Courtesy of Yelp

Molly Tea’s Cupertino location is situated across from the shops at Main Street.

I love milk tea — so much so that every time I go to China, I drink one boba a day. 

But here in the U.S., I’ve always felt like the boba scene is quite subpar. So I was extremely excited when I heard that Molly Tea, a Chinese boba tea chain like HeyTea (previously reviewed by the Falcon) specializing in traditional flavors, was opening their newest location in Cupertino.

Founded in 2021, Molly Tea seeks to bring Eastern cultural heritage to its consumers, priding themselves on their signature scented teas (infused with botanical scents). As someone who has been lucky enough to try a great deal of tea in my short lifetime, I was excited to try something that offered drinks reminiscent of those I’ve greatly enjoyed in China. 

After driving 20 minutes, I arrived at Molly Tea. The inside was unlike other boba shops I had seen — it was large, heavily decorated and heavy on its branding: pink colors were everywhere and a logo took up a whole wall. The line wrapped around the table in the middle, and I had to wait another 20 minutes just to place my order. Upon arriving at the kiosk, I ordered three drinks — the White Champaca Matcha Milk Tea, the Snowy Jasmine and the Tongmu Lapsang Bubble Tea.

 

Snowy Jasmine

The first sip of  the Snowy Jasmine, a jasmine green milk tea, tasted exactly like my favorite drink in China, the 空山据子 (Kong Shan Ju Zi), a green tea milk tea, from 爷爷不泡茶 (Ye Ye Bu Pao Cha) or “No Grandfather, No Tea,” a Chinese milk tea chain, both topped with the same whipped cream and pecans. The drink had a clean and refreshing tea flavor. 

The straw used to drink it was also the same as many chains in China, composed of three tiny coffee stirrer-sized straws glued together. Personally, I really like this type of straw — the taste remains the same, as normal straws, but the structure limits the amount of liquid you can consume at a time, giving you more time to enjoy the drink.

 

 

While the Snowy Jasmine had a nice tea flavor at first, the aftertaste was metallic and unpleasant. The whipped cream topping the drink was quite nice, but it was not enough to distract from whatever flavor filled my mouth. 

The metallic taste, as far as I’m aware, is especially prevalent in green teas when the same leaves are used to brew multiple batches; but it can also occur as a result of minerals in tap water. It’s nothing too problematic, but it did kick down my rating a couple of notches.

Rating: 3.5/5 Falcons

 

 

White Champaca Matcha Milk Tea

I am a fiend for matcha — but even if matcha isn’t your thing,  you might still enjoy the White Champaca Matcha Milk Tea. The drink, which Molly Tea describes as a sweet and floral variety of green tea, is infused with the fragrance of orchids and topped with matcha cheese foam. 

This tea was just OK; it had a slight floral flavor, but it was nothing special. I wouldn’t order it on its own. However, combined with the matcha cheese foam, the drink climbs into a new realm of flavor. Mixed up, every sip had a taste of matcha, salty cheese foam and white champaca milk tea. 

Of the three drinks, the White Champaca Matcha Milk Tea is the best, leagues above the others. My only complaint was that the matcha flavor was so light that you could barely taste it.

Rating: 4.5/5 Falcons

 

 

Tongmu Lapsang Bubble Tea

Avoid this one. It was awful. The Tongmu Lapsang Bubble Tea had absolutely no flavor to it, and was lacking the distinctive smoky flavor that Tongmu Lapsang tea is known for. While the color was a deep brown, it tasted as if I was drinking sweetened water with boba inside. 

The boba wasn’t even any good — the texture was slightly too soft for my preferences, having no chew or bite to it. The boba tasted bland, with no brown sugar or honey flavor. The entire drink was  tasteless and not worth the calories. 

Rating: 1/5 Falcons

 

 

How do I rate my experience with Molly Tea? Sadly, its was more disappointing than fulfilling. I walked in to see a big line, expecting better tea and a more authentic Chinese taste. From stepping into the shop to getting my order, the entire process took around 40 minutes, and the prices were rather high — an average of $7 or $8per drink. While I liked some of its drinks, and would still recommend going and trying it, it is not worth the high costs and the long lines that it has.

Falcon Rating: 4/5 Falcons