Teaway

We go here every time we are in Alameda! For this simple reason, 5 stars! Love the toppings available and the tapioca always tastes refreshing. They have gelato Ice cream also available, as well as all the fried tofu you want!
You know this is the spot when you come here everytime and we are in Alameda quite often. We love Teaway!

Gotta give 5 stars because I come here every week — LOVE their original milk tea and popcorn chicken!
Their popcorn chicken is the best… it’s sooo crispy but yet ISN’T overly covered in batter! (Many boba places tend to «over-​batter» their chicken –_​_​_​-​) The amount you’re seeing is actually all meat! Love the flavorful and crispy taste. You can get it normal, mild, or spicy.
I always get the original milk tea — somehow it’s so addicting and I can never get tired of it. I recently tried getting half-​sweet, but it tasted like it was missing something, so I will stick with full sweetness. They have cool boba/​jelly options for your toppings so you can always switch it up. My favorite is the grass jelly. Definitely start a stamp card — Buy 8 items get 1 free. I’ve filled up so many already!
I always have great experiences with the staff. They are so friendly! One time I accidentally gave my drink order wrong (I was dumb and said «black tea» instead of «milk tea») — when the drink came out and I realized my mistake, I told the cashier and she made me a new drink with no questions asked! I really appreciated that and I’ll never forget it :)
This is a great place to come study because there are plenty of seats inside. Street parking is not too bad here, I can usually find parking within a couple blocks. They also sell fro-​yo and gelato inside this location because it’s joint with Tuttimelon.

I got taro milk with porn chicken during the lunch Just only around $ 5… It crowed at here when I hangout with my friends to get milk tea. It hard to parking here because always full parking lot at street.

What I got: Jasmine Milk Tea with pudding and white Konjac pearls
What I liked:
++ DIY TOPPINGS! Who doesn’t like customization these days? I did a combination of 75% pudding, 25% white pearls and it turned out pretty tasty. The pudding here is pleasantly sweet and has a pretty standard consistency.
++ Price is not bad at $ 3.00 for a regular with customizable toppings
What I wasn’t crazy about:
– My friend got the normal boba and was disappointed — he said they were unpleasantly soft with no bite to them.
– The toppings self-​serve area is really not so pleasing to the eye. We arrived around 9:30pm, pretty late I GUESS and all of the toppings in each container were almost empty. There’s something about having to scrounge for the last few pieces of things that isn’t so appetizing.
Overall, I’d give this place 3.5 stars, but the workers weren’t super helpful. If I were on this side of the tube, I would come back, though!

I only tried their milk tea and popcorn chicken. I must give it a 1 star because their milk tea is below average compared to other places. Popcorn chicken was soggy and I can barely taste anything although I ordered spicy. I probably will go back for their yogurts. Hopefully it’ll boost some points.

It was my first time ever at a teaway and I was lost for a bit haha. I liked that you can add your toppings first and then they add your drink. This teaway location had plenty of toppings on hand and my favorites were the grass jelly and lychee jelly. I enjoyed their toppings significantly more than the drinks. The almond milk tea drink is alright, however, the topics made it much tastier. Friendly service and pretty quick. The ladies were super patient with me when I was making my decisions on what to drink and put in my cup.

Probably one of the better boba places on the island. I like how they give you options for toppings. They also have a large selection of gelato which is great. Probably my go-​to Alameda boba place.

Love the concept of this place. I think this is the only place in the bay area where you can add your own toppings! The process is you pay at the cashier for whatever drink you want, they give you a cup, you fill it up with the 10+ different toppings they have and hand it back to them for them to fill it up with the liquid of you drink. I got the original milk tea 50% sweet and added my own toppings of boba and grass jelly!
The milk tea was really good and perfect sweetness at 50% and I loved the concept of adding your own toppings. The grass jelly is supposedly «homemade» but tasted just like any other grass jelly, which is still good! However, what was really disappointing was the boba. Super soggy, soft, and clumped together. Maybe it’s b/​c I went a bit late around 9pm so that’s why the boba was like that but nevertheless, still disappointed (–1 star for bad boba).
If you love mixing toppings and adding different things to your drink, try this place out! From what I’ve heard from my friends, their drinks were all really good too so you won’t be disappointed with the liquid of your drink… the toppings on the other hand might vary. Overall, will come back but hopefully next time, their boba will be fresher!

$ 3 for a quick boba drink. not bad.
really enjoy the ability to be able to add whatever; egg pudding, small boba pearls, large boba pearls or red bean.
very cool.
the gelato for one small scoop of pistachio is $ 4.25. very good tasting flavor.

Not much to say except
the workers and environment were welcoming and the drinks were delicious! :)

Bummer. There are quite a few things wrong with the concept of filling your own cup with toppings.
1) Cleanliness: A kid completely sneezed into the toppings when I went. Meh.
2) Quality: The boba stuck together like glue. Mixing, shaking, and flipping my cup didn’t help. When I took a sip, nothing came through. I had to rip the top open to eat my boba. Lame.
The milk tea, itself, was ok. I’m really digging the places that offer different levels of sweetness. Here, it looks like they follow the old school way by scooping a ladle of tea into your cup.
I’ll pass.

First time here and the stations were a bit confusing at first because there is self serve toppings. Ordered milk tea with boba and popcorn chicken.
Milk tea was 50% sugar. Wasn’t too bad but still pretty sweet. The thing that I didn’t like was the boba. It was too jelly-​like and squishy. They absorbed so much water that it was soggy and too big to go through the straw and took too much of an effort just for one sip.
Popcorn chicken was given three levels of hotness. When I got it, it didn’t seem like there was any chili powder on it at all so I added some myself. It tasted like others I have tried before but seemed to have gotten cold pretty easily.
Friend also got a grapefruit yogurt drink but was too sweet and tasted only of sugar.

We comes here regularly because I love the concept of adding in your own toppings. There milk tea are premade. You add your toppings and they add ice and the tea and it’s done pretty fast. The drink are pretty good for $ 3. I hate that they always seem to run low of tapioca boba toward the end of the night.
This location also serves snack. The snack are ok for me. We normally get popcorn chicken and mini octopus. I do think the breaking is too heavy and my chicken was fatty last time I got it.
They have gelato and frozen yogurt too but they don’t let you put on your own toppings for the yogurt maybe cause they don’t sell it by weight?
I love the location of this place. It’s right off park street where there is a lot of cute shops and restaurants.

Pretty much all Teas are $ 3 and you add your own topping. It’s quite worth the price if you chose to add your own toppings and fill it to the rim of where it’s supposed to be. But if you prefer tea with nothing in it, then $ 3 isn’t worth it. The tea isn’t any more special. I mean I usually end up getting green tea. So simply put, if you go to quickly’s its about 1.95 for a cup of green tea, the same size too. The only challenge for Teaway is finding parking.
This location is located within a tutti melon, so they have ice cream, froyo, parfait, and other snacks as well. I believe a small bag of popcorn chicken is about 5 dollars.

After a dinner, I can’t help but want boba. It’s like a tradition when eating out. I don’t want ice cream, I don’t want a cookie, I want boba!
This place was chosen as default since it was the only spot left open around 9:30 on a Sat night. Parking was slim to none around that hour, but luckily we snagged the smallest, and last spot in the area. I was shocked at how packed this spot was. There were crowds of people hanging out inside and out. I had high hopes, and I was salivating just thinking about the ability to fill my cup with all the boba my heart desires.
If you haven’t been to a Teaway before, you’re given the ability to add as much/​little toppings as you wish. Following the boba buffet bar, you place your cup on the counter and they’re «supposed» to go in order of the order of drinks to fill with tea. My hubby and I placed our cups on the counter, and waited. And waited. Finally, mounds of more people began filling the facilities, and there were 7 cups up there before you knew it. And no one still to begin fulfilling orders.
Finally we noticed a young fellow come from behind the counter, wearing FLIP FLOPS, and taking drinks out of order to fulfill. We were shocked. How are you allowed to work in a food facility, in flip flops? I don’t care if it’s an hour and half before closing, it’s just so unprofessional.
After 10 minutes of waiting, we finally got our drinks. Taste-​wise, it’s not bad, but what I particularly liked the most was the ability to fill the cup as much as I wanted with the toppings, and all for the set price of $ 2.75 for a drink.
I really would only resort to this location if it was my only option. I didn’t really care for the customer service we received. We had a hard time understanding the staff as well when we asked questions. But for the price, you can’t beat it for boba nowadays.

Great concept of mix n match toppings like grass jelly, aiyu jelly, poppers, pudding, AND BOBA.
However, the bobas were not submerged in any liquid they were clumpy, tasteless, and hard. The soul of milk tea, gone.
I went in searching for Hokkaido mt. The closest thing they had was caramel mt. I ordered less ice and extra sweet. This is how I order at share tea and other Boba shops. My order came with no ice and it was overly sweet. No ice + extra sugar + bad Boba = horrible drink. I added some ice later after I got home, the tea tasted a bit better but still doesn’t hit the spot.
This is not the goto place if you drink boba tea for the sake of bobas. But if you like to drink with puddings, poppers, and jellies, definitely try this cute place out.

While I write this review, I keep going back and forth between giving Teaway 3 stars or 4 stars. It’s an average bubble tea spot. I’ve had better, but I’ve also had worse. I think the quality and pricing is better than Quickly or Tapioca Express. But they have definitely raised prices since opening.
This location is joined with Tuttimelon, so in addition to tea, you can also get your frozen yogurt cravings satisfied! They also have a large selection of gelato. It’s a great location to bring friends who all want different things since it’s a 3-​in-​1 dessert spot.
I’m rarely on this side of Alameda anymore, but I used to come here often. Based on my past experiences, it can get pretty busy. Like other bubble tea spots, Teaway attracts a younger crowd. They usually play current music and also have a movie playing too. Last night, they were showing Frozen!
Parking can be hard to find because it is located on Central Avenue intersecting with Park Street. There have been times where I had to circle around for a while before finding parking.
The main reason why I like this place is because you can essentially build your own drink. Teaway offers 4 different sizes. While I was ordering my drink last night, I checked out the price variations (these are prices for milk teas):
Regular: $ 2.75
Large: $ 3.30 (Reg. price + $.55)
Small Jumbo: $ 3.50 (Reg. price + $.75)
Large Jumbo: $ 4.00 (Reg. price + $ 1.25)
Regardless of what size you get, they give you a cup with a marked line. This line is to show where you can fill your toppings to… Which means you can add ANYTHING you want! They offer a variety of toppings (boba — small and regular size, grass jelly, rainbow jelly, hella other types of jelly, popping boba, etc.) I like that they don’t charge extra if you want more than one topping. The only thing I wonder is how long these are sitting out because the toppings section is uncovered.
I have yet to try the gelato. And I generally wouldn’t get froyo from places like these. I favor the self-​serve spots because I can get exactly what I want, but that’s just my preference.
Also, be sure to have cash handy! The minimum card purchase is $ 6.00.

Too sweet. I got the original milk tea with less sugar and less ice, and it was still way too sweet. This was the first place where it was add your own toppings that I’ve been to though, so that was interesting. The tapioca pearl quality wasn’t very good though, as it was too soft (although they have big pearls and small pearls). I also had grass jelly, which was acceptable, and egg pudding, which was too sweet but I think egg pudding might just be that way. I asked prior to ordering whether their flavored teas were fruit based or syrup based, and it’s syrup based so I didn’t order it. Just a FYI. Anyway, basically milk tea was too sweet and tea flavor wasn’t strong enough.
I tried the fried fish balls, fried calamari, and fried chicken as well. The fried chicken had way too much flour on it, as did the fried calamari. The fried fish balls were just right though; perfectly thin layer of crunch on the outside.

Good price, good drink! Go in, place your drink order, and pay at the counter. They will give you an empty cup with your drink marked. Move down the counter and place all the toppings you want up to the designated line. Then, place your cup on top and they will fill it up with your drink. Voila!
Seating is quite plentiful even though they are combined with tutti melon. Nice comfy booths and good movies played. It can get quite loud in there. Street parking and no wifi. One of my favorite boba places in the Bay Area.

What I drank: Jasmine milk tea… and then some popcorn chicken
Visit date: January 1, 2014
First time? No way!
I crave this joint. I’m generally not a boba girl (love the drink, but don’t care for the tapioca that often), but Teaway let’s me put all kinds of other goodies inside. Coffee jelly, lychee jelly, and taro custard are some of my favorites. The tea is always brewed perfectly and sweetened just a touch. I have yet to try their gelato and froyo; I’m too busy enjoying the jelly bar.
I don’t know why, but popcorn chicken is always so good with milk tea. I wasn’t planning on getting any on this visit, but then I started to crave it. Lots of chicken here; plenty to share. Even the bits that don’t have chicken in them are good and salty. You can get it spicy, too (do it!).
There are plenty of seats/​tables, service is generally quick, and they have a frequent buyer card — be sure to grab one for yourself!