Taste Tea Cafe — Restaurant in Artesia

Tasty tea @ Taste Tea Cafe

Briefly & formerly Szechuan Garden #2, Taste Tea Café is a new Chinese/Taiwanese café in the heavily saturated market area of Artesia/Cerritos. Seeing their osmanthus oolong tea, something I haven't tried before to the best of my knowledge, I made my way here a few minutes before opening on an overcast Sunday morning.

Iced osmanthus oolong tea (ice on the side)- Sweetness can be adjusted to taste. The options are 100% sweet, 75% sweet, 50% sweet & 25% sweet. I made my own choice by asking for less than 25%, which came out perfect for me, as I don't care for sweet drinks. The osmanthus oolong tea was cold, refreshing & hit the spot! Reminding me of a subtle tasting jasmine tea, my drink had a nice frothy head of foam on top, almost resembling a pale ale.

Coffee, tea (milk, hot, cold, blended) & caffeine free drinks are well represented on the menu. I was curious about trying the fresh lemon juice w/ honey, which will have to wait till next time. Toppings, including boba, organic chia, pudding, jellies, & red beans, are an additional 60 cents each.

For something more substantial, Taste Tea Café has appetizers, noodle soup & rice dishes to choose from. Takoyaki is, surprisingly, one of the appetizers on the menu, to go along with popcorn chicken, squid balls, tea boiled eggs and the rest.

All noodle soup & rice dish lunch specials come with free green or black iced tea (11am - 3pm).

Service was good. The owner informed me it would take about 10 minutes for my drink to be made, as drinks are made to order & 10 minutes is the sweet spot for brewing osmanthus oolong tea. Being the first & only customer of the day thus far, I didn't have a problem with that & chatted with the owner about his new business.

Seating for about 30+ people via tables and a long booth along the wall. Parking is in a private lot, at the Kariya Shabu Shabu & BBQ strip mall. Taste Tea Café is situated inbetween Szechuan Garden & an acupuncturist.

Taste Tea Café is a wonderful new addition to the area. Their drinks are made with quality, cup after each cup. The osmanthus oolong tea was just what the doctor ordered, and I'm hesitating whether to order that again, go with the fresh lemon juice w/ honey or choosing another one of their enticing drinks. Not a franchise, this is a husband & wife operation who passionately runs their business. I wish them continued success & I will be a frequent customer, thanks to my customer loyalty stamp card, whenever I want a delicious treat.

Highly...

After eating dinner at the same plaza, we walked over to Taste Tea Cafe to get a drink.

*Fresh Lemon Juice with Honey 蜂蜜鮮檸檬 | $3

I got a fresh lemon juice with honey, and asked for small amount of honey only. It was just the right amount of tartness and sweetness. Very refreshing. The nice guy at the counter told us about the check in special on Yelp. When you check in, you get free upgrade to a large drink.

Then I saw that they also serve Taiwanese food. So we ordered two bentos for to-go to eat the next day.

Braised Pork with Bamboo Shoot Rice 筍絲扣肉飯 | $7.50

Each bento comes with a main dish and 3 side dishes. Braised pork with bamboo shoot was soooooo good! The braised pork belly just melts in your mouth. It goes so good with rice. The 3 side dishes were peanuts, green beans and spicy glass noodles. We love the green beans and the glass noodle. Dr. P said this was one of the best Taiwanese bento he's ever had.

Braised Pork Chop Rice 魯排骨飯 | $8

The Braised pork chop rice bento was pretty good, too. But the braised pork with bamboo shoots definitely stood out more.

What a pleasant surprise! We like the food and drink at this little cafe. If we are in the area again, we will come back and...

Fresh tasting milk teas, extensive snack and meal menu, attentive workers. One of the only classic Taiwanese cafes left in the area, upgraded from a Tapioca Express/Boba Stop (for the real locals). Never ending menu unlike all the bougie tea shops now, they also care so much more for their food options unlike the other shops that only have as much as you can count on your fingers. For example the meal plates have 3 sides that make it more than a complete dinner. The only downside is inside seating hasn’t reopened since Covid, which isn’t a big deal, but would be nice to have that complete the cafe feel as the vibe is nice enough to study inside for a few hours. One of the few local shops I want to...