Tea Hut Jasmine milk tea with boba: It’s kind of outrageous how saturated quality bubble tea shops are in the Bay Area. We’ve all become accustomed with fine-tuning our drinks to our exact specifications - with numerous toppings, sugar levels, and even the amount of ice, down to a percent. With the range of available options, tea shops are resorting to other ways of distinguishing themselves beyond ingredients, turning to the beverage’s vehicle itself: the humble cup. Here at Tea Hut, a small bubble tea shop right next to b. P... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended sf drinks bubbletea boba milktea teahut jasmine milk tea 4.0
Matcha Cafe Maiko Matcha soft serve with matcha powder and mochi: According to the Matcha Cafe Maiko website, the San Francisco shop located in the Japantown center is the first to open in the "American mainland," with an original location in Hawaii. Its matcha products are imported all the way from Harima Garden in Kyoto. While the menu features their matcha soft serve, they have a surprising variety of lattes, floats, and other beverage pairings as well. At $5.50, their soft serve is a bit steep for a single serving, but it has a concentrated herbal f... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended japantown sf dessert softserve icecream matchacafemaiko matcha soft serve powder mochi 3.5
Cheeseboard Cheese Roll: This is a quintessential offering at Cheeseboard, combining the two things the famed bakery is know for: cheese and bread. The roll has a tangy, sharp flavor both from the melted crispy gruyere and from its sourdough base. Slightly crusty but soft and fluffy inside, it’s delicious in its simplicity. 3.5/5.0
recommended berkeley bread cheeseboard cheese roll 3.5
Humphry Slocombe Malted milk chocolate ice cream: I had a nerve wracking week, with a lot of “hey, can we chat?” meetings with people at work. At the end of it, I found myself naturally walking to a Humphry Slocombe in the Ferry Building, a place I don’t go to frequently but realize now that I always went to when I needed a bit of comfort on my way home from work. It’s a reliable ice cream shop, uniquely San Franciscan with flavors that fall out of the ordinary. I sampled their POG, a passion fruit, orange, and guava sorbet (the toy also co... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended sf ferrybuilding humphryslocombe malted milk chocolate ice cream 3.5
Q Spectacular Grapefruit Soda: Spectacular may be a stretch, but "Quite Good" is not quite as catchy. This fizzy grapefruit soda has a tangy flavor that's somewhere in between not-very-sweet and Coca Cola sweet, which is to say that it's sweeter than I personally would prefer but nowhere near as sweet as most canned sodas. It definitely has a distinct flavor from orange soda, so if you like grapefruit juice over orange juice (as I do), this is a good alternative. It's meant as a mixer for cocktails but tasty all on its... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended drinks soda q spectacular grapefruit 3.5