7 Leaves Cafe Alhambra — Restaurant in Alhambra

Generally they are very good and consistent but today was a different story.

They have cut hours now opening at 11am.. which to me seems weird since I normally like to start my morning with a vietnamese coffee but fine.. covid has changed a lot of things.

My issue today was that there was a 10 car line out of the drive so thought to order online and chill for a bit. App indicated it would be ready within 10 mins ok cool, will just wait in the car for a bit. After waiting for 10 mins went in to what I thought would be an easy pickup. After going in realized it was a mess inside. there were at least 15 customers inside. asked about my mobile order, they mentioned issues with the app, ok fine, so they said they would work on my order. It was just chaotic inside with a mix of people ordering, waiting for orders, mobile orders not working, they were doing some training seemed like as well. At the peak there was 20 customers waiting around. Drinks just sitting around and everyone seemed to have to ask if that was their order. Ended up getting my drink about 30 mins after the original order time.

Hopefully next time they can streamline the app ordering process and maybe have dedicated person in charge of making sure the orders get out to the right mobile and in-person orders on-time. Also with covid didnt seem like 20 customers inside waiting around is appropriate since the place isnt...

I used to love going to factory tea bar nearby Mission, but 7 leaves has quickly become my hand down favorite "tea shop” given the accessibility in the predominately Asian areas (San Gabriel Valley, Irvine, Chino Hills). At first glance, the menu seems limited, but you realize that the owners wanted to focus on quality rather than reach regarding the products. Parking is usually at capacity during rush hours, and sometimes the drive through spills into the streets. Additional parking can be found in any of the nearby parking structures at the movie theater, near Ross, or even down the street from the 7 leaves building going toward Main St.

I’m an old man now, so I prefer milk teas on the more tea flavor than sugar. I typically go with the oolong milk tea with easy sweet and easy/no ice. When I want to feel energized like Pikachu, I choose the Vietnamese coffee easy ice (if you ask for no ice, they reduce volume to compensate) and easy sweet (they add an extra shot of expresso to make it less sweet, no adjustment to syrup). If I want to feel young again, I go for mung bean milk tea with easy sweet and no ice. For summer, got with easy ice so your drink stays frosty.

7 Leaves also sells liter bottles so you can bring to parties or just fatty up at home. The best part is that you can combine stamp cards, too bad they’re physical and...

I love boba and milk tea, but there's a few things here that knocks down some stars. There's no doubt the drinks are good, though.

Customization: For someone who likes having less/no sugar, that is not the case for some of these drinks. For example, house special coffee can have less sweet, but no non sweet option. It's less sweet level is still very sweet to me. If you ask for nice, it is only filled about 60% of the cup (meaning 40% is air inside the cup). When asking for the sea cream Jasmine tea, that already comes presweetened, so that can't be less or none. I have always enjoyed being able to change the type of sugar used and the amount that goes in.

Boba: The sweetness and texture of the boba is important, for any boba milk tea. Yes, texture is very subjective. I like mine with more of a chewy texture, and sweetened moderately. The boba when I tried it was too soft, without the firmer chewiness.

I greatly enjoyed their house coffee special and their Jasmine milk tea despite it being on the sweeter side. The flavor is there and it's satisfying! I'd give it a 3.5 star if I could, but...