T% Coffee + Tea — Restaurant in Sacramento

T% Coffee + Tea is one of the newer aesthetic tea shops in the Sacramento area. Located in the Safeway complex on 19th St., one can conveniently stop by and grab a drink after finishing some grocery shopping as a well-earned treat (or go before and sip as you shop that works too).

Walking into T% the first thing that will catch your eye is their all-white interior and aesthetic, which undoubtedly will appeal to anyone's inner minimalist. All ordering at T% is done at the kiosk and they have two in the store. During busy hours it can be a little crowded and you may have to wait a bit to place (and receive) your order, but the wait is definitely worth it! I'll also note that there isn't a ton of interior seating at T%, but if you come at an off-hour then there should be room for you a couple friends to sit down and have a chat.

I ordered their lychee flamingo with panda boba (a mix of regular boba and agar boba). There wasn't much description of what exactly the lychee flamingo drink was (which I will note is pretty true for their more uniquely named drinks); however, as a fan of lychee anything I went ahead and gave the drink a try. I discovered that the lychee flamingo is essentially lychee slushy with lychee pieces mixed in. The panda boba was a nice touch, and to be honest I'm not usually a fan of boba but theirs was such high quality that I thoroughly enjoyed the bite it added.

Although, I didn't order this myself, I'll also highlight that T% offers a pretty unique boba topping - drinkable mochi. My friends have tried it and swear that everyone has to try it at least once (and I should probably take my own advice and try it the next time I stop by).

If you're into aesthetic tea shops with high-quality drinks, then T% Coffee + Tea is the...

I came to this place specifically because they have an almond milk option and I have a dairy and soy intolerance. I started my order on the self service machine and I noticed the milk teas (which are my favorite) did not let me choose almond milk. So I asked the cashier and they said milk teas are not customizable. Which I find strange since the boba place by my house has an almond milk option for milk tea. So I looked for a different drink that allowed me to use almond milk. I saw there was a new crème brûlée option so I chose that despite the fact that it wouldn’t let me choose a less sweet option (I normally always go for 25% because I don’t like my tea/coffee sweet). Once I got my drink I definitely noticed how sweet it was! But that was ok since I expected that due to the inability to choose a less sweet version. But what I noticed a couple sips in was that the topping was clearly milk based! The whole reason why I wanted almond milk was because dairy tears up my stomach. And if I had to guess, I think they made the drink with milk as well because I felt awful the rest of the day. I only drank about 1/3 of my medium sized drink because I knew it was milk based and I didn’t feel like being in writhing pain. Needless to say, if you are looking for an almond milk based tea, this is...

The interior of the shop is simple yet has a touch of creativity—initial impression was quite nice. However, the service was completely lacking throughout the visit. The most upsetting part came at checkout, where the receipt showed a mandatory tip charge. There was no option to choose or adjust the tip amount on the screen, and when I brought it up to the staff, they responded with a cold attitude and insisted there was an option—when clearly, there wasn’t.

As for the drinks, the Brown Sugar Fresh Milk was mediocre at best—flat and uninspired. The “Da Hong Pao” tea tasted alright, but it lacked the depth and boldness typical of real Da Hong Pao and came across more like a basic oolong. Only one of the drinks stood out as decent.

Packaging and pricing are competitive for the area, but the forced tipping and so-called machine/service fees are unacceptable and leave a bad impression. Doing this kind of shady business in the capital of California? Aren’t they worried about...