Happy Lemon passion fruit green tea with lychee jelly: My love for this chain brought me to the deep abyss of the Downtown Crossing Corner Mall food court, a ragbag of fast food joints including the likes of Subway, Dunkin Donuts, and suspect Asian fare. As I navigated through the bleak aroma of fried teriyaki, the bright yellow Happy Lemon sign materialized like a beacon of hope. The counter had several dentist-sized cups filled with a Yakult-flavored drink with aloe; the sampling was overly sweet, but I attributed this mostly to the Yakult pro... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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Kung Fu Tea honey black tea with boba: Half a year ago, I posted a positive review of the newly opened Kung Fu Tea in Somerville (Davis Square), with particular praise for their boba. I've since returned several times and have found the quality has dropped significantly. For my last visit, I had half-sugar honey black tea, which was fine, but the boba was mushy and soft. As a result, I am removing my endorsement of KFT Davis. 2.5/5.0
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Happy Lemon Light Oolong Tea with Salted Cheese: As a frequent patron of Happy Lemon, I've always been curious about their salted cheese drinks (who wouldn't be), but I've been too afraid to try them. On my last trip, though, I decided to give in and ordered the most neutral flavor, a light oolong tea. I expected the cheese to come in solid form as a topping for the drink, but it was actually more like a thick milk that could be stirred to flavor the entire drink. The salted cheese had a slightly savory aftertaste but wasn't highly seas... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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Sharetea Hokkaido black milk tea with boba: I stopped by this branch of Sharetea to scout out tea shops in downtown Berkeley; this one is located right on the edge of campus. Coming in around lunchtime meant there was a sizeable line of college students, and it took about 10 minutes total from getting in line to retrieving my drink. Their menu has several variants of classic black milk tea, including Hokkaido black tea, which supposedly has a roasted brown sugar flavor. Though I ordered it at 30% sweetness, it was more sweet than I wo... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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Share Tea Mango green tea with lychee jelly: After attending an event in Palo Alto, I wanted to get a caffeinated beverage for my drive back to the East Bay. I found myself at Share Tea, whose Berkeley branch I had just tried several days before. This time, I opted for a fruit tea and ordered their mango green tea at 30% sweetness with lychee jelly. Even at 30%, I still found the tea to be too sweet, though it did have a nice herbal flavor that came through. I also liked the lychee jelly, which had a good amount of firmness. The m... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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I-Tea Pomelo Green Tea with Aloe: I was super surprised to find an i-Tea at the San Francisco Premium Outlets and purchased a round of drinks for my family. This location, though, proved that not all i-Teas are created equal. The pomelo green tea I had was fairly average as far as fruit teas go, with an artificial citrus flavor that made the beverage more of a juice than a tea. Chewy and crunchy cubes of aloe were a bit better, though still not much different than what you might find at a normal Asian tea shop. The 3G, w... (read more) 2.5/5.0
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