the drinks. The pearls are slightly sweet and with the perfect firmness. I've been here once a week since I discovered it. They're from Taiwan so they know how to do it right! read more

sooooooo much better than quickly's! i absolutely love love plum green tea with glass jelly!! too bad i only can come here during my working days, i wish they had one in sf so i can go there all the time~ so much better than quickly's. i personally think quickly's drinks are too sweet for my taste buds but i do like their popcorn chicken. :] service is friendly and the shop is quite small. can't fit a lot of people in there but hey, its castro! grab your drink and venture out to explore all the lil shops and restaurant :] read more

The best thai milk tea ever. I have tried Thai milk tea at many places, but the balance that this place strikes between flavor, sweetness, creaminess and texture is incredible. very hard to beat that. Other flavors are very nice as well, but my fav is the Thai milk tea. read more

Great place for tea that actually tastes like tea and not sugary powder with water (i.e. Verde or worse, Tap X). The place is not much of a sit down but being that it's situated on the main strip unlike the other two, why bother sitting down when you can take your tea and stroll around? I actually like their "packaging" more (they stretch a plastic sheet across the top whereas other places put a plastic snap cap on it) b/c I used to specify no ice and I would bring them back to UC Santa Cruz for my friends. Granted it's harder to get the straw in and not spill tea all over yourself, I loved its ability to travel. They've got the buy 10 get 1 free card. read more

Their almond milk tea is definitely worth waiting elbow to elbow on a Saturday night for. The pearls are always fresh and they don't skimp on portion. Frequent drinker card! I only wish you were closer to home Tea Era. read more

the tea and drinks are good, no doubt. but I have never felt so unwelcomed to a tea shop in my life. Today, the guy who was cooking the tapioca inside today kept mouthing "motherfucker" "fucking asshole" the entire time we were there. the people who were making the drinks never had a smile on their face and the girl who was collecting money made me felt like i owe her money. Again, the tea and drinks are good. don't get me wrong. I just wish they were a little more welcoming. having good reputation doesn't mean you can forget how to treat customers read more

I do not understand the hype of this place. I have tried to like their milk tea but they always come out very powdery. I am not sure how that could happen as they have pretty cool shaker machines. Their lines tend to get very long as well so expect to wait at least a half-hour during peak hours. read more

A big fan of the matcha flavored bubble tea. So much other variety too. I was an out of town visitor thus only visited twice (but enough that I went back one more time before flying back to the East coast!). Maybe coming from NYC I've expected to pay extra for special flavors or bubbles, this was an unexpected surprise. Please come here to New York - I'll be waiting! read more

This is one of our favorite milk tea places and have been going here for many years. Our drinks are always made with the perfect balance of tea and sweetness. And the staff is super friendly. We highly recommend this place! read more

Their sesame milk tea and barley tea are my two all-time favorites of pearl tea flavors.

I had to take off one star because I came here twice since I wrote my original review because they do not stay open until they say they will, which I think is a real minus when it comes to any establishment. On both occasions, I tried to go to Tea Era within 10 minutes of that night's closing time to find the door locked and the employees inside cleaning up. While I understand that everyone wants to go home after working a late night shift, it is NOT okay to close your doors until the advertised sign on the door listing the hours says you are closed. Moreover, the employees just stared at me as I looked confused at the locked door, when the lights were still on and I still had time before closing to order my tea. If this were a restaurant that actually serves something that required more than a few minutes of prep time, I would be more forgiving. But this is milk tea, which takes less than 5 minutes from ordering to leaving with my drink in hand. I'll probably still come back because the tea here is so good, but be warned, try to get here before 10:30pm...otherwise you might not get your Tea Era fix! read more

This place was WAYYYY too sweet for me. It was cold so my sister and I shared a hot Roasted Barley Milk Tea. I couldn't water it down with milk like I normally do since the drink was hot. I only drank half a cup (granted the pearls were good, but I can get good pearls elsewhere) and in a few minutes my heart rate went through the roof. It kind of tasted cinnamon-y which I did not like too much, though that might be what it's supposed to taste like. There's a lot of other PMT places where I could go rather than try here again. read more

Delicious thai tea ice slushies! Line is out the door but the wait is no problem.

This is a tiny little boba shop located in the heart of Downtown Mountain View. I came after dinner one night and the place was pretty packed. The menu was very easy to read and they had earl grey which is my favorite milk tea flavor so I decided to try it out. They also had a huge variety of tea flavors like the authentic Chinese tea leaves tie guang yin and Taiwanese tea like oolong. The cashier was very efficient and took my orders very quickly. The drinks came out within a couple minutes and the earl grey looked really odd. I've never seen earl grey that is chocolate colored but it tasted pretty good. The boba itself is very chewy. I would have liked my drink better if it was less sweet and didn't have the weird chocolate color. There is also a huge lack of space instead that it felt really cramped. read more

Tofu dessert with all the toppings and black sugar syrup! Wish more places offered this dessert. It's so simple and so delicious every time. Definitely recommend it! read more

The tea here actually has flavor! They don't seem to skimp on the flavor powder, which is nice. I get what I always get at boba places, and that is Taro Milk Tea w/ boba. I've had many Taro Milk Tea's from various boba places, and by far Tea Era's is the best. The boba is what makes this place stand out above the rest. They are just perfectly chewy and delicious. I will definitely come down to Mountain View more often because of this place. 5 stars! read more

I haven't tried the pearls, but their tea is good and well priced. Try the green tea passion fruit drink! I'm thinking it has some caffeine because I had a hard time sleeping that night.... shouldn't have drank the large! read more

I was recommended this place by a friend who visits it often. What a gem! I didn't know what to expect when ordering roasted barley hot tea, but it blew my mind away. I was also lucky to try it cold, and would suggest you try both! It has a distinc flavor, but totally tasty to the very last drop! read more

Super awesome bubble tea. This place and Fantasia are my two favorites in the South Bay. I like this better than Verde and Tapioca Express. I've enjoyed every single one of the flavors I've had here! I usually get the Roasted Oolong. It's fantastic! I also like getting the jasmine milk tea and the yogurt smoothie. There isn't a lot of space inside to sit, so it's best to come here when the weather is nice and you can take your drink outside and walk around. The nice thing is that you can also order bubble tea from Tea Era while you're at Queen's House. read more

For an extra 50 cents, I can upgrade to large!?!? Sure, I feel like super sizing right now....and was disappointed. I got the taro milk tea, and it tasted a little watery than usual. I also tried the oolong tea milk tea, tasted kinda bland. From now on, no more size large and no more oolong flavored. read more

I ordered the roasted barley with less sugar and no ice. Tastes very watery. I guess good tasting milk tea must have tons of sugar. I'm sad that they dont sell popcorn chicken. What's a taiwanese milk tea place without snacks? :( They have restrooms and also 2 hr street parking. read more

This is by far my favorite pearl tea place in the Bay Area. I've had pearl team since 1989 in Taiwan, so I actually don't get pearls in my tea anymore (their pearls are so so). What's great about Tea Era are their amazing fruit flavored drinks, the different "jellys" you can add to the drink instead of pearls (coffee and lychee jelly are my two favorites), and of course, the UBER famous BARLEY tea. =) I also like their Ceylon Black Tea a lot, and their Lychee and Strawberry green teas have fruit bits in them, a very nice touch I must say. All their drinks have a stronger flavor than the other two pearl tea places in the area, and their service is BY FAR the friendliest. I try to take as many people there as possible, and so far most of them have agreed that it's the best tea place in Mountain View, if not the entire Bay Area. Check it out sometime. They're closed on Tuesdays, so beware of that! read more

After shopping at therapy I like to walk across the street to this place and order myself a milk tea before heading back to San Jose. The milk tea is okay, not great-- I prefer hydration or fantasias milk tea. My cousin ordered some honeydew drink and it was good in the beginning but towards the end it tasted very powdery and artificial. Not bad but conveniently good. read more

Tea Era is definitely my favorite boba place in downtown Mountain View. Real brewed tea, not too sweet, and lots of flavors. The store front is only about 8 feet wide (next to Queen's House), so make sure you don't miss it. read more

My boba go-to place. Extra awesome since my fiancee lives one street over from this delicious place so I'm there all the time! Every time I think of boba, I want Tea Era. I'm not sure why people crowd up Quickly and Cafe Verde down the street. Most likely because their stores are bigger to lounge around, but if you're looking for authentic and delicious BOBA, then you should only be ordering from Tea Era. My favs are hot taro boba milk tea, hot sesames boba milk tea and my latest ones, LARGE cold pudding boba milk tea. Gosh, I want one now. read more

To be honest, I'm not actually all that big of a fan of boba. It's just so oddly chewy and gummy, and really just looks repulsive. That said, if you're part of the 99% who do like shoving chewy balls in your mouth and you find yourself on Castro, Tea Era is the place to go. It may be tiny and cramped, but when it comes to tea, Verde and TapEx just can't compare. Tea Era has a huge variety of flavors and is pretty reasonably priced, though they still can't hold a candle to SF boba -- if you head there, check out Teaway for boba/jelly-mixing fun! Their specialty seems to be roasted barley, which is good, but my personal favorite is the hazelnut milk tea. It's yummy hot, as well... just don't burn your tongue! Also note that their staff is entirely Chinese/Taiwanese, which isn't something Verde can say -- at an authentic boba place, I expect to be able to order in Chinese, damnit! If you're looking for snacks, though, Tea Era doesn't have much (read: anything) to offer. Both of its competitors have a dece selection, and they're right down the road. Note that they're closed on Tuesdays and are cash only. read more

Eh. I came here because it had 4 stars on Yelp and everyone who went there said it was really good. I ordered the Barley Milk Tea with tapioca because that's the most highly acclaimed drink on yelp. My friend complained about how it was not milky enough, while I thought the tapioca was tasteless and not soft enough. So, thumbs down, and probably not coming here again. read more

5 stars for their their tea but 1 star for the lady clipping her nails at the cashier which is right next to where they seal their teas.

Got the barley milk tea with pearls and it's so good! The pearls are chewy and the milk tea has a nice roasted taste. The place is small so when you wait for your drinks its awkward. read more

Really liked this tea place. Always a long line but worth the wait. I usually get the. Mango green tea or honey Milk tea. Only wish they were open every day. read more