Cha For Tea: 7.0/10

Cha: the universal word for tea. Despite having the catchiest name, Cha For Tea is probably the most modern and brightly lit boba shop blogged thus far. For a tea house, CFT provides more room to breathe, seats to sit in, as well as wall images to admire. Heck, there's one wall of just mirror, perfect for scoping out the cute person sitting across the aisle from you. The employees are ultra friendly, who constantly offer samples of their newest tea and adjustments for your beverage. By far, the most contemporary boba, dare I say "Americanized", shop blogged thus far. So if you're unfamiliar with boba, not of Asian descent, or both -- I think Cha is a good baby step into the boba world.

Honey green milk tea w/ boba.
Regular size!

CHA FOR TEA (ALHAMBRA)

Drink Taste: 6.5

Boba: 8.0

Cost-to-Size: 6.5

Available Drink Options: 8.0

Available Food Options: 8.0

Customer Service: 9.0

Ambience: 7.5

Recommended: Yes for the sweet-toothed folk.

Summary of Scores: There is a reason why Cha For Tea always asks if you need your drink adjusted: the standard is very sweet. Almost candy-like for any fruit tea or smoothie. However, I think Cha For Tea's specialty are their unique fruit-infused teas and I do know people who love it. But I do think that we all agree a side of water will be necessary to quench any thirst. On a different note, Cha's milk and thai teas taste good, but nothing out of the ordinary. Cha has smaller-than-usual tapioca pearls, so be weary of the rapid-shooting-of-boba-up-straw effect. The boba is soft and chewy, with a hint of sweetness. Regarding prices, Cha is less wallet-friendly than the usual boba shop. You do get the choice of a regular or large size, but the cost of a small will range from $3-4.50 and a large could be upwards of $5-6. I also think the sizes are slightly smaller than Cofftea because Cha uses the plastic cups with separate plastic lids. For drink options, Cha has a large selection. They have plenty of smoothie varieties, all the classic teas in addition to their fruit concoctions. They have the usual toppings like boba, pudding, and jelly. Food-wise, I've only had their shaved ice, which is decently sized and fairly tasty, but limited in topping choices. You get a pho-sized bowl of plain shaved ice, condensed milk and a choice of three toppings. The toppings are: boba, red bean, jelly, 3 lychee pieces, and pudding. It's enough to fulfill that late night craving without driving to Guppy's. For only $5. I feel bad that I've made Cha sound mediocre, but to properly review shops, we have to establish larger differences between the places. Therefore, the one thing I REALLY noticed about Cha is that their customer service is really good, even fantastic, relative to other boba shops. I think they instilled the Cold Stone policy of having to be chipper and sing-songy to every customer. In fact, we've even been asked how we like our drinks or if we need anything TWICE in one sitting. Yes, twice. Granted, sometimes the interactions are awkward or I'd prefer to be left alone to sip tea and surf the web. But it is nice to know that I am being taken care of. The ambience got a "meh" rating simply because there's a lot of noise. I would only go to Cha for social outings, never homework. It seems like a lot of high schoolers come here too... and I don't know about you but that is minus a few brownie points. No offense to any youngins reading this blog, but you'll feel this way one day also.

Overall Experience: 7.0/10

Lychee black tea w/ boba, large size.

This could be either a good or bad thing, but I currently cannot think of any dine-in versus to-go rules for Cha. Since there's free wi-fi, and no lunch is truly free, I assume that Cha assumes that every dine-in customer will order sooooomething. No one likes a loiterer anyways. Also, Cha gives a small discount for cash vs. card transactions. There's also a large parking lot and Cha is next to a Radio Shack. I hope that last sentence was useful to someone <<<.

-T