Sweetea

My buddy really wanted some Thai tea which we couldn't get at the Vietnamese coffee place we just came from so we dipped into Sweetea for some boba.

I ordered an almond milk tea with boba and it was immediately better than the stuff at Tea Era because there was no powdery residue from the mix they use to make the drink. The boba was pretty good too and was nice and chewy. For less than $3.50, it was also a decent value too.

Popping into solid boba shops has been tricky to find in the area so far but this was a pretty good experience. I sometimes miss San Diego for the abundance of boba places but will be keeping an eye out for more like Sweetea. There are even tables outside to enjoy your drink at with your pup if you happen to be going for a walk.

Food: 7/10

Service: 7/10

Price: $

Atmosphere: 7/10

They no longer take debit or credit card. Don't know about wifi, they used too have it free.
I have to say I am not coming back here. The drink taste so bad now. I ordered a simple watermelon juice and it tasted bad. I think its cause the sugar or whatever they put in it change the watermelon taste.
A couple of weeks ago I ordered a different drink and it didn't taste good, it was a tea drink. So no more from this place! Years ago the drink here were good but not anymore.

I've been here a couple of times, it's one of milk tea spots :3 It's pretty hidden and underrated though~

My favorites are probably the lychee green milk tea & the honey green milk tea. Their toro milk tea is ehhh, it's better at other places + it has a brownish color (weird).
Their drinks are not as artificial as other milk tea places (ahem, tapex) = win.
Their boba is one of the best, soft and chewy.

Their (fries) combo is such a good value too! Fries + 2 appetizers + any milk tea for just around $10. From what I have had so far, their sweet potato fries and their calamari are goooood.

I also love how they have the frequent buyer card :3 (gotta ask them for it though!) And they have nice couches in there~

But once: I got hit on by old creepy men sitting outside the store -_____- smh. + they have a sign "please: no spitting" uh...whut.

NOTICE: Buy 3, get one freeeeeee.

The drinks were OK, standard. There's nothing different about this place compared to other milk tea places worth bragging about. So why the 3 stars? Well, I ordered a fried appetizer and it came out almost burnt. They must not have been paying much attention to the fryer. There is plenty of seating inside and a few tables outside on the sidewalk, but the sidewalk area is pretty nasty. Lots of spit on the ground, trash, cigarette butts....

This location has gotten pretty inconsistent, they went through making just the perfect balance of milk and tea to now bitter/ overwhelmingly strong.

Service is usually pretty good, only downside is the parking and actually getting into the location. Seems kinna' sketch, fellow SJ'ers know what I mean.

Unfortunately, this isn't a "can't go wrong with anything you order" kind of place. You have your stellar winners, and then you have your drinks to stay away from. Going in one or the other direction can easily skew your perception of this place. Regardless of the bad ones, this is my go-to place to quench my periodic boba cravings since I live nearby so many mediocre boba chains (*cough* TapEx).

I'll make this review simple and categorize the drinks I've tried into three lists: *Nods* GET IT!, Eh I'm on the Fence, and You're Better Off (Elsewhere). By the way, tapioca balls are decent!


*Nods* GET IT!:
-- Honey Milk Green Tea: I get this countless times to the point where I remember the menu number; #23. It's good cold or hot.
-- Thai Milk Tea
-- Honeydew Snow Bubble
-- Squid Heads
-- French Fries

Eh, I'm on the Fence:
-- Hot Almond Milk Tea: It's not spectacular but it's not bad either
-- Mango Milk Tea

You're Better Off (Elsewhere):
-- Apple Milk Tea: This was just odd...
-- Jasmine Milk Tea: Watered down, what gives?
-- Mocha Milk Tea: Liquid choco powdah!
-- Peach Milk Tea: Ew.
-- Lobster Balls: Seriously, who decided to dump a vat of salt into these?

This place was a little hard to find but my friend and I finally found this place. Funny how my phone's GPS said we were still 200 feet away when we were standing inside. This place was pretty small and I estimated that it would seat about 15-20 people.

Their milk tea with pearls ($3.00) was pretty good. The taste was different from any other milk tea I've tasted. It's like how Tapioca Express' milk teas had their own distinct taste - Sweetea's milk tea had its own distinct taste. The pearls were a little hard but still chewy enough for me.

If you plan on coming here to sit and drink while this place is busy, then you might not be able to find a seat; otherwise, good place for milk tea!

I was pleasantly surprised with my newest find! Sweetea is hidden inside a plaza on King Rd and was empty when I stopped by Sunday afternoon...

The Milk Tea w/ Pearls was delicious! I requested less sugar and it was honored w/o making the drink watered down! :D

The pearls were perfectly chewy too!

...the milk tea drink reminded me of Lollicup's signature flavoring!

I have to agree with one of the earlier reviews regarding the peach green tea. It tasted and looked like Kern's Nectar. On the bright side, they use real green tea. I think. Usually it gives me diarrhea and that lets me know it's legit, but then againnn it was hot AF and cold drinks on my empty stomach = no bueno.

I think they need another employee or something. I felt like I was waiting forever for my order.

One of their posters was kind of funny though. They use REAL BOBA! And it's 1/4 of an inch! If they use real boba, then what do other pearl drink places use?

I just went to this place earlier today after I was in the area and suddenly wanted a boba. Of course, I immediately thought of this place as I had searched on Yelp once recently.

I ordered the standard, which is the tapioca milk tea with pearls. I like that there do not charge extra for pearls, like Tapioca Express and Quickly. The drink was very good.

The only downside is that I couldn't get any wifi. Therefore, I chose to leave pretty quickly after I had gotten my drink.

As someone else has said, there are better places for boba in San Jose. I will also state that there are better boba places that have ample parking. This place is not one of those places.