Tea Maru — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Overall: 3.9/5 (Ubereats Delivery)

We decided to try this place since they had a BOGO deal on Ubereats. The projected delivery time was 10-25 minutes but we got an Uber biker so it took 30-35 minutes. The drinks were intact but there was a bit of milk tea droplets inside the bag so I'm not sure where they came from. We kept the drinks in our fridge for a few days and they were still good so I'm pretty impressed. The non-milk drinks taste better though so I would not keep a milk base drink for more than a day. Another great thing is that even though I got no or less ice, the liquid level was still near equivalent to a regular ice drink. After trying all their drinks, I would say Tea Maru is way better at fruit teas than milk teas.

Wintermelon Lemon, No Ice, 75% Sweetness ($5.99): True it's name, you can taste both wintermelon and lemon. If you leave the drink in the fridge longer, you start to get more of the bitterness from the lemon and it will taste more like lemonade.

Taro Storm, 100% Sweetness With Housemade Boba ($7.84): This was the worst drink of the batch. The blended milk was like borderline bad and gave my brother a stomachache. The drink and boba had no taste at all so we threw away a nearly full cup.

Grapefruit Fantasy, Less Ice, 75% Sweetness ($6.75): The grapefruit is subtle and drink was sweeter than the other drinks so I don't know what's up with their sugar level measurements. However the 75% sweetness level works for this drink.

Maru Milk With Boba, Less Ice, Lactose Free Milk ($6.75): This is their brown sugar milk drink which was okay. I feel like their brown sugar syrup to milk ratio was a bit off since I tasted more milk after each sip. Their boba has a softer texture but is...

We were in the area walking through downtown LA when we saw this boba shop near us. We had a little difficulty finding it till we realized that this was located in a food venue (at the back of the venue) with other restaurants. When we got there, the employee had just started making the boba so we were asked to wait 10-15 minutes before our drinks could be made. We were definitely a bit happy knowing that we’d be getting fresh boba. I ordered a Maru Milk (their most popular drink) with crafted brown sugar boba, less ice, and 75% sugar. The person I was with ordered a similar drink with no ice and 100% sugar.

I was pretty disappointed after receiving my drink. The boba was quite firm (hard to chew) and flavorless. I asked the employee if it’s supposed to be that firm and they confirmed it was. I’ve had boba multiples times before this and from my understanding, boba is supposed to be a little chewy. This tasted like it wasn’t made properly and every tapioca ball I had was tough. The milk wasn’t that bad so that’s the reason why I’m giving this a 2. Not sure if I’ll go...

Tea Maru is my favorite boba shop and I'm glad they have one in LA as I was most bummed to lose it when I moved out of Orange County. The shop is located in a little food hall but in a rather sketchy part of town, so just be careful. The parking is a bit confusing on the street as well. They're metered and it says you can pay on the app but none of the spots register in the area so it makes no sense. I was in and out in 5 minutes so it didn't really affect me but I would just be cautious.

My favorite is their classic maru milk tea substituted with oat milk. The boba is so tender which is a sign of freshness and honestly... this is a drink I cannot replicate at home.

The only reason why I docked them is because the location is so bad I wouldn't really see myself coming back. But I love Tea Maru and if you’re in the area you should definitely check it...