Bobae Coffee & Tea — Restaurant in Kirkland

Creative drinks, but boba is overcooked -

This place is tiny and take-out only, but we ate dinner without free water so a drink at that time but as necessary. There are only 1 or 2 people there, so the service was slow and we waited 10 minutes for our drinks.

I ordered the mango purple sticky rice drink from the June creative menu, and hubby ordered the bobaejicha. The lowest sugar level here is 50%, but it's just right for me. My drink is basically just coconut milk with topping, but it was refreshing and I think the purple rice in the drink makes the drink so much more fun and unique. It sort of makes me want to get the purple rice yogurt from yomie yogurt. Hubby's drink was good and it's basically hojicha with whole milk. We are well-versed in tea and have hojicha at home, but roasted green tea tastes a bit different than green tea and it's not as refreshing. The balance between the tea and milk is good, but I generally prefer a higher percentage of tea than milk (like what they do at "don't yell at me"). I can't tell the drink was made of whole milk either, but the boba was overcooked and not chewy at all. If you have bad teeth, you might enjoy it (???).

Even though it's a small place, they really care about their customers and they labeled all the cf, gf, and df options. I think that really makes this place stand out from everywhere else. I'd come here to try other drinks, but I'd definitely skip the...

This place got the best Hojicha milk tea! Joey has this vivid vibe to each and every customer. My friend and I were visiting Seattle from New York and this was our third bubble tea place to try. Joey first asked us if we had anything in mind already and I was actually debating between the Sapphire Moonlight and Bobaejicha(Kyoto Hojicha)Milk Tea. He gave honest suggestions after hearing I'm more of a tea person instead of a flower girl since Sapphire Moonlight is made with just their organic lavender only. I still went along with Sapphire Moonlight just for the photo but somehow Joey knew and second asked me if I was sure😂

I went with Bobaejicha with 25% sugar, oat milk in the end and totally loved it!! My friend got their Matc-Hatter's Cheesecake (ceremonial crisp matcha topped with cheese foam)which is on the March creative menu only. She had 30% sugar but we both suggest they should do 0% for this drink. The cheese foam was REALLY good but it was covering the matcha flavor a bit. It would be perfect if the matcha was stronger.

They also got a variety options of nitro milk teas, icecreams and coffees! Best part is that they even got a keto series for the keto-ers! New York has a tons of bubble tea shops and we never thought we'd love a boba place this much outside of NY. Would definitely visit again next time if I'm in town! No doubt that Bobae beats the most famous Boba...

I am not one to complain or go back to modify a drink, but I ordered the lavender sapphire moonlight milk tea with boba. When I got my drink, there was no boba. I politely went back and asked about it since I was certain I ordered it with boba (and my friend next to me heard me order it too). I also came here specifically for the boba with my drink. Upon asking, the lady who served me said I didn’t order it and took the time to check the receipt to confirm it wasn’t on there. This made me feel guilty as the customer for even asking. She then asked me to pay for the boba. I was appalled but proceeded to pay and still tip for it. She just gave me the boba in a small to go cup, but I felt very disserviced as a customer as you should be making the customer feel validated and not wrong for missing an add on topping! Please train employees proper customer service, this made me feel uncomfortable in how this was approached, and makes me not want to come back.

In response to the owners response: I am supportive of small businesses and paid for the extra topping (boba) and even TIPPED for it. I am only asking for ownership of the mistake instead of making the customer feel guilty. The way this was approached was not customer first...