The Whale Tea

I like having a local tea spot that services Whitestone area without having to go into Main Street! (This location is shared with the Vietnamese restaurant in the Hualian Plaza). Seems like there’s mixed/old reviews from another location.

Went to check out this place with my friends after work. The inside is very spacious and clean. We ordered enough drinks to receive a free drink of our choice (2 stamps per drink and 10 stamps for a free drink). The menu is diverse with many unique flavors I have never tried. Some teas were also thicker in consistency compared to drinks I’ve had from other stores, but they were tasty. The staff members were extremely nice, especially the cashier. She also helped us clean up after I accidentally spilled a strawberry slush (I’m so sorry!) I will definitely revisit some day and order sushi to pair with the drinks.

Boba is good but service is slow. Only 1 guy working and he’s taking orders while making drinks.

Service is non existent- which isn't an issue for me. My issue was the Brown sugar milk tea.I got it with regular milk and half ice. There was barely any brown sugar taste. It just tasted like plain milk with boba. This has happened quite a few times. I do appreciate the punch cards though.

This place is good! Fresh fruit tea and brown sugar ginger milk tea where you can actually taste the ginger. I think it used to be in a diff location, I updated the location on maps so it shows up in the right place. Located in the hua lian plaza next to the Vietnamese restaurant.

Ordered around 3. I ordered two brown sugar milk bubble tea and was served with expired milk. Please have your employees check stock and expiration dates. Thank you.

Flushing is completely saturated with bubble tea joints but for some reason, I still get excited whenever a new one opens. This new bubble tea place called The Whale Tea opened yesterday along Kissena Blvd near Queens College. The Whale Tea is a Nanjing-based bubble tea chain and very popular in China with over 500 outlets. This location in Flushing is big and shares its space with Qiu Sushi and Ramen (grand opening soon). The space is wide and spotless with tables along the wall of floor to ceiling windows overlooking busy Kissena Blvd. It looks like a really nice place to hang out. We ordered Taro Fresh Milk Tea, Watermelon Fruit Milk with Lychee Jelly and a Mango Slush with Lychee Jelly. The Mango Slush was delish! The slush was finely textured and melted in your mouth. A great refreshing drink in the summer heat. The Taro Fresh Milk Tea was different from your usual taro drink. First of all, it was not purple but rather white in color. It was made with real taro. The taro texture was soft but a bit dry, nutty and grainy. To be honest, I’m a bit on the fence with this drink. As for the Watermelon Fruit Milk drink….it was just so unique! Not at all what I was expecting. The drink contained chia seeds and needed to be vigorously shaken before drinking. The watermelon was very subtle and the chia seeds along with the lychee jelly gave it a very interesting flavor and texture. I thought it was strange on my first few sips but then after a while, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually enjoy trying new things and this tea shop has truly piqued my interest. I appreciate that their drinks are made with real fruit and ingredients are healthier. I’m really curious about their other drinks on the menu and will be back to try them. Tip: As part of their grand opening promo, buy 5 drinks and get 1 drink free. Tip 2: Ask for a loyalty card. Ten stamps = one FREE drink.

I stopped by this place and ordered a strawberry slushie. The employees were extremely nice and the cashier was very kind to me while I was ordering. This is a very clean place and the drink was very good. I will definitely be coming here again.

Love stopping here for drinks after eating at Pho Top. There's usually only person working (a young man with glasses) but he very quick with getting drinks prepared. Great drinks and quick service .. can't beat that combo! Wishing The Whale Tea continued success!!

"I loved the mango slush with mango popping boba it was nomnomnom" - 9yo Always speedy service. My fave is the grapefruit tea with lychee jelly. Refreshing on a hot summer day!

This area was missing a bubble tea option for quite some time. I only really come this way when I have to make a Target run, which is pretty frequent I suppose. Every time we're done with Target and crave a boba, we would either have to drive into the heart of Flushing or head over to Fresh Meadows. Whale tea is now convenient to get to for us. They share the same store as Pho Top so if you're in the mood for some Viet, this is even more of a reason to stop in. While I don't think this quite as good as the other well known boba shops, it's not bad either. I tried their signature Whale Crystal with Coconut milk and I think this drink is unique and good enough to warrant a visit. The blue color on top of the drink is said to be natural color from some type of seaweed. I didn't catch everything they said when describing it to me. The bottom is some type of rice jelly topping, warm on the bottom but once you mix it all up it's pretty good. Love that there's a parking lot which makes stopping in much easier for us.

I love the teas here. These got me through my pregnancy since it's almost next door. Their rose tea, lychee green tea and mango green tea are in my top 3. Their toppings are fresh. Definitely recommend. Good bye my money

Finally a good bubble tea store near Whitestone that has a parking lot. There is just so much pedestrians and cars in flushing that deters me from going there. The Whale Tea is a good option for both fruity drinks and milky drinks. I've had their brown sugar milk tea, crème brûlée milk tea, Whale tea, and the mango slush. All are comparable to the big brand name bubble tea stores you've gone to. The whale tea was alright, but I liked the rest that I've tried. Presentation is really cute. They have a lid that looks like a bear haha. Make sure to ask for the loyalty card. I believe you get a free one after 10 drinks.

Came across this place while stopping by for groceries at Hua Lian. You have the option of self-order at kiosk or at the counter. My family and I ordered two drinks. One was the brown sugar milk tea (less sweet), and a passionfruit fruit tea. Both satisfied our cravings for the day. The only downside was the limited menu in a Sunday early afternoon (prime bbtea drinking time!). They didn't have taro or their whale special.

Cute bubble tea shop in a convenient shopping plaza with parking lot. The drink menu is varied and has some interesting options I haven't seen anywhere else before. I had the Blue Crystal which is coconut jelly with coconut milk and it was so refreshing and tasty. It doesn't have any added sugar which is great since most bubble teas are overly sweet. We also ordered the Passionfruit Slush with strawberry popping bubble, and it came in a cute cup with tiny ears on top. The prices overall are a bit higher than your traditional bubble tea shop, but the quality is great. Would love to come back and try some of their other drinks another time!

Went late Sunday afternoon, Took forever to get 3 drinks even from ordering at the machine. For the price of the drink I don't think it's worth it. 1- size wasn't big didn't justify the price. 2- taste was off (but boba consistency was good). Too much tea not enough milk combo. 3- ordered a matcha boba drink. No boba at all. Overall not impressed. Will not be returning. Rather go further and pay more.

Solid spot! It's not the most amazing bubble tea I've had, but it hit the spot for all of us. They have a pretty robust menu, and the service is quick. Normal prices too. I'd come back! Lots of parking spots too in the lot right outside.

Their passion fruit green tea has by far been the best that I've ever had and I've tried a lot of boba places before. It's refreshing, not too sweet, not artificial tasting, and sometimes comes with pieces of watermelon in it which I love! They have been doing a buy 2 get 1 free recently too which is a pretty good deal considering what bbt prices are like now. Also tried their signature milk tea (milk tea with hot boba coated in brown sugar (I think?)) and it's also very good. 10/10 wish there was a location in Main Street.

The bubble tea shop is inside a pho restaurant of this shopping area. Based on employee's suggestion, I ordered the whale special(?) that includes coconut milk, with peach (blue-colored) top with non-sweet chewy texture in the bottom. I wasn't a fan of this and I wished I got a milk or fruit tea. My partner got a fruit black tea and it was not flavorful.

I'm so happy that there's finally a bubble tea place near Whitestone and I don't have to go into downtown flushing for bubble tea. Best of all they have my cheese foam teas and bubble milk my son loves so much. They're also well priced (same as the others) about $5.75 for medium and $6.50 for a large? Depends on what you get. Best of all its right next door to my fav Vietnamese restaurant, pho best. P.s. they also have chia seed as an option which I think is soooo much healthier than the bobas. I purchased the signature milk tea, strawberry milk, and mango milk tea all with chia seed but was only able to take a pic of one drink. The pic is of a medium size mango milk tea with chia seeds.

I was eating at pho top when I realized that this bubble tea shop was attached to the restaurant. I opted for the crystal whale tea which looked very interesting and had a light coconut flavor. Not really sure what was in the drink but what ever they put in it complicated that other ingredients very well. It also looks amazing, just remember to shake the drink before you stab your straw in. I accidentally made that mistake and had to mix it with the straw.

Bubble tea here is pretty solid - I got myself the matcha and regular milk tea with bubbles. It was pretty good!! One thing tho - they def can put more ice in their bubble tea. Even the tea & bubbles were really good - I had to chill my bubble tea for a little bit as it was lukewarm, haha. I am not sure if it was just a mis-calculation or just their norm. Anyways I would be back to try out their fruit bubble tea options!

Cute new boba place, tastes really good! Hot boba on the bottom, ice cold milk tea on top. yum

The creme brulee taro milk tea is hands down phenomenal! If you're into creme brulee desserts and bubble tea, this is a must try!!

I order a manga slush and I watch how to make just for the worker there to put boba on the mango slush when I never ask for a boba isn't he button like why would you think I need boba in my mango slush like I never ask for it and it's getting on my Nevers I order from this store many time and that's the first time something like that happened

I tried the Mango Fruit Tea with boba. The flavor was good and refreshing but the boba is too soft. It was overcooked.

I tried them because they were local and was very disappointed. Will never order from them again. I ordered lychee slush and it's full of big ice chunks half blended. Even worse than Dunkin Donuts next door.

This is an update to my previous review from 8 months ago. Initially I had given them 5 stars and I am very sad to come back to update my review and give them 2 stars. The owner (Michael) used to be at the store every day and it was beyond perfect! Everything was made to perfection but I understand that usually owners only stay until they can hire a managing staff. Which they did initially but unfortunately the 2 men that were at the store today are not keeping up with the quality of the past. When we went into the store there weren't any customers. We placed our 3 drink order at the kiosk and wanted to pay cash at the counter. Beware that the kiosk has changed a bit and forces you to tip so if you don't want to tip, you need to enter custom and $0. When we got to the counter he said there is a buy 2 get 1 free promo so he would need to cancel and reenter our order (which I greatly appreciated!). It took many repeats to get the order correctly but I remained patient since we was giving us a discount. Our order was pretty simple (large Thai tea, no ice, 50% sugar, with tapioca; large fresh mango green tea, no ice, 50% sugar, with tapioca; and a large milk foam jasmine tea, 50% ice, 30% sugar, with 2x tapioca, and no milk foam!). To begin with, the order took a very long time to make. I triple checked that the jasmine tea had no milk foam but when I turned around for a second I noticed that he had added the foam. When I mentioned it he basically poured out the tea into the sink and used the shaker lid to strain the liquid and rinsed the boba. Now the boba is left plain without flavor or the brown sugar and covered in milk foam. He dumped it all back into the SAME cup and I had to ask him to please change the cup bc it was covered in milk foam. The Thai tea he shook and mixed which is not how it is usually done. I paid for 2x boba for 1 drink and he only put 1 portion. When asked about it he said it is. I gave up since it has already been about 25mins of waiting. Before giving me my drinks he asked me for my receipt! I don't know about everyone else's experience but this place has never given me a receipt and just to give everyone an idea of traffic, it was just my 3 drink order and 2 girls behind me with a 2 drink order (which are also done and just sitting on the counter. He looked at those drinks about 3 times and still didn't give it to them!). The boba today was not up to par with their usual. Not cooked through, hard center, and mine was bitter bc of the rinsing. I hope they get back to their usual standard soon or bring back the other crew bc they may lose a lot of business. Fyi the fresh fruit series also don't always have fresh fruit in them! Hope everyone else has a better experience and this was just a fluke but the 3rd customer that came in said it has been like this nowadays. Typical 30 min wait even with no customers! So sad