I love it there. Nice and cozy. The mango slush tastes great. Not too sweet. The banh mi was…read moreperfect! Toasty with all the right amounts of meat and veggies.

The Ding Tea in Kirkland is paired up with 36 Streets for specialty coffee and waffles. I have…read morevisited twice now. Service is friendly taking my order (first time) but also can be distracted-hectic (second time). The interior is basic. I didn't stay. Both visits were to-go. Be aware that parts of this Juanita area, including the streets, are part of the development and is NOT regular city-parking. They are notorious for ferocious private parking meter-readers (not part of the city). Be sure to read the sign before leaving the vehicle. The Drinks and Food: Chocolate Oolong Milk Tea, $6.75(L) - 3.5 Stars The cashier said this is their most popular drinks. It still tasted quite sweet at 30% sweetness. Hubby said it tastes more like a chocolate milk. Ding it, he's right. (See what I did there.) Egg Coffee, $6.25 - 4 Stars Egg coffee is a northern Vietnamese specialty. Being in a paper cup takes away some of the charm, but such as is the U.S. lifestyle. It tasted as expected, a stronger, more roasted Viet coffee flavor. Mango Ice Tea, $6.75 - 3.5 Stars This is more of a mango drink with some tea taste - very fruity tea. Pandan Bubble Waffle, $7 - 4 Stars I came the second time mostly for this waffle. Served with whip cream and toasted coconut flake, the cashier looked at me like I grew an extra eye when I said whip cream only, no coconut. She literally didn't know how to respond to me. I am guessing they pre-pack the cream with the coconut already in it, and she didn't have time to pack another one. She handed us the bag with what we didn't want and left. I should lower the rating more, but I do like this waffle.

A Molly Tea in walking distance is a wee bit dangerous!…read more We recently landed in the area and were stoked to find that Molly Tea was part of the neighborhood! It's always a solid choice- strong teas and great drinks all done super well. My go-to is usually their Premium Jasmine Milk Tea. The tea flavor is fragrant, floral, and always shines through! This location is pretty big with some seating if you wanted to lounge around. However, as with all Molly Teas, it can get busyyyy.

I've heard so much praise about Molly Tea, and now that the hype has finally died down, I came in…read moreto try some! For my first visit, I got the snowy jasmine. I absolutely loved the tea flavor, It's strong, floral, and fragrant, something you don't often see. The whipped cream was light, airy, and had a subtle jasmine flavor that really elevated the drink as a whole. I was worried it would be overrated and overpriced, but you can definitely taste the quality difference in the ingredients they use. The drinks alone are honestly a 5/5 for me. One thing that did rub me the wrong way was the service. Despite coming in on a fairly quiet day, there were a few staff members who (in my opinion) acted a bit disrespectful towards other customers. When you come into the store, there's a big order sign at the front of the booth, so most would assume to order from there. On the other side of the store though are two kiosks which make ordering simpler, so I guess they weren't using the actual order booth. I noticed that a line of customers had formed at the order booth but none of the staff were really interacting with them or telling them to use the kiosk instead. They were all kinda just chatting with one another and only alerted them about the kiosk once a customer asked for their attention. Not the most efficient process or positive interaction in my opinion. Despite all that though, the tea is definitely good enough for me to come back.

This is a very accessible and friendly place if you're a tea beginner to expert levels. They sell…read moreteas and tea accessories, as well as loose leaf teas and ready to drink hot/cold teas, lattes, etc. I attended one of the tea classes and I think it was a good experience for beginners. We got to sample five teas and several pieces of chocolate, as well as snacks to clear the palate between teas. We learned about tea and how its harvested, as well as the processing of tea. We also learned about the tea flavor wheel and identified tea tasting notes in the sampled teas. I do wish there was more of a compare and contrast between the teas - it would have been cool to try the same teas but early vs late season, or tea processed similarly but from different regions. If you're new to tea though, the classes are perfect for you!

We visited LizzyKate as we were interested in taking one of their tea classes. We had seen several…read morepop up in the past, but hadn't seen anything interesting in the past few months, so we dropped in to ask about them. Apparently rather than being prescheduled most of the time, they are held on demand. We asked for an Oolong tasting session and was able to get one penciled in a couple of weeks later. The store itself is appropriately decorated for a modern and trendy tea shop. There's a bit of an overpowering perfume that lingers throughout the store. It's not the best setting for a tea tasting, especially when trying to differentiate tasting notes when the olfactory glands are already completely saturated with perfume. LizzyKate has a decent selection of true tea, nothing super unique or rare, but I think they lean towards the more accessible blends and tisanes in the first place. Oolong Tasting Class ($35/per person) - Tasting sessions are held in the bar area, brewed mostly using gaiwan with carefully measured water temperature and volume. The class provides some educational material including laminated papers describing the tea production process, growing regions, anatomy, etc. More importantly, unlike some other tasting sessions I've attended, they actually provide pencil and paper, along with brewing instructions, to write down cupping and tasting notes. It certainly beats taking notes on my phone as I usually do. For this course, we tasted a white tea and four different oolongs. My personal tasting notes as follows (for future reference for myself): Bai Mu Dan - Mild, mellow, sweet and slightly astringent flavor with notes of honey and hay. Light golden liquid that's very easy to drink. Tie Guan Yin - Caramelized sweetness, vegetal leafy with a tiny earthy element. Darker golden color with more astringency and round lingering taste. The leaves smell smoky and roasted. Baihao - The smell is distinctively roasty and earthy, approaching the fermented smell of puerh. It has a brownish color and tastes smoky and earthy like peat. Formosa Oolong - It tastes of malt and molasses, with a certain oxidized toastiness. The color is more dark brown although it's not very astringent given the color. Osmanthus Oolong - This smells more malty and surprisingly not that flowery in aroma. The mouthfeel is extremely creamy and silky, almost like milk with the balanced taste of barley and hops with only a slight osmanthus flowery taste in the background. I think the base used is Jin Xuan given the milkiness. With the tasting also comes some treats including mini muffins and some tea infused bars from a chocolatier in Singapore, Fossa Chocolate. I think LizzyKate is more geared towards people who don't have much experience with tea and want a place that's extremely welcoming and modern. They have lattes and plenty of herbal and fruity infusions to help beginners ease into the complexities of tea, While this shop isn't for me, more tea shops are always welcome in the area. I'd definitely recommend it to my friends who want to dip their toes into the world of tea. Bathrooms - Single unisex room.

I have been to Bobae in Woodinville in the past, but this is my first time at the Kirkland…read morelocation. This store is a cute and small, order and go venue. They don't have seats tables to linger. Considering how expensive Kirkland is, it is perfectly understandable. In the past, I was visually lured by their IG friendly drinks such as the strawberry matcha latte. I hated it. They serve it in a non-shakable cup, and it is impossible to properly stir the thick strawberry jam into the beverage. On this cold February day with no lines, I spent the time to ask questions, and we landed on the Bobaejicha, which is roasted green tea hojicha milk tea. For the hard care tea drinkers, hojicha is often a fav. They did right by the hojicha with the smoky tea, soothed with milk, and a touch of sweetness at 25%. It tasted good at 0% also, but I had her add the sugar after a few sips, so I can try both variants. I realized I prefer a 0% by the second half of the cup. Their house made brown sugar syrup adds a caramel taste when mixed with the smoky hojicha. Both variants are good. It was a fun chat to figure out my drink away from photo influences.

Finally got to try bobae and it lived up to the hype! The service was super friendly and I liked…read morethe interior as well. I got their strawberry matcha latte and it was a nice balance! I got it less sweet because the strawberry already makes it pretty sweet. It was about $8 which is sadly the standard for matcha these days. Next time I'll have to try their pink boba

Overall: 5 stars…read more Great tea chain with a unified quality that excites the palette. I think the premium tag for this tea chain is well worth for because it definitely tastes much better. Mango Fruit Tea - Love the intensity of the mango flavor that blends harmoniously with the tea to create one unified fruity palette. Very fresh, very bright, very refreshing. Pouchong Tea Mousse - Its quite impressive how mousselike they were to make the drink without any use of dairy. This lemon-forward tea is bright and refreshing on the palette, and the airation makes it really pleasant on the palette. Food: +1 Presentation: +1 Price: E Atmosphere: E Service: E Menu: +2 Insta/Yelp/Beli: @amei_eats Insta/TikTok: @ameizing.race

Ordered the osmanthus oolong tea with mango with less sugar, less ice and konjac. Was surprisingly…read morestill sweet, but still very refreshing and very yummy. Plus, they put a lot of care into preparing the drinks fresh, resulting in the very lovely aroma of tea in the shop. I can see why it's a Michelin star boba place!

I used to always hit up the pochi's in lynnwood back in the golden days…read more First time coming to the Kirkland location--quality is still the same! Haven't had taro in forever so I decided to get their taro strawberry shake. Fire. Also, decided to try their egg pudding topping versus boba anddddd, fire. The homie got their cinnamon crunch shake with marshmallows and he liked that ish, too. Workers were efficient + nice. Chance em!

Hands down one of the best boba places in the area! So many different options including bobas and…read morejellies. It's always clean. There's tables with card games you can play at and I think some board games as well. You can order online ahead of time, or on a tablet or at the counter. Perfect little pick me up for a boba spot! They do serve some actual food but I think the menu for that is pretty limited.

A quick update to my original review. Two updates: 1. The…read moreRose Milk Tea is on hiatus. Apparently, someone(s?) was sensitive to it. They are pulling it off the menu for now. Bummer for the rest of us. 2. They added four premium tea items to the menu, and one of them has become a favorite - Premium Da Hong Pao (second on their list). This STRONG, earthy, dark tea goes very well with the milk and sugar to become a rich, potent milk tea. I take it at 25% sugar. The recommended is 50% or higher. This drink can not be made into a hot tea. The staff is still friendly and easy-going. The restaurant is still holding up well, 4.5 years since my original review.

Great variety of drinks! I had the lavender milk tea with golden honey pearls at 50% sweetness. It…read morewas the perfect level of sweetness and all the flavors balanced well. My friend had the tiramisu drink with cheese foam and brown sugar boba pearls. Also a delicious drink! The cheese foam is similar to a cold foam but saltier. The drinks were pretty average price wise but very tasty flavor wise! They were out of bubble waffles, so that's the reason for the 4 star rating versus a five. They have two ways to order, which was efficient. They also have a large seating area. If you're in the mood for boba, check out "Don't Yell at Me!"

The first time I tried HeyTea was this Bellevue location and I wasn't impressed with the drinks I…read moretried. But coming back now and getting the guava grape and a pistachio cloud jasmine tea I was much more impressed. Both very good though not in my top tier echelon of tea shop quality. The shop is EXTREMELY small in a width kind of way with zero seating or even countertops to lean against really. The door is also where the line starts so it can awkward if even 1 person is inside waiting in line as it can block the entrance. Also the wait here also always seems quite long as I think they get a LOT of mobile orders so even if you see the shop empty take a look at the # of orders they're working on on the TV if you want to see how crowded they are. They are very professional though and will tell you how long the wait is if it's long, I usually wait 15-20 min each time I order here. I think they blew up in China as a luxury brand, people who even hire others to wait in the long lines in China for them to get the tea! I think they are about using high quality tea in freshly made drinks as kind of their tagline. Definitely worth a try especially for the seasonal fruit drinks I'd say.

Overall: 4 stars…read more Haven't done a HeyTea review in a while but finally went to a new one in Bellevue. This one is a bit off for me compared to the others in the Bay and NYC, but its great to see that its expanding. I love their expanded menu of drinks that appeals to a larger number of flavors. Coconut Mango Boom - I'm not sure what's wrong with this version but something is off balance from the usual. I think the ratio of mango smoothie was not enough so it was starting to taste like a bowl of sago in coconut milk. This drink is only delightful when that perfect balance is maintained. Food: -1 Presentation: +1 Price: +1 Atmosphere: E Service: E Menu: +2 Insta/Yelp/Beli: @amei_eats Insta/TikTok: @ameizing.race