Cool Tea Bar

Been here a few times after eating lunch at a nearby restaurant. Never really interacted with anyone here except when they handed me my drink because they have a self service touch screen where you can just order drinks and they make it right away. Efficient and quiet shop, at least the few times I visited. They have a cute instagram friendly photo wall "Made in San Francisco" where you can take cutesy photos. The fruit tea drinks are pretty good and refreshing. Located on the infamous Waverly Place in the heart of SF Chinatown. Waverly is also namesake of a lead character (named after this little street) in Amy Tan's book, The Joy Luck Club. This street is also featured in the movie, Pursuit of Happiness.Located on Waverly Place and Clay St.

The wife and I found ourselves in Chinatown for the day running a few errands and stopping for lunch. So naturally before we left, I had to satisfy my boba craving. I noticed Cool Tea Bar nearby so I decided to stop in despite the average reviews. There was only 1 worker behind the counter making drinks when I arrived, and one person that had entered ahead of me. Despite being the only person making all the drinks and there being a self-service kiosk along the wall, he kept insisting on calling everyone over to personally take their order instead. This meant that while he was busy taking everyone's orders, NOONE was making the drinks. This fact was further hammered in by several frustrated looking patrons who were already waiting inside for their orders when I entered.Ordered a large, Passion Fruit Green Tea w/ boba, which wound up taking nearly 30mins to finally get due to the aforementioned issue. Although their large size is HUMONGOUS, it was EXTREMELY disappointing as the drink was heavily watered down and barely had any taste. It felt like I was drinking water with a hint of passion fruit in it. Overall a disappointing experience and one I will not be repeating again.

I got here at 11:07am and the shop was not opened yet. One worker was there that was still setting up and when I tried to knock the door to get his attention, he just shook his head at me. Maybe they should change the opening hours at a different time if they need to set up. It is 11:15am and they are still not open yet despite the sign showing that they are opened.Update: the owner reached out to amend what happened today. I appreciate that the owner tried to make up what happened so I bumped it to 2 stars.

I used to come here all the time before Covid. I loved their roasted grass jelly milk tea & their lemon aloe. However, this time around the roasted milk tea I had was watered down and just tasted like water.

Was on a SF food tour this weekend and we stopped by this place in Chinatown for a refresher. I was recommended this place by a friend who's local. You can place your order through a tablet and there was only one worker fulfilling the orders when I visited. Place is relatively small but had a few seats to sit while waiting. My local friend and I were both disappointed with the grass jelly roasted milk tea as it tasted watered down. The boba itself was kind of hard. The grass jelly and price for the large were some good things that went well though. My other friend ordered the matcha milk tea and you could definitely tell it had a lot of powder in it and wasn't mixed well. She only drank half of the drink before throwing it away. Maybe it was a bad day but my friends and I were not impressed and went elsewhere to settle our cravings.

This is my favorite and my go to boba place in Chinatown. Their milk tea never fails and never change to bad but has been stay consistency over many years. It's a classic and original with their own house tea and own house made grass jelly! Their prices are not as high as the other fancy milk tea that cost $8-9, this boba place sell good original quality milk tea and fruit tea. They used to open later closes at 11:00pm, and now their hours has shorted to 7:00pm; but hoping they will open back up for later time so I can come by for some dessert drinks.

Drinks weren't overly sweets; which was perfect for me. But you can still customize the sugar and ice level. You're actually getting a good deal for ordering in the size large. My go to place for boba when I'm in SF! I've tried other boba shops and either the taste were off or overpriced for the size. I usually go for the lychee green/black tea; basic choice but I like the way my drink is made here the most. Only downside is that they closed pretty early and might not be the most convenient to travel to but I truly do enjoy coming here.

On a hot summer day in July this is the remedy for a cool refreshing experience. The inside is small and on Waverly Place in Chinatown. The big serving at Cool Tea Bar makes it worth a try.

Ordered my usual drink - kumquat green tea w/ cool ball. Tasted totally different than it used to be as the worker didn't bother using the shaker to make the drink and eyeball on adding the kumquat syrup so I couldn't taste the kumquat at all. I was the only customer so I couldn't think of a reason why this drink wasn't made properly. Won't be returning anytime soon unless workers are re-trained to make drinks properly. Overall disappointing.

The drinks took a long time to be prepared, the drinks were not the best, too bitter for extra sugar. Overall wouldn't go unless the quality is improved .