Seattle Best Tea — Restaurant in Seattle

Used to be a fan, until it gets cold and you want something warm. They do not ask your sugar and ice level proactively, so I got my first tea wrong - that’s fine, I spent double $ to get a correct one.

Today I ordered on some app, and there was no option for warm tea - but warm tea exist in the store, so I guess it’s the “no ice” option. It turns out that both my tea were ice cold - it was heart breaking when you drove 20 min just for the tea. I asked if they can make me new ones - no, it’s almost closing time. I asked for a refund - get rejected. They even told us, if you really want warm tea tonight, you can drive another 20 min to our sister store. They are not closing yet.

People need to start more bubble tea business, so arrogant as they are can have more competition. It’s not rocket science. The cost of making one tea is no more than a dollar. It’s always the experience we are paying for. But apparently, that one dollar is way more important to them than losing some long-term customers.

I am still feeling angry and somehow mistreated two hours later, thanks to that two female...

Asked how fast they could make me a smoothy because I had a train to catch. They said they can get it done in 1-2 minutes for me. Sure enough, right when I got done paying and went to the pick up counter, my drink was ready to go. They wished me a safe run to the train. 6/5 service!

Reason for the missing star was because I got the avocado shake. Pretty watered down so I don't know if it's just powder. It does have that unique taste you can only get from real avocados though so if this is powder, I can say this is possibly the best powder avocado smoothie I had. Boba is alright. If I could give a 4.5 star, I would. Definitely testing out the other flavors.

UPDATE 02/2024: Tested out their matcha milk tea because I heard it was good. It ended up being neither matcha or milk. It was literally plain green tea made with water and green food coloring. Bringing another star down because this was a hard order to mess up. I wouldn't even be that upset if it was regular green tea and milk. But you can't call a milk tea its name...

We stopped by after grabbing groceries at nearby Uwajimaya. We really like our bubble tea and after reading several reviews and articles, we were hoping Seattle Best could live up to the hype! I ordered a black milk tea with tapioca and my partner ordered a heavy oolong tea.

Oh my gosh! If you’re a tea lover, their bubble tea will be right up your alley. In each flavor the tea was front and center, and the milk and sweetness level accompanied the tea perfectly. (Maybe a little sweeter than I personally prefer by default, but I can’t deny it was a perfect balance!) My black tea evoked memories of brewing a gift of loose leaf assam tea in my friend’s dorm in college and learning for the first time how the world of tea was much more than Lipton.

We went back this morning to grab 2 other flavors (taro and green tea) and we were similarly impressed. If you’re in the area, or even if you’re not, I’d definitely recommend checking it out. A word of warning, though… this may be the place to set a new bar for your tea...