Molly Tea (Chicago) — Restaurant in Chicago

What's all the hype about!!???

I went on a Thursday night around 9pm and it was so packed. There is no seating available and it's a very small space and not very aesthetic like other tea shops where you can take cute pics and hang out. This place is crazy busy.

Also, it's very hard to hear when your order is ready the worker was using a microphone head piece but it was still hard to hear her and so we didn't know when our order was ready bc there are so many people and the microphone/speaker system to announce orders that are ready is not loud enough.

I ordered the snowy Jasmine with 50% sugar (got mine cold) and it literally tasted just like tea there was no hint of sweetness at all so if you don't like your tea sweet then I recommend 50%. All I could taste was the floralness of the Jasmine which was nice as I don't want to just taste sugar I actually like and want to taste the tea itself!

My bestie ordered the snowy Dancong with 70% sugar (got it hot) and it was barely sweet, very very subtle sweetness, not even sure I'd call it sweet. So if you like your tea a little sweeter than I recommend getting at least 85% or higher for sugar. The dancong had an earthy nutty taste to it almost like roasted rice and was less floral than the Jasmine. My bestie enjoyed this better and I preferred the Jasmine.

I recommend ordering your tea hot, it tasted better than the cold one (Jasmine) and really brings out the tea flavor. The cold one we ordered just tasted like pure tea since there is no sweetness to it almost like brewing tea at home and just adding ice to it.

Both of the teas came with candied pecans on top and whipped cream (hence the name snowy). I docked one star because the description on the menu says that the whipped cream is flavored like the tea and it is not. Both of our whipped creams taste just like whipped cream there was no tea essence or flavor to it as described on the menu. So I think they just use that for marketing and should remove it as it's misleading.

I docked a second star for the price. Both of the snowy teas were 799. For that premium price I expect the tea to be organic. Tea is high in pesticides and heavy metals so for $8 a cup it would be nice if they had organic options. Te amo is cheaper and their teas are organic. This place only serves green tea and oolong tea. There are no white or black tea options which is disappointing.

I'm assuming the price is so high for these teas because they add candied pecans when you order the snowy teas which are the ones that come with whipped cream topping and they come in a cutesy pink bag to go. They sprinkle a little bit of candied pecans on top of the whipped cream. Candied pecans can be expensive so you're paying the premium price for that and the lavish pink to go bag.

The teas come with mini straws which is nice they are not your typical large boba straws like other tea shops.

I will say though one thing that makes them stand apart compared to other tea shops (I've gone to almost every tea shop in Chinatown) is that you can really taste the tea which is nice. Other places just load up their drinks with a bunch of sugary syrup and you can't really taste the flavor of the tea but at Molly's you can because the teas are not very sweet to begin with.

I wouldn't go out of my way to get a drink here given that it's $8 for a medium size tea that's not organic. If they have organic and other tea options aside from green and oolong than I would probably come here more often.

Hard to find parking but that's always the case in Chinatown. There is metered paid parking...

Drinks were ok however, I must of came in at a busy hour. With the crowds of people I had to ask who was in line to order at the kiosk. After waiting over 20+ mins. I see my number appear on the ready screen. I am already waiting for someone to assist but seems that I'm being ignored as the lady assists everyone around me. Finally, I get her attention and speak my number as I hear some say it's ready and I see it sitting. So, then I'm still waiting 15+mins until I speak my number again for someone else to come and put a cap over the tea, when clearly this is something she could of done and sent me on my way. Either she has no time management or she is completely new and doesn't know how to keep a fast pace work flow. When I think of Molly Tea..I'll think not worth the wait and I'll go...

didn't want to write a review but the overall quality has gotten so bad to this point. i have been coming here at least once a week ever since they opened and for the past 2 months, 杨枝甘露 has been consistently bad. this tasted great when it first launched but now it tastes like they cheaped out and started blending with more ice with barely any mango because it tastes so watered down. i tried their new drink today and it was so disappointing, being the final straw that has me writing a bad review because how are you going to launch a new product but not use fresh tapioca pearls for it? it tastes clearly old and it's hard too. at $8+ each drink, the chicago location gives molly tea such a bad reputation, molly tea NY could never. management hire more people and stop...