ChiCha San Chen — Restaurant in Austin

I ordered honey osmanthus oolong tea with boba, the tea tasted ok. But boba is hard, and not very good. The drink size is very small for the price. My drink is $7+ already. With that price, I can already get a large size drink in other boba shops.

The store itself is pretty small and narrow in shape, the seating layout is very bad, and not a good place for visiting if you have big group friends, because the tables are mostly small and don’t have enough chairs. If it’s 1 person or a couple, it will fit. But if you have more than 3 people, it’ll be a bit difficult to sit together and chat.

This place doesn’t have good atmosphere, I don’t think I’ll go there to work on my laptop or work on my homework, because all the seats are very close to each other, I can hear people chatting very loud next me.I don’t think I can focus on my work or my homework.

Very dirty bathroom! And they only have one bathroom there. There was a lady went inside in front of me for 15 mins. I guess maybe she was doing her makeup inside the bathroom or something, I was not sure. But yes, I stood outside the bathroom and waited for 15 mins, and there were other 4-5 people waiting in line behind me as well. Everyone was waiting eagerly to use the bathroom.

After I entered the bathroom, it was really dirty!!! there were period blood shoe prints all over the floor, and I am sure I stepped on them because there were so many. So gross!

There was one big garbage bin near the door, but it was exploded and overfilled with drink cups, and all the drink cups piled up high there, and many cups fell and dropped on the floor already. Their staff didn’t do a good job changing the garbage bin. They should change it more frequently! It was very unsightly, and many customers were unable to toss their drink cups because the garbage bin was overly full.

It’s my first time visiting this tea shop, I’ll say the overall experience was not good. And I don’t recommended it.

I hope their tea shop will take criticism or customer reviews humbly. No one paid me to write this review. It’s all based on my...

Chi cha san qian review: Boba : 9/10 Milk tea: 9/10 Presentation: 6/10 Cost: 7/10 —————————- Overall: 7.75

Comments : for taste, I would say this is the best milk tea in Austin. However there are some serious technical issues for which I personally subtracted points. The drink size is too small for the price. For the $6 range the standard size should be used. When ordering with less ice, there is still too much ice. So much in fact that by the end of your drink you are struggling to navigate around it to find the remaining boba. The typical ratio for less ice would allow a person to easily locate and consume the remaining boba without struggling. packaging ; premium non-recyclable hard plastic cup. While sturdy, these cups are only being used once before heading to a landfill. Drinks are not sealed in the traditional way with a cup sealing machine. There is no plastic membrane that you can stick your boba straw through. Personally this is part of the fun of getting boba tea and that experience is missing. Each cup has a lid with a less than ideal flap for that folds over where the straw can go. Twine is used to create a hanging handle and decorate the cups. This step definitely eats into cost per cup and personally doesn’t add much aesthetically nor functionally. It would be best to do without it altogether. the tea itself is excellent. Fragrant, freshly brewed. Fresh milk is used. The sweetness level for seemed suitable for a drink ordered with less sugar. The product itself is great, but for the cost, between the reduced cup size and what appears to be too much ice - it is hard to recommend as a regular go-to boba shop.

note: also tried the taro ball/ paste drink and it...

Honey osmanthus perfect sweet and brown sugar fresh milk were exactly that. Perfect flavor, sweetness, and satisfaction.

The osmanthus had a nice light scent. I'd get less sugar to taste the tea next time. Brown sugar milk boba was the best option for non-caffeinated option.

Update 1: Came back for the 3star green tea with fresh milk and cassia black tea with mousse.

Green tea was the best. The milk makes it so creamy and smooth. Word of warning. Had 2 upset stomachs a week in a row after having drinks with their fresh milk.

Cassia black tea, supposedly a malty chocolate taste, had too much flavor confusion for me to appreciate it as a tea vs a chocolate treat. The mousse was decent, but I'd like to try it on other drinks too like a classic black or green tea.

Update 2: High mountain pouchong tea with lemon and mousse. Lemon green tea was refreshing and lemonade-y, if you like it. This was the fixed drink where you can't change any of the toppings. After a while though, it felt like I was drinking juice.. from a plastic bottle, if that makes sense.

Dong ding latte was strong but not remarkable. Get perfect sugar here if you want a balanced drink. I got less sugar and tasted more tea.

I also sampled the cassia black tea with fresh milk instead and it is MUCH better than the mousse. Shows how much of a difference the dairy choice makes.

OK I think I got all the drinks. Will return for the green milk tea and the fresh milk brown sugar boba, maybe try the honey osmanthus with fresh milk. And if I want to give it a chance, then maybe I'll...