Top 5 Bubble Tea Shops in the SF South Bay

One benefit of living in California is the variety and authenticity of international food, including our favorite little treat: Taiwanese bubble tea!  Over the years, my husband and I have tried lots of bubble tea places between San Jose and Mountain View.  Many of them are well known chains like Happy Lemon, Teaspoon, and Gong Cha.

While bubble tea from these heavy hitters is delicious, we’ve come to prefer a few less well-known shops.  Here are our five most favorite bubble tea places in the South Bay ranked in order of preference.

1. Ume (优米茶铺)
   This little tea shop in Cupertino Village opened during COVID.  It has quickly become our go-to bubble tea place.
   

   

   Ume offers both traditional bubble tea as well as other creative drinks.  Our personal favorites are the Oreo Brulee Boba Milk Tea, and the Taro & Mochi Black Tea Latte.  The Oreo Brulee Boba Milk Tea uses roasted mountain oolong milk tea as the base and adds caramel brulee, crumbled oreos, and brown sugar boba.  The caramel brulee is creamy and dense, sitting at the bottom of the drink.  Oreos add additional chocolate taste with a crunchy texture, while the boba is very chewy and smooth–not mushy at all.  With one sip you will enjoy everything together.  Even with a sweet tooth, we suggest 25% or 50% sugar level, since all of the ingredients help sugar up the drink already. 
   

   

   The Taro & Mochi Black Tea Latte has a few distinct layers, from the bottom to the top: taro, mochi, milk, and black tea.  Taro gives the drink an earthy and slightly sweet flavor, as well as an attractive purple color.  Mochi adds a unique thicker texture than regular boba tea.  This drink is not customizable with boba.  If you are as big a fan of boba pearls as my husband is (who always asks for double boba), this might not be your cup of tea.  However, I love taro, mochi, and lattes, so this is a perfect drink for me.  You don’t have a lot of options to customize this drink – just temperature (hot/cold) and ice level (if you choose cold).  The default level of sweetness tastes just about right even for someone like me with no sweet tooth.
   

   

   We have tried other drinks at Ume, all of which were tasty and definitely worth trying!  Most of the teas can be customized with toppings, different levels of sugar and ice.  I always ask for a cheese top, which adds a bit of saltiness to the otherwise sweet drink.
   
   Besides bubble tea, Ume also offers freshly made snacks and lunches.  They not only have typical Taiwanese street food such as popcorn chicken and fried tofu, but also the Japanese snack takoyaki.  We haven’t tried their lunches, but we have tried most of their snacks.  The snack we always order is their crispy popcorn chicken.  With a little bit of spice, it goes very well with any sweet bubble tea.  One sip of the bubble tea, and one bite of the popcorn chicken, before you know it, both are all gone!
   

   

   Although Ume doesn’t have an indoor seating area, there are plenty of chairs and a grassy area close by to sit down, relax, and enjoy your treats.
   
   Please remember to order online here beforehand to avoid the long line, especially if you order food, since it takes much longer time to prepare.  If you don’t order online, be prepared to wait up to 30min.
   
   
2. Sunright Tea Studio
   Sunright Tea Studio originated from Southern California.  In Northern California, Sunright’s only location is in Sunnyvale, just north of San Jose. 
   
   Sunright Tea Studio takes their tea seriously.  The store suggests that you shake the drink 17 times before drinking it, not only to mix it well, but also to enjoy the moment, even just for 17 seconds.
   
   Our favorite drinks here are the Sunright Boba Milk Tea and the Strawberry Matcha Latte.  The Sunright Boba Milk Tea is their best seller.  It is a perfect blend of Ceylon black tea and milk, with a drizzle of brown sugar syrup and a scoop of brown sugar boba.  Brown sugar syrup balances the slight bitterness of the black tea.  Their brown sugar boba is freshly made and perfectly chewy.  By itself, it is a simple but satisfying drink.  I like to add cheese foam and cream pudding to make it a bit salty, creamy, and filling, a perfect afternoon snack.
   
   The Strawberry Matcha Latte is a mix of matcha and oolong tea, layered with milk and fresh strawberries.  They use a premium matcha from Japan, which tastes smooth and a bit sweet.  Strawberries make the drink refreshing and fruity.  You will want to try the drink the instant you see it: it has bright green matcha on top, and red strawberries at the bottom.   
   
   Sunright focuses only on drinks, and doesn’t offer any snacks.  Although the Sunnyvale shop is relatively spacious, it doesn’t have indoor seating at this moment due to COVID.  Hopefully it will open up for customers to sit down and relax once it is safe.
   
   There is always a long line in front of the store, so please make sure that you order online here ahead of time.  Otherwise, like at Ume, you’re going to wait a while.  We always order in the car on the way there!
   
   
3. OMG Tea
   OMG Tea shop is a local, unpretentious tea shop by Santa Clara University.  It was our go-to bubble tea place for a very long time before we discovered Ume and Sunright.  Nothing fancy here, just tasty and simple drinks.
   
   Our favorites here are the Matcha Creama and the Oreo Milk Tea. The Matcha Creama is matcha green tea with a layer of salty cream cheese topping.  I usually customize it with less ice and half sugar, which balances between savory cheese foam and sweet milk tea.  If you care about being healthy while drinking bubble tea, you probably should stop caring and just enjoy… But this is one of the less unhealthy options. 
   
   The Oreo Milk Tea is a mix of assam black tea and milk.  The drink doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste, but still retains the bold flavor of black tea.  It comes with Oreo crumbles, so half sugar is the right level of sweetness even for my husband (who has a sweet tooth). 
   
   There are no snacks at OMG.  The line here is not as bad as Ume and Sunright.  We usually just go and order it at the shop.  We haven’t waited longer than 10 mins for our drinks.
    
4. N7 Draft Tea and Coffee
   N7 is located at the same plaza as Matsuwa Japanese market.  That’s how we found it in the first place.  It has a cute interior with places to sit and little anime knick-knacks for sale.
   

   

   

   Our favorite drinks here are the Nitro Jasmine Milk Tea, Oreo Cheezo, and the Strawberry Milk Tea.  “Nitro” is short for “nitrogen infused.”  The nitrogen infused milk tea is something we have not seen anywhere else.  It makes the tea’s mouthfeel extra creamy – without the cream.  N7 is worth a visit for this alone.
   
   The Oreo Cheezo is very similar to the Oreo Brulee from Ume, only with a slight salty tang.  It’s bits of Oreo mixed into black milk tea with cream on top.  Delicious.
   
   The Strawberry Milk Tea is made even better by having real strawberries in it. Black milk tea, real fruit, and al dente boba make this worth repeated orders – super refreshing on a hot day.
   
   N7 doesn’t serve food, but right next door are takoyaki, ramen, and mochi donuts at the Matsuwa market.  We love grabbing a bubble tea before going to the market for some Japanese snacks – a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
   
   
5. Rabbit Rabbit Tea (兔子兔子茶饮)
   Rabbit Rabbit Tea is a newer tea shop in Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara.  It originated from Taiwan a few years ago, and has multiple locations in US, China, and Japan.  We hadn’t heard of it until trying it one day at the mall – and we’re glad we did!
   
   We like this place because it has some unique flavors we’ve not seen anywhere else, such as Japanese buckwheat milk tea.   Buckwheat tea has a nice nutty and earthy taste, which we’re told is because the buckwheat tea is baked first.  The Strawberry Japanese Buckwheat Milk Tea is our favorite here.
   
   Rabbit Rabbit is absolutely worth trying and something we look forward to whenever we’re at the mall, but  we do have to note that the quality at the Valley Fair location has been inconsistent.  There were times that we were impressed and couldn’t wait to come back, but also times that we couldn’t even finish the drinks.  The drinks are also a bit more expensive than others; we paid more than $20 for 2 drinks last time.
   
   The line usually is not too bad here, but you do have to park at the Mall to get to this location.  You can also order online here. 

Please give these places a try and let us know if you like them, or if you have any other good suggestions!  Bon appetit!