This is a very popular tea shop in Tokyo, and I was so excited to see that they have shops in the Bay Area when I moved back here. Their teas are very high quality and each is very well thought out. Definitely recommend this shop for Japanese green teas, traditional and flavored. But I find myself trusting them with my black and herbal tea selections also. I usually have 4-5 kinds of tea by them, and buy loads of “Good Morning” black tea for daily drinking. If you buy enough, they sometimes have an offer to add you to their mailing lists where you will receive a monthly newsletter with a free sample. I used to get these in Japan and it was pure delight to try different teas every month. Wish more shops offered this!
My new regular bubble tea place. Almost always get Ceylon milk tea with coffee jelly, iced, no-sugar (the coffee jelly adds the right amount of sweetness). They have a large variety of bubble tea and fashion magazines (Chinese and English). I feel their teas are of higher quality than other bubble tea places on Castro, and they have great service. The shop is smaller than others, so the tables feel crowded inside. But they have nice outdoor tables!
A wonderful Taiwanese couple runs the shop. They have a smaller selection of teas, but all of them good and some of the nicer teas are of excellent quality. They also have Chinese tea wares and Taiwanese snacks (try the lover’s mango). I always go to buy good Taiwanese Wulong to gift. If you express sincere interest to learn more about their teas, they might even invite you to sit and try a few at their traditional Chinese tea table.
Used to go more when the shop was less pretentious (and also less crowded). They serve a wide selection of tea by the pot (or mug) and nice (now pretty fancy) tea snacks. They also have some nice tea wares, European, Chinese and Japanese.
Used to go 4-7 times a week as an undergrad when the shop was sunny and bright. Asian pop and gangster movies still play on the flatscreen, and frothy milk teas still taste the same, but served in the larger size. Recommend the grapefruit green and grapefruit slushy, both comes with aloe – less sweet.
