Kem Coffee and Boba — Restaurant in National City

Kem in Vietnamese means “cream”. They specialize in cream based coffee drinks and the pillowy flavored foam topping.

Normally we would get egg coffee just to go basic to judge the coffee but we went with Pandan. Coconut coffee is my favorite and I went with that because it was blended.

I have to say, this was not for me. The coffee was thick from the milk and the Pandan foam topping was even more thick. It was hard to stir to blend. Then it was like sipping a milk shake which is probably what they were going for?

The coconut coffee was already ice blended. Too creamy and thick for me.

They have unique flavors and style that’s different from other shops that’s going to set them apart but it wasn’t for us.

I think I would prefer this style for milk tea not with coffee.

There are more flavors when you order on the self kiosk. She told me black sesame is popular right now and banana. I know banana has failed me every single time I’ve gotten it from other shops. But who know’s maybe it’ll be strong or settled.

Buy 2 get 1 free Mon-...

We've already been fans of Vietnamese coffee, but Kem really kicks things up to another level with their unique flavors and toppings.

They do happy hour Mon-Fri from 2pm-5pm so we couldn't pass up this deal. It's buy 2 get 1 free!

We tried:

🧋Tornado Kem 🧋 Banana Kem 🧋 Black Sesame Matcha

The Tornado has a fluffy egg foam coating the inside of the cup so you get a nice subtle blend of foam as you drink your coffee. The banana was my favorite- subtle sweet flavor with the rich coffee. The black sesame was so good too though - reminding us of Japanese sweets paired with a nice strong matcha.

They do have several tea and coffee options, and you can add boba or jelly and adjust sweetness to your liking. The team here is really helpful and knowledgeable about the drinks, so they helped us make the best choices for our cravings. We already want to go back to try...

great place to get your boba, i actually wasn't a fan of ding tea before i stumbled upon this one. there is never a wait and the employees are always respectful in patient in answering your questions and adhering to your requests. even the trainees are great with customer service. if there is ever a problem they'll fix it right away. the patience part means a lot to me as i have a grandma (who's a dt fanatic now) who gets a bit complicated with her orders and a toddler who insists on ordering for himself. the teas are great and the customization options are endless. the ice cream they sell here is also very good in terms of price and flavor. they accept ebt as well if you pay through the grocery store, which only fueled my grandmas love for this location. definitely sign up for the rewards program if you frequent as...