Teaspoon

My cousin and I came here to try the boba and were both shocked by the taste, especially after seeing such great reviews on Unilocal.
I ordered the Grapefruit Garden, which tasted like a very strong herbal hand lotion I use (not grapefruit scented), and could not finish even a third of the drink. My cousin got the marshmallow drink and it was very watery and had no flavor of tea or marshmallows.
The drinks were too expensive (almost 10 for 2 drinks) and the flavor was very strange. The only good thing about the drink was the honey boba, which had a nice sweet taste to them. Interior is nice but can get crowded when a line forms.

My favorite new boba shop! I’m so glad that they opened up next to Mitsuwa, I can get my ramen, ice cream, and boba fix all in one place, without having to drive across town. Homegirl is all about that lazy life.
Anyways, I’ve been here multiple times and i’ve only tried three of their drinks. I’m not very adventurous with my boba. I’ve tried the white crystal, virgin mint mojito with peach, and lychee on lychee. Of those three, white crystal is probably my favorite. I’m not huge on your typical boba pearls as i’ve had many that were super hard and not chewy at all. So the crystal boba is a great alternative if you’re not super into the regular boba, like I am. I love that you can customize everything from ice to the sweetness. I’m huge about customizing the sweetness since I like my boba to have more of the tea flavor/​taste.
If you’re looking for a place to hangout and grab a few drinks with friends after piggying out, then Teaspoon is your place! «Enjoy life, one TEASPOON at a time!»

Noelle’s Unilocal Notebook 2016
February 1, 2016
True happiness consists of not in the multitude of friends, but in worth and choice. — Ben Jonson
My Unilocal friend posted something about Teaspoon opening in Russian Hill, so I bookmarked the location. I’m up in the City often but usually just in PH. To my surprise I happened upon a South Bay location of Teaspoon post lunch at Santouka recently.
My sweet friend J and I decided to go there for dessert. The entire shop nearly empty. We were greeted by the friendly person behind the counter. We sampled the teas on the counter and they were entirely too sweet. J decided on the taro tea (which is premade so no adjustment to sweetness can be made). I opted for the coffee flavored snow ice with condensed milk and mochi. We were able to find a table for two towards the back of the tea shop.
J shared a sip of the taro drink which I loved. My iced coffee snow was messy, there was condensed milk and snow ice dripping off the sides of the cup. I enjoyed my snow ice. Later I asked for water and the provided new cup of water which was pretty horrid tasting, I don’t believe the water was filtered. Customer service was friendly, shop was clean, some of the teas were overly sweet, okay value for product.
Spending time with my dear friend J with sweets was the end to a perfect weekend! If you’re looking for something sweet –boba tea or snow and you’re in the area definitely give it a try.
Noelle’s Notes
Some teas were overly sweet
³⁄₅ Unilocal Star Experience

A lot to like here — freshly made tea via drip system, very good boba, not a long wait, and some special toppings like homemade almond jelly & crystal boba (agar agar pebbles).
Hojicha is good here and u can get ur tea with half & half instead of that somewhat mysterious nondairy powder that is common to nearly all milk tea places.

Teaspoon was located in a very busy plaza. We came in after 2pm and had to park outside of the plaza since there was no parking left. The interior of this place was small, but there were still a lot of people here. There were a handful of tables and I ordered the House Milk Tea with honey boba with a normal sugar level (100%) which totaled $ 4.89. The drink came out a few minutes later and tasted good. The boba was soft and chewy so that was good. A little while later, a large group of people came in for drinks which probably said a lot about this place versus the three other milk tea places in the plaza (I could be wrong). Anyways, good milk tea here so come stop by.

First time here and I must say my experience was really good. The staff were super friendly and helpful.
This little shop is located right next to Mitsuwa so it’s perfect to go grocery shopping and getting a drink to go or even drink there. They have tables that are perfect for people who want to study or hang out with friends.
I got the Grapefruit Garden and since it was my first time here I wasn’t sure how sweet their drinks are so I ask for the cashier’s recommendations and she told me that normally people get 75% and especially since Grapefruit is sour. I listen and I was not disappointed! :) The grapefruit drink does have that bitterness from grapefruit so if you don’t like that I don’t think this drink is for you or at least get 100% sweetness. I added Passion fruit jelly to my drink. I know I’m weird Grapefruit with passion fruit jelly but I loved it. They are so generous with their toppings! Too bad I can never get the right amount of jelly to go through my straw so I always end up with leftover jelly.
My friends realized that 25% sweetness was not sweet enough and that their grass jelly also didn’t have any sweetness so they had a very plain drink. haha You have been warned!
The staff were so nice that they allowed my friend to purchase a cup of egg pudding! A WHOLE CUP OF EGG PUDDING?! Yes, that right! For the same price as buying a drink. Note that they only have one cup size and yes that’s a lot of egg pudding but there’s no such thing as too much egg pudding to my friend.
For sure, I will come back here due to the friendly staff as well as to try out different drinks. :)

Teaspoon was the perfect afternoon treat, after an equally perfect brunch I had on a random lazy Sunday. Located conveniently in the same plaza as Mitsuwa, one is able to easily swing by after some grocery shopping (Mitsuwa) or a ramen stop (Santouka/​Kahoo). However, it is tucked away in the corner, so if you’re coming in from one of the side driveways, you may not see it right away.
This little boba shop is super cute, and designed to fit into an individual’s specific cravings by offering a make-​your-​own type of menu where you can pick and choose what kind of tea, sweetness/​ice level, milk or no milk, toppings, etc. On the otherhand, for those who aren’t sure what they like or don’t like or are new to boba tea in general, there is a menu of their specialty drinks.
I’m so glad Teaspoon opened up in this plaza because it’s about a good 10 minutes closer to my house than the Los Altos location, and it’s so easy to come here for something sweet, after a savory ramen stop.
My experience here was definitely above average since our cashier that day was supppppeerr friendly! He had a great sense of humor and didn’t hesitate to make jokes with us. Seating is limited in the tiny space they have, but most people seem to take their drinks to-​go. Our drinks were packed with tea flavor and I think I found the perfect sweetness level for this place on my first try. I’ll definitely come back to try other drinks!
Tip: Go to Mitsuwa/​Daiso/​bookstore BEFORE getting boba here if you plan to go to those places since they do not allow food or drinks in their store.

So far, I’ve never had a drink here that has disappointed me. Teaspoon have expanded from their initial location in Mountain View to Milpitas and San Jose so you can get your boba fix from any corner of the Bay Area. The drinks here generally are less sweet compared to other boba places such as Gong Cha, in my opinion.
Drop by and try their samples out in front to see what you like. The milk is definitely creamy if you’re into that and the tea is not powder but brewed in store for their drinks. I’ve had the Creamy Jasmine, Lychee on Lychee, White Crystal, Rose Petal Creama, Roasted Tea Creama and Grapefruit Garden. My usual is 75% sweetness since I prefer more authentic tea flavor in my drinks.
The honey boba here is decently chewy. It still doesn’t compare to my favorite boba at Tpumps but they’re not skimpy here and there’s a good ratio of toppings to drink. Definitely one of my new favorite places!

This place is very similar to TeaFM (tea for me) in sf. The menus are VERY similar since I went to teafm literally the day before.
I ordered the white crystal and got the white boba substituted for regular boba & the drink had no grapefruit taste whatsoever. It was mainly just oolong flavor. The boba was super chewy but not hard. All drinks are $ 4. I’ve tried some of the other drinks as well & they also lack flavoring. The grasshopper had an overpowering flavor of cucumber, which probably is the only one that stayed true to what was said on the menu.
Decent sized drink but not sure if I would come again just because of the lack of fruit taste that it says it comes with.

Came to this plaza to walk around like we usually do and we decided to grab some boba here.
There were 3 pitchers of free sample at the counter and we tried the mango mojito, milk tea and peach oolong.
I got the peach oolong with honey boba and the BF got the oolong creama. I really like their honey boba here, the honey really cuts through the boba! Also, it’s just right amount of chewy!
Definitely will come here again!

I finally got to try this place out today after dinner and the décor is really nice. It’s super cute inside and very clean. The menu isn’t super crazy and long so that was a relief.
I asked to get a rose petal with creama with pudding but when I get it… It tasted nothing like rose … So I’m pretty sure the cashier messed up and put that I wanted the roasted creama. Was disappointed and it was nothing special but I didn’t want to ask her to change it since it was getting busy.
I’ll come back again and hopefully they will get my order right.

I was pleasantly surprised by this place. The drinks are slightly pricier, in my opinion, but the quality is definitely good! The boba is delicious, and their different levels of sweetness allow you to customize the level of sugar to your liking. I opted for the 50% level and I found it to be just right since I always add the red bean topping to my drink (and that adds a punch of sugar).
I went with an item off their Specials menu – the Creamy Jasmine. It was so yummy! It wasn’t overwhelmingly creamy and you could definitely still taste the tea. It doesn’t come with boba, unfortunately, so I added boba and red beans for an additional cost. The base drink is $ 4 but the size of the drink is pretty good. Service is very fast and the interior of this place is super cute. Tends to get crowded on the weekends, but the line move fast!

With a tagline of «Enjoy life one teaspoon at a time», how can one not get some boba from here? :) This branch is located in the same mall as Mitsuwa and Tea Station, so as usual, parking is typically a hassle. But once you get past that hurdle, you just have to waltz in here and you are greeted with enthusiastic workers with t-​shirts that read «but first, tea» (I want this t-​shirt!).
The menu is clean and pretty easy to figure out. As with all other boba places, you can create your own drink by specifying the tea, the toppings, and sweetness/​ice level. They have a long list of toppings you can pick from (and they’re laid out behind clear glass so you can gaze into the diabetes-​inducing poison you pick before you ingest it). If it’s too much effort to build your own drinks, they have a list of speciality drinks that are pretty unique and come in a variety of flavors, anywhere from the classic milk tea to the white crystal (white grape oolong with crystal boba). Typically drinks come out to about $ 4 without any additions, so Teaspoon is on the pricier end of boba joints. The taste of the tea is mild, not as strong as other places like Tea Era or Ten Ren, but their boba is on point (both regular and crystal boba).
Their menu also indicates they have snow ice, but as a Californian incapable of tolerating temperatures lower than 50 degrees, I’ll have to wait for a warmer day before trying that out — so I’ll definitely be back to give that a shot (they seem to have a lot of interesting combinations)!
They had samples of tea by the register (always a nice touch), and they have a counter area plus a couple of tables for you to sit at if you want to hang out, but they fill up quickly so it’s not a guarantee you’ll be able to find seating. They also use FiveStar, so punch in your number to rack up points (tip — don’t use up the 5 point bonus of buy 2 get 50% off one if you want to save up to the 10 point free boba drink).
My two complaints are:
1) they should label each drink individually so it’s easier to tell which drink is which (especially when they all look similar). Thankfully all four of my drinks were different colors so I could tell them apart, but otherwise, I would have to resort to taste testing each to figure them out: P
2) it takes a while to get your drink after ordering (maybe they need more workers to handle the crowd)

Nothing super exciting on the offerings menu, but they DO have the seaweed «crystal» pearls for those who like a crunchier, gluten-​free option. They sell both snow and boba that you can customize yourself, or choose from a specialty menu. There were two flavors of milktea at the register for people to sample when I went, which is nice for people who aren’t sure what «Grasshopper» or «Rose» taste like.
I got the Grasshopper with honey boba and wasn’t super impressed. It makes for a pretty picture, but the drink itself was just kinda… meh. More juice than tea. Honey boba was pretty good, but my drink was still too sweet at 50% sugar. My friend was equally ambivalent about her Creamy Jasmine with crystal boba.
It was super crowded when I went, and all the chairs were crowded around a few tables so that one poor table was left seatless. There are a few counter seats as well in the window. The girl working the register was friendly and helpful despite the crowd, and the bathroom seemed to be in good condition as well.
I haven’t tried the other milktea place in the plaza, but Teaspoon seems like a decent place to get your milktea fix if you’re in the area.

Compared to other boba shops in the area, Teaspoon is a little more expensive. I got the house milk tea with boba add on, and it was close to $ 5 for one cup. However, you definitely get what you pay for here. You can really taste the tea flavor and the boba is perfectly chewy and delicious! Usually I’m that person that can’t finish a whole cup of boba by myself, but I finished the entire one here without thinking or realizing it. It was that good!
They have customizable sweetness which is something I always welcome, as I don’t have a huge sweet tooth. I got 25% and it was just barely sweetened– aka perfect for me! :)
In addition, when I went they had fresh samples when you order. One of the samples was the rose tea. absolutely delicious and had a strong rose flavor.
One of their unique drinks is the Grasshopper: Lychee iced green tea topped with fresh cucumber juice. It sounds really interesting and I definitely want to try this next. Actually, I want to try everything on their menu.
Can’t wait to go back! :)

Tastes like most milk tea places around. I got the regular black milk tea and it was good. My friend got the one with cucumber and it was pretty gross. Wouldn’t recommend.
Little seating also :(

Even at 100% sweetness, my lychee black iced tea tasted watered down compared to what 25% sweetness at other places like 85 degrees would be like. The time to order isn’t long at all so don’t be intimidated by the line that is constantly out the door. However, the time to wait for your drinks seems to take forever. There are only a few seats to sit in as you wait anxiously.
I really believe I did order the wrong drink because during my very long wait for my drink, lots of customers ordered the grasshopper, which appears to be their signature drink.

Teaspoon had a very busy grand opening! Lines were crazy long but they had people giving out different drink samples and some mini appetizers once you get inside throughout the whole opening day! Workers were really welcoming.
On with the drinks, I got the grasshopper and my friend got the roasted tea creama. The grasshopper was very interesting. It was different from other drinks I had before but I liked it. Grass hopper does not have the option to fix your sweetness level by percentages but they do have the option of regular sweet or less sweet. For the roasted tea creama, they do have sweetness levels by percentages. If you like it non sweet, you should go for the 25% because thats what my friend got and it was barely sweet. I haven’t tried any other drinks yet. I had a sample of the peach mojito and that was delicious. Will definitely come back to try that one! Honey boba was nice, sweet, and chewy. I would recommend trying this place out!

I wasn’t going to bother to try such a new place during my short Thanksgiving visit to San Jose, but the special discount and the high praise of a certain boba connoisseur made it irresistible. Thank goodness.
Teaspoon is a well-​rated bubble tea shop in Los Altos, and they’ve just opened a new location here in San Jose. They offer customized and 13 «specialty» drinks at $ 4 each, with $ 0.50 per additional topping. If you’re making your own drink, there are 15 teas to choose from, a choice of hot or iced, milk or no milk, sweetness levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, and 20 different toppings including a large variety of both jellies and popping boba.
I sampled the Creamy Jasmine specialty drink from a pitcher, which was way too intense at 100% sweetness. I ordered this drink cold at 50% sweetness with honey boba. The jasmine flavor is as assertive as you’ll find in any jasmine milk tea, and 50% is fine for the drink itself. However, it takes away from the honey boba’s otherwise pronounced sweetness (but not before I tasted some of it), so I’ll probably try it at 75% in the future. As for the texture, the boba is as good as anywhere else that I’ve had it
The Roasted Tea Creama has a very strong oolong flavor. They describe it as a dark roasted oolong, and 50% was definitely not enough sugar to make it recognizably sweet. This specialty drink comes with their «organic creama,» and the lid is elevated with a hole in the center to help facilitate stirring. The quality of the creama seems good enough, but it made me acutely aware of how much I’ve come to rely on sea salt cream at a certain tea shop elsewhere. If you’re into roasted oolong though, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this overall.
The cashier also offered me a taro milk tea sample when I asked about the «real taro» thing, probably because she knew that it’s premixed and chilling in a fridge. I’m sure they mix in some real taro chunks afterward, but the base drink tastes and looks like it’s made from the artificial purple powder. I don’t recommend ordering it unless that’s your kinda thing.
There are also $ 6 customized or preset snow ice options, which I’m itching to try at a future date after seeing potentially good texture in a snow ice being prepared by an employee. Rewards are handled via FiveStars, which is a relief for everyone with stampcard-​stuffed wallets.
The hype for Teaspoon is definitely warranted. Local boba lovers should try it at least once, especially before the 12÷5÷15 expiration of the BOGO offer (if you «Like» the Facebook page of «Teaspoon San Jose»). With strong tea and reasonable pricing, they’ll most likely earn more visits from me during my Christmas trip and beyond.

Hello Tea drinkers!
After hearing all the hype about this place I had to try. I was in the area and saw that #bobaprincess checked in. if she was giving them a go it must be good. So I get in the super long line. next thing I know the homie Dennis checks in. OK this spot must be good. so I finally get to the inside and dang its hot! Since this was my first time trying I got the lychee on lychee. I Need to keep the line moving so I grab a seat and waited in the sauna. Next thing I know my drank was ready OK love the swiftness. Time to pop that cherry & insert the straw. First sip that’s some damn good tea very refreshing. It wasn’t too sweet and everything tasted very fresh. Now I know the hype is real. This brotha will be back when I’m in the area!