Tea Review Round Up!

Phew! I did it! All the current standalone(ish) tea places in the bay that I can reasonably get to! It was definitely a journey and I do still love afternoon tea but I think I'll take a pause for a bit unless there's a particularly good theme that someone hosts.

Remember this is only my experience one time and my personal tastes/bias. There's quite a few things (like not preferring smoked salmon, favoring flavored black tea, and being located in the peninsula) that will definitely skew my reviews and ratings. If you live in a different part of the bay area or value different things in your tea experience you'll probably have a different rating than me and that's ok! I'd recommend looking at both my individual review of a place for a more detailed description and other yelp or google reviews to see which you would like to try. 

And without further ado, The List!

8/10: Leland Tea Company

8/10: Dartealing Lounge

8/10: Crown and Crumpet

7.9/10: Pardee Home

7.8/10: Sip Tea Room

7.8/10: Masion Danel

7.6/10: Malaya Tea Room

7.5/10: Lovejoys

7.5/10: Chelo Tea House

7.5/10: Tea Time

7.5/10: The Rotunda 

7.35/10: RoyalTEA Garden

7.3/10: Tyme for Tea

7.25/10: iChina

7.2/10: Lisa's Tea Treasures

7.2/10: Son and Garden

7.1/10 Jade Chocolates 

6.8/10: Dainteas

Honorable mentions that aren't in the bay area:

7.1/10: Casting Whimsy, Woodstock, IL

6.5/10: The Tea Terrace, Las Vegas, NV

Thank you all for coming on my tea review journey with me! It was a lot to do in one year but I am really glad I did it and can now have a more definitive answer for which tea places in the bay area are my favorites 💖

Tea Review: The Rotunda

I ended up at the Rotunda by myself unfortunately. I didn't realize how popular it would be for afternoon tea around this time so by the time I was late getting a reservation they would only let me reserve for 1. This was both a nice deviation from my usual tea experience but also kind of lonely. I did end up sort of ~live blogging~ my experience as there was no one to be rude to by typing on my phone the whole time in between eating 😅

Tea Review: RoyalTEA Garden

I was able to get together a mini meet with some comm members to try out the furthest away tea spot from me! I really did want to do a tea around new years to celebrate a bit with people and since Rotunda was very booked I had to switch to RoyalTEA Garden.

Tea Review: Jade Chocolates

Tea Review: The Tea Terrace

My spouse and I ended up on a quick weekend trip to Vegas! The last time I was here was by myself for a library conference in the middle of summer and it was definitely an overwhelming experience. I don't really know if I enjoy Vegas or not it has a lot of unique flair but very overwhelming to the senses on the strip. The tea place I was able to get reservations for was a bit off the strip though trying for a slightly more sedate experience. 

Tea Review: Chelokababi- Chelo Tea House

I learned that a new afternoon tea place opened up in Sunnyvale in September through Discord and very soon someone posted about waning to check it out so of course I had to snatch a spot and add it to the tea review list!

Tea Review: Crown and Crumpet

I was able to go to Crown and Crumpet with some friends this weekend! This is a comm staple as it's right below Baby in the New People Building in SF Japantown.

Tea Review: Son & Garden

I was finally able to go to Son & Garden due to it being Veterans day and having the day off on a weekday! 

Pardee Home Afternoon Tea review

 I was lucky enough to get a spot at the recent Pardee Home OTT Tea! I was really excited it was before my trip so that I could attend. Spots usually fill up quickly for this tea place so I was really happy I finally got a spot at an event 💖

Tea Review: Sip Tea Room

I was able to make my way to Sip Tea Room for the next review in this series! Overall it was a lovely friendly experience but y'all know the drill by now so on to the details of the categories 💖

Tea Review- Malaya Tea Room

It was my birthday this past week so of course another excuse for afternoon tea! I think my friends might be a little bit tired of tea at this point but they were good sports about coming with me to try out this place anyway!

Tea Review: iChina

 

iChina was on my maybe list of places to go as they are a regular restaurant but with a afternoon tea section. However I was recommended it by several different people and I have seen quite a few Instagram reels of the cute desserts! A friend we were making plans with had to pivot and I suggested iChina as a backup and they were willing to try it 💖

A heads up to anyone wanting to go here that this is almost completely desserts (with optional add on dimsum) so just be aware if you go it's going to be very sweets heavy!

Tea Review: Dartealing Lounge

I visited Dartealing Lounge with some friends in my continuing quest to visit all the tea places! I've been to this tea place several times before and really enjoyed it- but will it stack up to all the other ones I've been to? 

Tea Review: Dainteas

Next up on the tea tour is Dainteas! They are a by-reservation-only tea place in Concord. I was excited to see the invitation to the birthday party to this tea place as it's one I have not been to this year! 

Tea Review: DIY!

I went to the Rose Forét event called Rose Café this weekend! I also attended the virtual tea party and thought it would be fun to review my home DIY tea set up as if it was one of my tea locations. This may go poorly 😅

Tea Review: Lisa's Tea Treasures

 I was able to arrange some friends to go with me to Lisa's Tea Treasures Los Altos location! 

Tea Review: Leland Tea Company

I unexpectedly had a free Sunday so I thought I'd try another afternoon tea spot!

Tea Review: Lovejoy's

Lovejoy's is definitely a staple in the bay area for tea- I've been to the SF location several times for events! There was even a branch in Redwood City for awhile but unfortunately though I got to-go tea from them several times during the pandemic I was never able to go back and have a sit-down tea there again before they closed 😢 

Tea Review: Tyme for Tea

This year for a Valentines day celebration we went to Tyme for Tea in Fremont! I'm usually not a huge fan of this particular commercial holiday but it's a nice excuse to get dressed up and try out yet another tea spot!

Tea Review: Maison Danel

 A friend and I went to tea the last weekend of January, a reschedule from our failed new years eve tea because of me not getting back in time due to the Southewest meltdown. I was happy to finally try this place out! We went to Maison Danel and got their Le Classique Afternoon Tea as it was their kind of base afternoon tea set for comparison to all the others.