Chatime

Yay, I love trying out new milk tea places!
This place may be small, but I like that they have comfy couches versus standard tables and chairs, although they have that too.
Immediately when I saw their banana milk tea option, I went for it. Adding in pudding of course. Delicious! Even the boyfriend loves it and he usually doesn’t like pudding.
The roasted milk tea was good as well. The roast taste definitely comes through.
Kumquat tea was very refreshing.
I like that you can adjust the level of ice and sweetness.
Ask for games if you’re going to be hanging out a while!

I quite liked the matcha milk tea i had here a couple of times, i sub the red beans for boba or grass jelly. I also like that they have sugar level options. I know they use non dairy milk, i hope its almond milk and not soy, i will ask next time. They also seem to have many options here, I am not a boba tea expert, but i think Cha time is a good option.

Ugh I am so sad! Ok I know this place is fairly new and so they deserve some slack, but nah man! I went there for the first time today and was very excited to try a new tea place.
I ordered taro milk tea with coffee jelly and I literally was the only one in line. I went around 2pm on a Monday – you know y’all be working so it was pretty empty (had about 4 other customers sitting/​chatting). When my drink came, it was taro milk tea with boba. REALLY?! I’m a huge caffeine addict so I don’t order coffee stuff lightly.
Overall, my drink tasted very milky and barely taro. I wasn’t in the mood for boba today so that also sucked. Since I had to rush back to work, I didn’t bother to voice this series of unfortunate events and so here we are. I will give this place another chance though because the worker looked like he might be new/​training. Their interior synthetics is also magnificent and I will have to give myself time to adore it more next time.

Pretty good milk tea. Nice ratio of creamer to tea. Got 50% sugar and less ice. Nice smooth flavor. Friendly service. I have to say I was weirded out by the giant white sofas for sitting, but for sure they are comfy!

This location has had at least three other milk tea places in recent years, and is far from the only one in San Mateo. It’s become our go to place for milk tea.
Every flavor I’ve tried is delicious, and less watery than other places I’ve tried. They seem to use real ingredients (the taro milk tea has real taro!) and the drinks are mixed in a martini shaker so that they get cold without too much melting. You can pick how much sugar and ice they put in (I find regular milk tea to be way too sweet and usually ask for 50% sugar/​ice)
The roasted milk tea is excellent and definitely recommended with pudding or coffee jelly. Coconut milk tea is a favorite, as is the hot ginger tea (they’ll make the other teas hot if you want too), and all of their fruit green teas are really flavorful.
One thing we were sad about was that they didn’t have egg puffs like most of the other tea places do, so we suggested the idea to them and they just started selling them last week!

The boba is usually pretty soft here which is a +. They also take 5star rewards at San Mateo so you can earn free drinks. I just don’t like that each location doesn’t accept the same rewards program /​have a program.
I’ve tried their Thai tea, peach lychee green tea, and passion fruit slush. They’re not bad. I like that you can control the sweetness (no sweet, 30%, half, 75%, or 100%). They also have a ton of different toppings for you to choose from and have a snack menu.

I got the chatime roasted milk tea with pudding. It was pretty good. It was a little watered down but it was still good. I’ll come back if nothing is open around the area.
The décor is really nice. Its a nice place to hang out. The chairs are coaches so you can get comfy while you hang out with friends and play board games they they provide or just want to do your homework/​work!
I haven’t tried anything else but I would recommend the roasted milk tea.

The only drink I enjoy here is their ChaTime Roasted Milk Tea, BUT only if I ask for strong tea or more tea than milk, otherwise it just tastes like sweet milk. But with options such as GongCha, Sharetea, or Quicklys, I don’t have much of a choice. I ordered their Jasmine milk tea before with less sugar, and it was unsatisfying and bland. Even after I asked them to fix it, it tasted the same… How disappointing.
However, I must say the interior is cute and welcoming and their customer service is great. Also, they have FiveStars here which means less loyalty cards to carry around, WHOO!

I enjoy coming here when I meet up friends to hang out and chat, because they have decent milk tea and comfy couches. The staff is very friendly, too. ChaTime actually happens to send me a lot of free offers on my FiveStars.
I think their milk teas are fine, but I actually like their pearls more. Wow, they’re sweet and the perfect texture. I’ve tried their ChaTime Roast Milk Tea, as well as their Jasmine Milk Tea. Both were ordered with less ice and less sweetness, which came to a good tea flavor. I don’t like to have my tea at normal sweetness, because I think it would just mask the actual tea.
I’ve frequented this spot since it was a TeaWay and a Honeyberry. I’m hoping that this chain will stay, because I actually enjoy the atmosphere. It’s very lax, the music choice always changes, which is refreshing!
I’ve also tried their fries and their popcorn chicken. Big helpings for a low price! I’m guessing these are frozen anyways, but cheap snack foods can always pair well with milk tea.

Possibly one of my newest favorite hangouts as it’s got plush, soft leather couches!
Parking: good luck, dinner time and weekend rush, park where you can!
Drinks I’ve had:
— ChaTime Milk Tea (just milk tea with the store name)
— Taro Milk Tea (my sugar option is regular, and it’s already sweet enough– drinks tastes like birthday cake!)
— Matcha Green Tea (drink this drink carefully, and shake it! The powder wasn’t shaken enough or it was settled before you drink it, grainy texture will surprise your tongue)
Snacks:
— Popcorn Chicken (don’t expect it to be like TapEx, it’s more like chicken tender strips from an American joint– Large is a very large size, get regular, you’d be good!)
— Calamari Rings (you only get about a handful, not worth the price, but it’s soft and not chewy!)
WiFi: let’s be real, their WiFi isn’t made for mobile devices– tablets, iPhones– won’t work and can’t connect at all. But if you like to lug around the Laptops, then you’re in luck! Because only laptops can connect to their WiFi.

I had such a terrible experience here. I asked for a little pearls and the cashier confirmed my order back to me. They ended up with putting «a lot» of pearls in my milk tea. I asked them to change it, after waiting 5 minutes, they gave me «exactly the same drink». Later I heard they talking at the back complaining that they can not do anything with my drink because I should tell them when I ordered my drink. Excuse me, You are the one who made a mistake.
Their tea also tastes terrible. Tastes like they are made from powers and not real tea leafs.

I had the taro milk tea with 50% sugar and 50% ice. It had real taro pieces in it and I loved it. I am a huge taro fan so it was awesome to know that real taro is used in drinks. But I can also see why people won’t like it. Real taro isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Aside from that, the big couches are so comfortable! I saw a white family pass by and the mother saying «let’s move along, this is a furniture store.» And I nearly died. LOLOLOLOL
+ super nice and soft couches
+ free wifi

I’m so happy that a Chatime opened in downtown San Mateo. It has become my favorite milk tea chain in the area. I usually go to the one in Foster City, but I’ll definitely come to this one more because of all the nearby food options!
I usually get the grass jelly roasted milk tea (either 30% or 0% sugar, depending on my mood.
I’ve only been here a few times, but I’m docking one star because one time the tea tasted a bit off/​bitter to me. I’m hoping that this was just a one-​off occurrence.

Great tea! Real, fresh, flavorful! Grapefruit is my fav!
Terrible boba. Middles are never fully cooked. EW.

Hah! I see the word play there in the title. Nicely done. Every time that I come back to the Bay, one of the things I always want is a nice large bubble tea. And every time, I usually go to a new place. Last time it was T-​Pumps, the time before that (and sequentially years before) Quickly’s, this time it was this place. And I have to say, I think this place is probably the most favorite compared to the other two and I have my reasons.
So why is Chatime better?
— Quickly’s has been here a long time. I can say, yes their bubble tea is good, but I find it overly sweet. Nothing wrong with that when I need to stay up for the rest of the night.
— T-​Pumps is well, filled with teenage kids and it seems like there’s always a long ass line outside the door which makes it super inconvenient when you have that craving for some boba.
— Finally, the reason why I think Chatime is better is because well, you can specify how much sugar you want in your boba tea! I believe T-​Pumps allows you to do the same thing, but yeah with that 15 min+ line it doesn’t look that great. I basically eliminated additional sugars from what I’ve eaten, and Chatime does it right by not adding too much sugar and just a little to get that hint of sweetness.
Overall, this is probably going to be my new spot to go for boba when I come back and I look forward to it!

I ordered the grass jelly milk tea and paid 50 cents more to get red beans toppings. I ordered my tea 30% sugar with no ice. Hubby ordered taro milk tea, no ice with 50% sugar.
My tea came with no grass jelly in it… and went I inquired, three people handled my tea and what they did, they just ripped off the plastic cover with and re-​poured the tea into a new cup and added the grass jelly. There were three different people, including the cashier handling my now not-​so-​sanitary drink.
my tea was significantly sweeter than hubby (despite, mine supposedly less sweet) and the tea itself was tasted more like milk with sugar.
with the many different options for bobba in downtown san mateo, I won’t be coming back, sorry!

Chatime is clean looking, many tables for seating. empty at lunch.
menu standard for all tea/​boba shops, drinks can be customized with preferred levels of ice/​sugar.
drink: roasted oolong mousse (L. 4) no ice/​sugar
–tea premixed, stored in canisters.
–tea is shaken with ice themnpoured into cup
-«mousse» added as a topping
–tea nice flavoring, not too strong.
*mousse and tea didn’t mix well, wouldn’t reorder.
3.5 stars

Damn, the Honeyberry Iced Coffee and Pastries are gone. I guess it took no time at all for Chatime to take over. Id been to other locales so I knew what to expect. Oolong milk tea is pretty solid. Came in on a late night 5 min before they closed. Suddenly the rush of kids came in. Workers are friendly but I didnt get to hang out too long. Good tea to go regardless

Hot new place on the block!
Was looking forward to this place when it was still renovating. It did not disappoint! Fast service, big portions, really new and trendy décor, and friendly staff. There’s even one of the employees standing outside passing out free samples, with a smile. They are really working hard to make the atmosphere comfortable.
The last time I went, they gave me a discount (price of a small for a large tea). Can’t beat that!
Definitely worth stopping by.

Despite the abundance of bubble tea options in Downtown San Mateo, Chatime is one I’ll visit more often than the rest for their tea flavors and nice environment.
The tea flavor in their drinks are fantastic. I’m not talking about flavored syrups, but the actually tea flavor for tea leaves. I usually order drinks no sugar, so there’s no masking their tea quality with sweetness like other bubble tea shops tend to do. What’s left is a prominent tea flavor to be enjoyed.
I usually go for the unique teas under the oriental pop teas section. The tieguanyin is dark and earthy. The sakura sencha is light and floral from the cherry blossoms it’s been infused with. The jasmine green tea is another light and refreshing tea with a prominent jasmine flavor.
Chatime also has milk teas, fruit teas, creamas, smoothies, and the usual offerings at most boba shops, but the oriental pop teas remain my favorite. Prices are reasonable.
If you enjoy something to chew on with your drink, there’s also a wide variety of toppings, wider than most other tea places. In addition to the standards like boba, grass jelly, and rainbow jelly, Chatime also offers various flavored popping boba and even grapefruit jelly.
The interior is spacious and clean. They’ve got free WiFi as well as a well-​kept bathroom. The staff are also nice.
Just when I thought Downtown San Mateo didn’t need any new bubble tea shops, I’m glad Chatime opened here!