Delicious tea at great prices. I had a large kumquat lemon green tea with cool balls and the cup was MASSIVE. I haven't had a Big Gulp from 7-Eleven in a while, but its roughly the same size. Their "cool balls" are interesting, with a soft yet crunchy texture and litchi-like taste. My drink came out to $4.50 for the tea and an extra 50¢ for the cool balls. I also got the salt and pepper tofu as a snack, which was bland... Where was the salt and pepper part?!
Thus tea place is located deep inside of a dingy plaza. There is searing inside of the restaurant next door, reserved for tea drinkers. Wifi is fast and is available with the password at the bottom of the receipt.
Very happy we made the walk over to this spot! Really fun options and able to customize the amount of sugar in the drinks. I got the regular size Jasmine Milk Tea with bubbles and it was perfect. We saw another Cool Tea Bar on our way back to the hotel- glad to know there are multiple locations nearby!
If you're a bubble tea (boba) aficionado in SF, definitely make the effort to find this hidden gem. It's located in what seems to be a forgotten old mall in Chinatown, and it blows most local bubble tea competition out of the water. Unlike others, this tea bar uses real tea rather than the flavored powder mix. Their boba is always flawlessly cooked - fresh and just the right amount of squishiness, never overcooked or hard. Also, did you know that you can customize the percentage of sugar in your drink? You won't find that elsewhere in Chinatown! Cool Tea Bar may be a little pricier than the neighborhood competition but you get more, because their drink sizes are larger than what you'll find in the vicinity. Go with their menu's popularity rankings and treat yourself to their #1, the Roasted Milk Tea. During the day, you can enjoy your drink in the cozy sitting area for bubble tea lovers to the right of the line.
I think this is one of the best tasting milk tea places in SF. Additionally, the boba was soft and sweet. The milk tea flavors were amazing. I got to try a few. I recommend all of them :D. The place gets crowded with long lines. I will probably come back if I find parking in Chinatown.
I just have to review Cool Tea Bar's yummy and delicious milk tea with boba. The drink tastes so good, unlike the Boba I had back in Houston. I have not tried the other boba places in Chinatown, but so far they have some "bombass" drinks there. It's a shame I do not live in San Francisco, but when I do visit, I will try to come here and try their other drinks, hopefully their popular grass jelly one. I hope I used that term "bombass" right since I am not a California native. :-P
Loved their taro smoothie. It was amazing and by far the best taro smoothie I've ever had. It's really pricey but the taro is real unlike the powder used in other places.
Roasted milk tea with grass jelly! The regular size (~$3.50) is like a large, and the large size is like a...super large lol. Pretty fast service and free wifi as well. What's not to like?
Simply one of the best bbt in north america. Much better and cheaper and bigger than chat time if your from Toronto.
Make a reservation
Order online
Find the best restaurant in San Francisco
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes