Asha Tea House — Restaurant in Berkeley

I was a HUGE Asha fan in the past. At my peak, three times a week. I'm sad to report that the quality has notably deteriorated and the service is now the tea version of the Soup Nazi.

QUALITY Six months ago Asha had the best Masala Chai Latte west of Bangalore. The quality notably deteriorated and I asked the staff why. It turns out I was not crazy. Management had indeed changed the recipe by intentionally providing a weaker tea. For the next few months I was able to order the "old recipe." A few months later I was told that I had to pay $0.50 extra to get the good stuff. Not a problem.... until my most recent visit when I found out THE HIGH QUALITY OPTION WAS NO LONGER AVAILABLE, AT ANY PRICE.... because they were "standardizing."

SERVICE -- Tea Nazi of Berkeley While the rest of the world is becoming more customizable, Asha is going the other direction.

Example 1: Asha has boba. Asha has Masala Chia Latte. BUT, do not ask Asha to put boba INTO a Masala Chai latte. As of the new "standardization" Asha is now incapable of adding boba to that drink. It cannot be done, at any price. I actually thought my server was making a joke. Nope. CAN'T BE DONE.

Example 2... Try ordering "Oolong tea with boba." One would think you could say something like, "I would like Oolong tea with boba." THAT DOES NOT WORK. They will not serve you.

The only way to get Oolong tea with boba is to say you want, "A bubble milk tea, except leave out the milk and exchange the black tea with Oolong." And (again from talking to employees) this stupidity is intentional by management in the name of "standardization."

It is not the employees fault. They find the new rules embarrassing. But apparently management has made it very clear they MUST follow these absurd rules.

In conclusion: if you happen to want what they happen to have on the menu, or can figure out how to manipulate the "Asha Tea rules" Asha is still OK, but the the quality has been intentionally reduced where possible.

Sad. The place used to be really good. I'm crossing my fingers the owners figure it out and can turn the place around. I'll check in every few months to see if these utterly pointless restrictions have been lifted, but until then there's lots of other places to...

Asha Tea House is what the East Coast (mainly D.C. where I live) is missing. I'm someone who loves bubble tea, matcha, and tea in general, but unfortunately there really aren't a ton of tea shops that do all three. So when I made a trip out to Berkeley for a work trip, I made it a point to Yelp a few bubble tea and matcha places. Asha came out on top.

At Asha, they serve fruit teas, milk teas, matcha, pure teas, tisane, and other drinks like coffee and specialty teas. For fruit teas, they have Asian pear oolong, blood orange oolong, Fuji apple black, honeydew green, mango green, pineapple oolong, kiwi green, and more. Milk teas include Hong Kong milk tea, hojicha latte, pumpkin chai latte, Hong Kong coffee milk tea, masala chai latte, and tapioca milk tea. Matcha options include ceremonial matcha, matchaspresso (matcha and espresso), matcha macchiato, matcha affogato, and matcha latte. Pure tea options are black, oolong, jasmine green, house green, and hojicha green. Tisane or herbal tea include chamomile, ginger honey, rooibos, chrysanthemum, and mint.

I was really craving a matcha latte so I ordered an iced matcha latte with boba. For orders under $5, they prefer cash. My drink came out not too long later, and I was astonished at how gorgeous the gradient of matcha, milk, and tapioca. The taste was exactly what I wanted for a matcha latte with boba. The matcha, latte, and boba flavors were all well-balanced. It was so good I was tempted to go back the same night and order another.

If I'm back at Berkeley, you can bet I'll be back at...

This tea house is supported by the sale of bubble tea and other tea-family sweet drinks served in plastic disposable cups and straws. The space is cool, but the vibe is ruined by poorly amp'd junk music that is more sound graffiti than music. They would be better off with ambient sounds or no music at all. But invest is speakers first.

I know a thing or two about tea, so I wanted to enjoy some properly brewed Chinese tea while in Downtown Berkeley. I opted for Da Hong Pao (Great Red Robe), a generally wonderful tea from Fujian. I watched the staff brew it in a small pot; after steeping, they served it to me in 8 oz ceramic cup. Serving chinese tea to westerners in a way that works in can be hard. I prefer gongfu places where I can brew myself and get multiple steeps. Or places devoted only to tea and not tea infused drinks. That said, it wasn't a bad brew. But one doesn't get to linger over the tea, or enjoy the other aspects associated with traditional tea culture here.

I won't come back unless it's empty, the music is off, or something else changes.

If you want a fruit, milk or bubble tea, I would recommend. Head to Blue Willow, Far Leaves, or Teance if you want to drink actual tea. They could certainly do it here, but they can't do both starbucks-style tea and fine tea at the same time....