Tea Era

Tea Era in Cupertino consistently delivers great quality food paired with genuinely friendly customer service. Orders are accurate, flavors are bold, and staff are welcoming and efficient, making it an easy go-to spot for comfort meals. Will definitely come back with friends.

Classic homey boba spot, coming here for many years, hits every time. Did split cup and very good value. My favorite drink is the honeydew mt. Lots of tablespace, and good food like the popcorn chicken!

I am the first one in the queue and they make other people order first. They said it’s ready and cannot cancel. They never said sorry! Bad attitude. I wait about 25 minutes. Will not come again. Tastes too oily. I never give any 1 star before but you don’t respect me, you worth it.

The tea taste here have a bite. The issue I have with them was the hot grass jelly special that they have for winter. This traditionally comes with at least the beans inside but they sold it with just the liquid. I feel it’s to make more money off a drink but if they were really making a special, they can up the price a little and put at least a small portion of 3 toppings in it so that the customer have a better experience of this traditional drink.

Don’t ever get an avocado smoothie here. It tastes like nth.

Love getting the taro smoothie with pearls but I hate using the machine to order since it’s time consuming and they charge an extra fee for using it. This is a good boba spot, just wish the workers weren’t so serious.

This place charges a nonsense "Service Fee" even when you use the automated machines to order. This is on top of a tip prompt - There is no waiter/server service here so why even prompt for a tip? Avoid these kinds of businesses. Giving a middling rating only because the drink was somewhat good...

Pretty busy place with a big menu including lot of snacks. Good amount of seating and a few tables outside. Can get very noisy inside when at capacity. Cream top tea has no real flavor neither salty nor sweet.

Everything is mid about this tea shop, from ambience, tea products to customer service, yet it gives me so much memory from years of coming here with my family. Though I am always up for trying new places as a boba tea lover, I never want to forget this dingy place at the corner of this grungy plaza, that has sticky table, ok milk tea, hit-or-miss service, but lots of good time. Our recent pop-in after long-hour drive from a road trip was soul-soothing and nostalgic. Tried the curry beef shank rice plate and really liked it. It was yummy. My passion cream milk tea was ok. Service was absent-minded as they gave us the wrong drink and it wasn't busy. Restroom could use a good remodeling as everything was falling apart. Casual setting. There are a few tables for sit-in but don't expect comfort. I'd like to see this place getting upgraded.

When did Tea Era start watering down their teas? I used to love the roasted barley milk tea from here (it's been years since I've had it since I moved to another state during pandemic) and was super excited to see this location. Got my usual order and it felt very watered down. I don't taste the tea flavor at all. They do have a big menu and maybe I'll try the popcorn chicken next time and skip the tea.

i think tea era has been around for a loong time but ive never visited until recently bc it was never that appealing/unique. fortunately, i didnt miss out on much service was decently quick and theres a good amount of seating and tables inside - there were always students studying/hanging out when i visited. honeydew mt (6/10): average, artificial honeydew flavor. i couldnt taste much of the tea but i dont think i should expect to bc i think you would only order honeydew mt if you were feeling nostalgic iron buddha mt (6/10): stronger tea flavor compared to the honeydew mt, but it wasnt anything special imo. a faint taste of oolong but thats about it. i dont think people go to tea era bc the drinks are good, i think they go for the nostalgic or for a place to study. not sure i would revisit unless theres a specific reason to because the drinks werent that impressive to me

Me and my friend went here for milk tea after eating dinner for dessert, I tried the black sugar milk tea and it was rather refreshing it was what I needed. The ambiance was dark, quiet and busy. The milk tea was the right temperature, and the flavor was really good not funky. The tea tasted fresh and the boba was good. The only thing that would have made it taste even better would be a little more flavor and more sweetness. The service was good the lady was attentive and kind. Overall a good experience 4/5 overall good.

Dirty, dirty, dirty! Walk in here and look at the blinds. Not only do they have dust on them, they are baked in grime.They never been cleaned in the last decade it appears. I haven't received my order yet, so I can't speak to the food. But the condition of cleanliness in this restaurant is enough to give it the two star rating. I will never come here again. And I don't care how good the food is.

They have a self service kiosk or you can order at the counter. I got the passionfruit green tea and it was the perfect sweetness and had good tea flavor. The prices here a better than most boba places in the area too. The popcorn chicken is delicious as well! It comes out nice and hot and had a good crunch and flavor to it. Would definitely come back for more drinks and snacks!

usually love this place but just went here again and got food poisoning from the radish cake :(

Got two orders of fries and a Thai tea. The fries were 6.99 per order and it came out to be super small! Very upsetting portion ugh

If you're ever in the Homestead area and in the mood for boba pearls and something sweet and refreshing, Tea Era is a decent option. My friend and I came here after a particularly hot day in order to get a drink, and it was just as good as I remember. They now have a kiosk that you can order from and a variety of options, such as the Honeydew Milk Tea that I got. Service was relatively decent too, with the drink being prepared at an average amount of time and The interior of the place is a little dark, probably due to the dark wood of the walls, floors and furniture and the fact that the blinds of the windows were covering the light, but it gave it a sort of cozy atmosphere in spite of the loud children that were near us. There was also a TV playing what I think were kpop music videos, but I'm not entirely sure. The milk tea was refreshing, but occasionally the texture for mine would feel a little ot. My friend ordered a mango milk tea and mentioned that hers tasted a little artificial, but other than that we were still able to enjoy our drinks. It's not as sophisticated as some of the other places in Cupertino (or maybe I'm just a bit of a snob when it comes to boba), but it's reliable and has never failed to disappoint me. It would not be a place that I would go to on my own, but if a friend wanted to go there I would be more than happy to go with them.

Havent been here in a long ass time! Took my embo bird here last night for a daddy and daughter snack. I like that they have kiosks now so you can order on ur own. Unlike other cheap ass places in the area, they have 3 kiosks and not 1. The drinks came out pretty good and so did the popcorn chicken. I got a good amt of popcorn chicken for six bucks. Dont get the 11 dollar version, you get the same amt, only difference is it comes in a box.

This place is very solid and has very yummy snacks. I really appreciate the amount of options they have in terms of drinks because I love having options since I pick a different drink depending on my mood. It's also a chill place to hang with friends and catch up after dinner!

This place was pretty good. I had the popcorn chicken and lychee misty which were both decent. The ambience was nice and it was a good place to get some work done.

It's legal to charge additional "service fee", hidden fees not shown on menu? It's 20oz per said but there's a hidden service fee on every drink.

Came here on with some friends as it was their preferred boba shop in this part of town and it's a winner in my book. Pretty good pricing on bubble tea, had plenty of warm tea options (not quite hot, but it's rarer in the US), and taro tea had fresh taro chunks in it as well! Boba was good and flavorings at the 50% level were at a good subtle level of sweetness. It's a fairly simple place in decor, but quite the vast menu and I wasn't too interested in their other offerings (such as food and snacks). Good amount of parking given it's locale and it's pretty hard to find places that do cheap but good bubble tea, so this is definitely a name I'll be remembering going forward. Ordering is straightforward with a small kiosk that you can place your order at if you prefer less contact. Expect to have your number called out when your order is ready.

Oh man... Didn't have a great experience here. We DoorDashed some drinks from here and was pretty disappointed. My favorite thing here was the strawberry jelly... and that's saying something unfortunately. Banana Milk Tea (2/5): WAY TOO SWEET... and I got this drink 50% sugar too. It tastes very similar to the nostalgic Korean artificial banana milks I loved as a kid, but just add 10 times the amount of sugar to that. I'm definitely getting cavities after drinking just 1/3 of the cup. The drink was also very chalky in texture too. Gross. Chrysanthemum Milk Tea (2/5): This drink was strange, but the only drink we were able to finish. Has an initial bland flavor to it... but the aftertaste is a nice floral chrysanthemum flavor. Very bizarre and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Mountain Jade Tea Brulee (1/5): It had a strong fragrant tea taste, which I appreciate... but how can they not put milk in this drink? Just tea and brulee?The drink had really weird vibes to it and was undrinkable. The brulee gave it a bitter taste and the tea was already strong, so the brulee added a burnt flavor. DO NOT order this.

I dropped by here before going bowling for some boba. I ordered off the kiosk to get a standard black milk tea with boba at 25% sweetness. The drink was good, and the sweetness was perfect for me. The drink was done pretty quickly so I can get back to my friends at bowling. I'm sure I'll be here back again soon!

Consistent. My kids love this place. Mind the time of day that you go, for it is within walking distance from a high school.

What appealed to me about this tea shop was its wide variety of milk teas. I was drawn to the many options on the menu, and so many options sounded intriguing and refreshing! I arrived close to opening, and there were already so many online orders that the shop was dealing with, but I still received my order fairly quickly. Nice service! You can order at a kiosk. This kiosk was more informative than others I have encountered at other milk tea shops. For example, for the milk base option, there are multiple selections (half and half, soy milk, non dairy creamer, whole milk, etc) with brief explanations for some of the options (non dairy creamer - best taste). I ended up ordering one of the enthusiast selections, which was a mountain jade milk tea with tapioca pearls with 50% sweetness and no ice, Even with a size upgrade and toppings, my milk tea order was slightly cheaper than other restaurants I've been to in the bay. I was pleasantly surprised and interested by the flavor of my drink - I actually don't know what Mountain Jade Milk Tea is, but it was refreshing. It tasted like a stronger and fancier version of green milk tea. Their ratio of tea to milk is pretty high compared to other milk tea places I've tried and it actually wasn't too sweet, so it felt really authentic and was more to my taste. Just beware if you are sensitive to caffeine and don't want to stay up too long. Also, if you like your tea on the sweeter side, you should order at 75% or 100% sweetness. The tapioca pearls were a bit on the softer side, but I was okay with it. There is inclusive indoor seating and a table that provides space for those who need more accessibility. Overall, I had a good experience at Tea Era. It provided fast service and a nice selection of authentic and refreshing teas. Hopefully I can come here again to try other interesting options on their large menu.

The vibe is bustling milk tea & snack cafe! Lisa recommended the fries, popcorn chicken, and jasmine milk tea. I added the chicken steak! My IG model friend wanted to try the spicy cold noodles. Mm-hmm the noodles were out if this world fantastic! Surprising. Gorgeous. Spicy. Wowza! Paired perfectly with the hot, dry-spiced meats. Staff was attentive to our extra special requests. Napkins, bowls, knives, etc. Jasmine milk tea was great too! Would order everything again. Hao chi! (Even though I didn't really like the kiosk interface.) Woohoo!

I was delighted by the satisfyingly crunchy and flavorful popcorn chicken. The minced pork rice, true to its reputation, was equally delightful and delicious.

Braised beef soup was really good. I hope customers can choose separate from noodles and for the dumplings. For me I don't care if I pay extra for the dumplings.

Tea Era doesn't quite taste the way I remembered it. Huge selection on a tablet to choose from, prices are really reasonable, but 50% sweetness is the lowest you can choose from. Ordered a guava green tea with boba and it was extremely sweet. Could barely drink it. Would be nice if they had a 25% sweetness option.

I used to go there often when I was in college, but now that I'm not nearby, I can only visit occasionally. However, their popcorn chicken is still just as delicious. To this day, I haven't found one that tastes better than theirs.

Got the banana milk tea with boba pearls! It was caffeine free and had a non dairy version It tasted like an even blend of banana and milk. The boba pearls also had good consistency in the texture. This place has a nice vibe for hangouts. I bring my buddies here sometimes! I also created a video on Instagram and TikTok (@colorful.eats)~ https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuTEwKqOaMU/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM2uNahC4/

In the area and wanted some bubble tea. This spot is close to my friends apartment. I really enjoyed the Guava Cooler drink with aloe. Refreshing flavor! Prices are fair too. Not too crazy like some shops are becoming. I'm glad. I'll return! I want to try the food too in the future.

Popcorn chicken +Roasted Oolong Crema Tea + Boba. Just passing by and purchased popcorn chicken along with roasted oolong crema tea +boba. The popcorn chicken was delicious with robust flavors. The oolong milk tea with boba was also delightful. I will definitely revisit. Highly recommend.

This has been my go to for boba and popcorn chicken and other snacks but I noticed they have changed their vendor. The popcorn chicken no longer tastes good. There is poor flavor and the chicken is dry. The fried radish cake used to be delicious and now it's a completely different style with batter on the outside. I'm sad that I will have to find a new popcorn chicken and boba place.

Popcorn chicken very dry and salty. Hot red bean soup was way too sweet even with reduced sugar and most of them are just hit water, very little read bean and taro balls.

Big menu with quality food options. Detailed breakdown below: **Service, 3.5/5** The woman who took our order wasn't friendly at all, but my food and drink came out really quickly. **Decor & cleanliness, 5/5** Not much decor, but everything was clean. **Price & portion, 5/5** Great deal for boba and food options. My large boba and huge bento box came out to about $16. **Presentation of the food, 5/5** The bento box was totally full and showcased all the different side items. **Taste of the food, 5/5** - Brown sugar oolong milk tea, 5/5: Got this half sweet and half ice with boba and it was perfect. Both the tea and brown sugar flavors really came through, and the boba was perfectly soft and chewy! I might even get this 25% sweet next time. - Popcorn chicken bento box, 5/5: The chicken was so juicy inside and had awesome crunch on the outside. It was also really flavorful! I was really impressed that they have such great popcorn chicken with such an extensive menu. My box came with corn, half a boiled egg, 3 pieces of tofu, popcorn chicken, rice topped with ground pork, and stir fried cabbage. Everything was delicious except the cabbage which was too salty. **Other notes** One gender neutral bathroom. Indoor seating is available but no outdoor seating. They have combo specials for food and drink items, but you're limited to Ceylon or jasmine milk tea. They also have veggie food options on the menu (cold spicy noodles, tofu, fries).

I live next to the Mountain View tea era and I have to say this location is better since there's more options for drinks and they serve food, but more expensive. I loveeee there pork and rice dish! It always hits the spot for me. Their drinks are unique and tasty. Always a go to for me!

Tea Era is a staple of the area and I'm pretty sure this store has been around forever. Went by the other day for the first time in a while. The prices have increased but the quality of the food has remained quite good. The popcorn chicken was crunchy and tasty, and the minced pork rice did not disappoint.

This is a convenient place for a quick sweet treat. I have always enjoyed my choices here. I am bummed they have replaced the live cashier with an iPad even tho the cashiers were never particularly friendly. Te iPad makes it even more impersonal. Even on busy days, they tend to be quick. I had a buy 10, get $3 off card from years ago which was honored. I liked that. It does seem silly that it is not get one free. $3 does not get you far with boba! I also wish they would get the lavender milk tea in stock. I am itching to try it. The store is dark and tight. I prefer to get my tea to go. Despite 3 stars, I do keep coming back :)

Visit: April 2021 After eating at Local Cafe, I came next door with Allen to get a second cup of boba (hehehehe)! I wanted to see what was different at this Tea Era, since it seemed much larger than the one on Castro St. in MTV. Looking at the menu, it's quite extensive, a little bit different maybe, and seemed to be more catered towards the Taiwanese/Chinese crowd. I noticed that they also offer more toppings options - probably because the kitchen is much larger and the demographics are also pretty different. Prices also seemed a little bit higher - but the upside is that they do take credit cards! I ordered: roasted oolong milk tea with taro balls and honey boba The drink came out to almost $7.....that's crazy LOL. Taro balls were not the best, but what can I complain about haha. Roasted oolong not bad! Honey boba was good texture but no flavor.

The good: The service here was quick and prompt. Their menu offers tons of tea and snack options. I tried the chrysanthemum milk tea with grass jelly at 25% sweetness and with less ice. It was under $5 for the drink in a regular size. The place reminds me of milk tea shops I used to frequent in 20007-2012 era. This was nostalgic and sweet to me. The interior isn't very trendy or modern and they play Chinese music. It is a simple boba shop with no frills or gimmicks. I liked that they had more than 1 non-caffeinated option that wasn't a slushy and wasn't taro milk tea. The bad: They have indoor seating but no outdoor seating. The grass jelly wasn't too special. I was on the thicker side and was a bit bland. The interesting: They have a 2nd location in Mountain View.

The tea is decent we got the coconut milk with extra boba. We went to sit down to wait for our order and the tables were dirty and as I looked around it looked like the place hasn't been cleaned properly in a while as everything seemed pretty half cleaned and dingy and supplies were sitting out in the open. The parking lot is extremely full as well so we had to park far away.

Good place to grab some quick drinks and snacks. Lots of options for food but drinks are just okay. I did recently enjoy their tofu pudding which many places don't offer

possibly the worst tea spot i've had. thai tea smoothie is powder, and their jasmine green tea brûlée just taste off. Probably a reason why their drinks are really on the inexpensive side. headed to another boba spot as i'm writing this to get my fix.

Have not visited since CoVid. Quick stop for lunch after work. Got Taiwanese Sausage Bento and Popcorn. Both bento Popcorn chicken are very good portion. Popcorn chicken was crisply. However, both item are on the saltier side. I wish their can be a little more conservative on their salt usage. Milk teas were good as usual. Full of tea flavors unlike some other places. Both came with a large drink, out the door less than $23. What a bargain! I think their price remained the same. I didn't notice a increased in their price comparing to Pre Covid. Most of their tea prices remain around $4. Unlike many other places, a Boba tea Costs $6. They are only offering take out only at this time.

It was a hot day, was craving some good shaved ice so came to check out how things are after the reopening. Surprisingly not too busy, only 3 people in front of me in the order line on a Sunday afternoon. Ordered my shaved ice with 3 ball combo, red bean, and pearl. Cash only under $6 and my big bowl of sugary goodness is only $4.75+tax. Was used to paying way more than that just for a boba drink in this area so that felt good. My ice came out quickly, with a nice big tower of ice with a generous amount of topping on the bottom. My only critique is it's impossible to get to the topping without making a big mess, unless you just eat the ice on the top by itself first. Wish the bowl is bigger or at least wider. No complaints to the actual food though. Glad to see their dining in option is back to normal, while not increasing the price. Will return!

D R I N K S: iron buddha 6/10: less ice 75% sweet with honey boba. super herbal and strong tea flavor if that's up your alley. i can appreciate this but its not my favorite. good creamer/milk to tea ratio. honey boba is average matcha rose green milk tea 7/10: less ice 75% sweet with honey boba. i wouldn't get this from here, it's pretty mediocre, more like 80% matcha flavor and the rest is diluted fruity rose. not strong flavor taste diluted. again nothing special. seems like their specialties are with classic richer milk teas, not really fruit or mixed drinks. not my favorite place but try it if you're in the area. S E R V I C E: not that great, the girls are not outwardly friendly but that just might be a cultural difference. asked to change the ice level and she was noooottt happy about that lol

Tea Era is a shop located in a small plaza. It has a parking lot, but it is a bit cramped in this lot. It is always busy here, so they tend to take awhile with drinks and food. Their green milk tea was eh, it tasted a bit more on the bitter and watery side. The boba was super chewy and soft as well, it kind of melted in my mouth. Their popcorn chicken was even worse, it was super salty.

We used to come here a lot when we lived in the apartments behind the shopping center. Pretty standard boba tea place, though they have a good selection of food too. We used to love the dry noodles here but it seems they've been replaced with udon now and we didn't like that as much. :( My wife still loves the tofu pudding here though.

I've been coming here for over ten years. They have been pretty reliable, with the occasional hiccup on especially busy or understaffed days. It can get loud during busy times, but I usually just order to-go nowadays. Ten years ago, I might have hung out there with coworkers after work or brought my laptop to study for classes. One of my go-to drinks is the grass jelly drink. It's my favorite here because it's noncaffeinated and they actually reduce the sweetness when I request it to be less sweet (other places, even when you order 50% or 25%, still make their drinks sickly sweet). That's what I got tonight. I've gotten it maybe a dozen times and it's been good every time. Before 2/01/23, their prices were about $0.75 cheaper across the board. They removed 16-ounce cups as an option (sad for me because that is the size I prefer!). They switched to 24-ounce cups for iced drinks and 20-ounce cups for hot drinks. Even with the price increase, I'd say it's still worth it. Added some pictures of the menu because I noticed there weren't any recent ones that reflect the price increase.

I usually get their large milk tea with popcorn chicken combo. I always add boba, which today was good. Milk tea is average, but love their popcorn chicken. Today, service was quick even though there were lots of people waiting. This should be 3.5 star rating. Better than average, but nothing to write home about. Their roasted oolong with crema is better, but doesn't come in a combo.

I came on a weekend afternoon and it was pretty busy although it was super chilly outside. I've had this place bookmarked for a while and I thought I would check it out. I got the roasted barley milk tea without toppings and more sweetness. I think I made a good choice making it a little more sweet. If I went with regular sweetness I think it would be too bitter for me. The combination of the barley and milk tea was surprisingly pretty good. I've never had a barley milk tea before. Just a heads up that they have a $6 minimum to use a credit card and their regular sized drinks are around $4 so I had to scrounge up some cash. You would think during COVID times especially, they would accept credit cards without a minimum. Overall, it was a good place and I enjoyed my drink. I wish that they would accept credit cards but that's okay.

COVID Masks are required before going in and one customer/party each time. I've been thinking of trying this place for awhile but never made it to my calendar. Finally today we stopped by to get food and drinks. The drinks are much more reasonably priced than a lot of other boba places. They are mostly in the range of 3.75-4, with slushy going to $5. I don't like toppings or boba, so this is much better value to me. The green tea without sugar is very strong and full of flavor. We also tried the food. The popcorn chicken bento has a good variety of side dishes and good amount of popcorn chicken. Also very flavorful and I was pleasantly surprised at how good the cabbage tasted. The shredded chicken with dry noodle and fried onions is ok, kinda wish the noodle is not as oily. And itself is not a meal, so no drinks are included but they offer $1 off if you add a drink. We will be back to try other drinks. Their drink menu is also quite broad in selection.

I was just passing through the area. Stop and get some tea at Tea Ea. Everything was wonderful! Thank you! Pearl G.

No wait (Friday night) and extremely fast service once ordered. Roasted Barley Milk Tea was so good. Coffee Jelly was tasty and cup size was big.

Great boba shop! I go here all the time and i've had a positive experience every time