Tea Time Hawaii — Restaurant in Hawaii

Tea Time Hawaii is a shop with a delightful premise and an excellent selection of local teas and honeys, paired with a charming crystal shop. The staff was friendly and quick, which is a huge plus as well. The boba tea, however, was…remarkably disappointing. As a former tea ambassador and long-time hobbyist, brewer, and reviewer of bubble tea, my tea experience here was one of the worst that I’ve had to date…until today, I don’t think I’ve ever failed to finish a drink. I ordered a Kona Mango tea with mango purée and large boba. The tea itself from what I can tell was from Oribe Teas, which makes an excellent local product in my experience. The tea I received today, however, was watered down to the point of flavorlessness, before the ice had even melted. The mango purée, while strong in concept, was weak in flavor. There was a lack of sweetness and astringency that makes me think there just wasn’t enough mixed in…or perhaps the purée was watered down. As for the pearls themselves, they were hard, a bit undercooked, and unsweetened, making for a sort of tough, watery and bland experience that I associate with the “quick cook pearls” you can find at the supermarket. Even those pearls, when properly boiled and rested, can be superior to the ones served today.

To the folks at Tea Time Hawaii, I see that you have a very receptive owner that responds to reviews here. I hope this feedback is met as constructive, and I hope you are able to make some improvements to your protocol. I think that adding customizable levels of sweetness and ice to your drink menu would help quite a bit. It’s also important when preparing your teas that you use as little ice as possible to avoid watering them down, or to up the ratio of tea leaves to water when you steep in large batches. I’d be happy to talk story about tea prep sometime if that’s something you’d like, and I am open to revisiting your establishment in the future to give it...

This place is so good!

The blended match green tea with coconut milk was by far the best drink I had ever had. The consistency was just perfect. I got a 16oz, and it was a good portion of the amount for me. The goodies and other items in the store are very reasonable and everything so far we tasted was good.

We also got to taste their new dry freeze airhead. It's very sugary but tasteful!

I don't have EBT but they do except it. If your into shakra stuff like crystals 🔮 they have a variety with very decent prices.

Go...

Something for the whole family. Sweet Buble tea drinks OR add boba to your favorite coffee or tea. They offer a variety of teas, drinks and other treats in the retail portion of the store. My daughter loved all the Boba tea stuffed animals they had for sale so we just had to get one! The staff were friendly, patient and helped me find the...