touche!
Had a busy day from very early this morning, so we headed to Uncle Paulies for BEC to push us through. As usual, we ordered their great half and half… but luckily I noticed they had a new drink… Badmaash Oatmilk Chai… I love the Chai they serve at Badmaash…so I had to order it… (It was $3).
HOLY CAU. It was absolutely stunningly delicious. You could actually taste the fresh ginger. It had plenty of Cardamom flavor (One of my favorite things) and a good balance of other spices as well. Clove is one of my least favorite things… and usually this is how I deal with Clove in my Chai Tea blends…
But the level in this one was more than acceptable… It’s available at Badmaash, Uncle Paulies and Animal. Hopefully way more places too!
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My fave at the moment is Chi Cha San Chen in San Gabriel. Great fruit teas and bubble milk teas.
I tried Tiger Sugar in Rowland Heights, those black sugar milk boba are really special.
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Did you think Tiger Sugar was too sweet?
What’s your favorite tea at Chicha San Chen?
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The ice and sweetness for the black sugar milk drinks at Tiger Sugar cannot be adjusted. It’s not as sweet as it is caramelly from the black sugar. Prob one of the better brown/black sugar places I’ve tried. Of course, the best one was in Taichung, TW.
The mango or passion fruit teas are good at Chi Cha San Chen. They open at 12 noon and you should order online ASAP, they only allow online orders.
https://order.mealkeyway.com/merchant/686242584c36786f70532f4b46556b542b56754d6f513d3d/main
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On the Westside, there is Refresh, next door to Ekkamai Thai and same owner. It reminded me of this conversation and review when it first came up. I miss @bulavinaka
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Hello! I don’t live in LA but i did happen to be down there recently for a family matter and got the chance to try out a bunch of boba spots. I live in NYC so we have a lot of crossover in terms of national bbt chains. Not sure if they are noticeably different in LA but my thoughts on the chains:
- Boba Guys: SML is one of my favorite bbt drinks ever. Their bubbles are unique and quite delicious. only good when consumed straight away though.
- Coco: cloud black tea is my favorite “normal milk tea” of any teahouse. Other drinks are good but nothing special. Bubbles are ok.
- YiFang: Fruit tea is yummy but quite sweet. Their brown sugar milk was all the rage before Tiger Sugar but TS is better.
- Tiger Sugar: best iteration of brown sugar milk of all the bbt shops imo
- Alley: meh
- Kung Fu Tea: cocoa cream wow with milk cap is delish. everything else is just ok
- Gong Cha: very meh
In LA I tried:
- White and Brown: really delicious, reminds me of one of my favorite bbt spots in nyc, Moge Tee! We got the Lychee drink, grapefruit slush, osmanthus oolong cheese tea, and a black dragon cheese tea. All three were delicious. Very similar to Moge Tee. Cheese is v yummy and this style of tea shop is my personal favorite. Highly recommend osmanthus oolong cheese tea for anyone that likes cheese teas. grapefruit slush is also one of my favs and very refreshing - the grapefruit and green tea combination is killer.
- Omomo Tea Shoppe: This was on my wishlist for a year lol. Got the Omomo Matcha and the Strawberry Green Tea. Both were delicious!! I especially liked the strawberry green tea, very strong fresh strawberry flavor balanced with refreshing green tea. I usually am not too big on milky matcha drinks but the omomo matcha was amazing and I can see why it is so popular. Wish I had time to try the Mango Tornado.
- Hey Hey: Tried the Hey Hey and Thai Tea. Thai Tea was delicious but I don’t really like pudding topping so the Hey Hey was just ok for me.
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Been to Refresh a few times (last time was probably in Jan or Feb). I normally get the ginger lemonade (which I don’t see listed on the website). Wonderfully tart and bracing w/o being medicinal. Can’t recall if sweetness can be adjusted (I’d be surprised if they didn’t allow for that), and I don’t love boba, so I normally skip that.
Banh mi is fine, but the bread doesn’t work that well for me (texture is too soft, IMHO).
Sandwich-making can be pretty slow (not for a lack of effort on their part), so not the place to stop in for a super quick bite of food.
Still, it’s good QPR, the family running the place is super nice, and I enjoy it, if I’m in the area.
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wow, thanks for the post! Will definitely have to check out White and Brown (I actually bookmarked it a while ago and completely forgot) and Omomo next time I’m in the Irvine area.
Hey Hey is in my neighborhood and I like it. The Thai Tea is pretty good, it’s not just one note sugary sweetness. It tastes like they put other spices in it, maybe cinnamon.
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http://www.contracoffeeandtea.com/
Contra Coffee and Tea in Orange.
All nitro tap! The Sua Da and Thai Tea are very very good. It might be fun to compare their Sua Da with Phin Smith @Chowseeker1999
The Thai Tea is some of the best I ever had.
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There’s an Omomo in Chino Hills that’s closer to you and that doesn’t have the massive lines (not sure about now) that the one in Irvine has! 
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@noddles @hanhgry I’d go with Chino Hills if possible as I’ve always heard the lines are better there. Irvine now has 2 locations. The original Irvine location I heard still had insane lines prior to the new one opening up. If you are stopping by Irvine anyways and want to try Omomo, I’d consider checking out the second Walnut Village one. I typically enjoy the Uji at Omomo but I don’t have many places to compare to.
Another potential place to check out in Irvine is Orobae. They are newer and I haven’t been but I have noticed a rather long line for it during grocery stops to the Mitsuwa next door. Lines are probably not as bad as I suspect Omomo would be but they are likely to be completely unshaded (though I think Omomo’s line is probably unshaded too for most of the day).
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If it matters, right now the Chino Hills location of Omomo is doing online orders only. Both Irvine locations are still doing walk-in orders (and often have long lines).
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@noddles @hanhgry I went to the Irvine - walnut village location and the line was very short at the time I went, about 5pm or so! It is walk in orders only but it moves fairly quick and there is some nice seating outside. I’d also note that their website is actually inaccurate on the walnut village hours, they are open until 7pm (not 5pm) as stated on their IG page.
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@Bagel @jntcho I heard rumblings about a second location in Irvine, so it’s good to know that they’re open with relatively shorter lines!
Definitely matters, especially if they have a system in place that notifies you when your drinks are ready to pick up. It makes it really easy to stroll up and leave without being around other people for too long.
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Thanks for the tip about the Chino Hills location! I may try to check out Omomo in Chino Hills sometime this week because traffic has been light especially during the week.
Thanks to @JeetKuneBao for the tip on Hopper and Burr! and @Chowseeker1999 for catching my typo in the original post! I had to go to OC to make a special delivery on Friday morning so I made it a special point to stop over.
They make their own chai blend… which I was excited to try. Further, when I requested Almond Milk (I think it adds a little something to chai) they said they make their own as well! And I was super impressed… It foamed up BEAUTIFULLY!
The chai blend was very nice. Balanced but spicy. It also was WAY too smooth. I could have just downed it!! The only thing I would chance is to order it with a shot of espresso. This is how I’ve been getting it at my local coffee shop (They use excellent espresso beans from Red Bay in Oakland) and not only is it delicious but it also tempers some of the sweetness. That is what I really liked about the Badmaash one… it wasn’t super sweet. This one was a hair towards that.
So, I resisted sucking it down… because since I was early there, I could head down to Paderia to finally try some of their egg tarts!
I had been to Paderia before, but I always make it too late to get egg tarts!! They also specialize in Levain type cookies and they do an excellent job with them (That is why I got some! But I REALLY. REALLY wanted to try their egg tarts. And on Friday… SCORE!
AND THEY WERE WARM!! OMG. They were everything I hoped. Super flakey crust. CREAMY filling. Eggy in taste and not overly sweet. Just an all around excellent egg tart. And while it tasted great warm, there was something to be said about having one that is cooled. The crust becomes even more flakey and the egg tart flavor more deep. The only thing about these is that the crust is butter based. There is something to be said about a lardy egg tart crust. But honestly at this level, it really is a quibble.
Finally, we also always get one of their seasonal cheesecakes. We had it tonight and it was excellent as the one’s we had prior. Right now it’s Lemon Blueberry. The top is covered by a whole berry compote and instead the cheesecake are blueberries as well. However, the lemon note is VERY present. I love Lemon flavors, so it make very happy. Although we ate it a day later, nothing suffered in this cake. They use a THICK graham cracker crust that holds together well. It’s yielding, not grainy or crumbly. The cheesecake itself is light and almost fluffy. But not so much that you think you are eating one of those instant cheesecakes. It’s very satisfying and one is more than enough to share. It also went well with a Chai this evening… this time home brewed chai from A Rare Tea Company with a bit of Rosa Bros Horchata milk…
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Hi @Dommy,
Thanks for the report. Sounds like a great day! 
For “Panderia” which place is this? Google keeps thinking I’m trying to find a “Panaderia” instead. 
Ha! My bad… Force of habit… no N.
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I’ve only been to Paderia a few times and never been there in time for the egg custard but we love their malasadas. Not quite Leonards in Honolulu but made to order and excellent.
Hopper and Burr is one of the best in the OC. Guys know what they are doing and source good beans. Jason from Playground loves this joint.
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