Tea Island

Come one, come all. «Milky» milk tea lovers and «tea-​y» milk tea lovers alike! Tea Island remains Fremont’s hidden gem of a bobz shop! For the quality, consistency, AND price, I don’t think you can find anything better.
*QUALITY: I love that Tea Island is brewed to order. You don’t have to worry about tea that’s been sitting around or tea that’s too sweet and «unadjustable». I love love love that they give you the option of strong or extra tea and the amount of milk too! This makes it easier for milky and tea-​y milk tea lovers. Here, you don’t have to worry about the milk: tea ratio being off because they cater to both! Love that strong tea flavor, get extra tea, if you don’t, ask for more milk.
**CONSISTENCY: This is a bold statement, but I have NEVER gotten a bad drink here. Every single time I’ve ordered something, it came out exactly how it was last time, the time before that, and the time before that. Their pearls are always on point too!
BUT the best part of Tea Island?! Drumroll please…
***PRICE: $ 3.39 for what would be a large everywhere else for a drink WITH pearls is simply unheard of anymore. Most of my other favorite places charge anywhere from $ 3.50-$ 4.50 for a drink, sometimes a smaller size drink, which is just ridiculous… For years now, Tea Island’s price has been the same, and it’s what keeps me coming back.
Overall, Tea Island is great for anybody. They have an extensive menu with an array of different tea leaves that you’re bound to find something for your taste buds. Also, be sure to ask for a stamp card: buy 10, get 1 free :)
Current Fremont boba ratings:
1. Tea Island
2. Super Cue/​One Tea
3. T4
4. Tea Papa
5. Gong Cha
6. Tata Teahouse

Really tasty and quality teas for cheaper than the surrounding areas. I’ve gotten the Thai tea with boba, honey green tea with lychee, almond milk tea, jasmine green tea. Boba is always delicious and chewy. Everything is customizable and the jelly was also perfectly sweet.
By the way, it is located in the corner by the entrance of a the marina grocery store.
Been coming here for years and will continue to do so!

Wow, this place is a hidden gem especially since it is located in Marina market. The tea is so authentic here and you can see them brew it to order.
When ordering here, you should definitely consider the sweetness since it is less sweet than average. Therefore, if you usually get 50% sweet at Gong Cha, then you should get 75% sweet at Tea Island.
I usually aim for the sweet fruit things, but I read some Unilocal reviews saying that their tea was delicious and I would have to say that this is definitely true!
I got the peach oolong milk tea and I thought it was delicious, apart from the fact that I made a mistake on the sweetness.

I used to really like this place because it was one of the cheaper milk tea places in my opinion and because they would give you a large for $ 3.25. And around the area, that’s pretty cheap. But today I went with my friend and I got assam milk tea ($ 3.25) which i loved for the first half but then I thought that it was watered down after a while. It may have been because I got it with less ice but I felt like there was rarely any sugar. Maybe it’s because my boba tastes are changing because I’ve only been having Quickly’s at college. Otherwise, I love this place because it’s cheap but a downside is that there is no place to sit so you can’t chat with your friends :(This is located inside Marina Foods!

I go to gongcha, T4, and Tea Island on a fairly regular basis and if I had to rank them, Tea island would unfortunately be last.
Ambiance: this tea island is a little kiosk (is that what it’s called?) in the Marina supermarket, so it’s nothing fancy. You order your drink, receive it, and leave more or less, no space to hang around and drink it. They have hella choices on their menu but I find the font really small and a little difficult to read, but that might be just me and my nearsightedness.
Service: the service is friendly and do remember you if you are a repeat customer. They are super chill if you change your order midway, and are careful to ensure that you receive the correct order, especially if you order a lot of different drinks. We had actually forgotten one of our drinks but the cashier noticed and called us back to give it to us.
Food: I’ve had the milk tea (and several variants of it) and passion fruit green tea, and both were honestly only average, and pale in comparison to my holy grail of milk tea aka gongcha. When I get the drinks with ice, the diluted taste is really bland and artificial. Furthermore I have literally seen them add strawberry syrup (like the kind for strawberry milk) into milk tea, so the fruit flavors are completely syrup. The milk tea itself leaves a shady aftertaste that makes their tea 25% gongcha and 75% wtf-​did-​I-​just-​order. Their passion fruit green tea, even at full sweetness, tastes bitter and metallic, so I didn’t like it. Their tea to boba ratio is also a bit off; I don’t think they give enough boba.
Overall: I have had worse so this place gets three stars instead of two, but it’s not my preferred place to get my boba fix.

TEA ISLAND
NOTE TO READER: Before I get my head chopped off by other Unilocalers. (This has happened before) I am about to go on a 14 hour flight, out of the country. During this flight I have nothing to do and I know I have slacked on my reviewing because I have been crazy busy! Although every time I have gone somewhere new I made it a point to check-​in so I may go back and review later. It has taken me a while to review these restaurants but I am finally doing so. Before somebody says «you posted x9843058048 reviews in one day», please know that I am reviewing as my flight is in the air and will be posting once landed at my destination. Thank you! Also, I review on trip advisor before anybody goes psycho crazy on me saying they seen this review elsewhere. I post on both Unilocal and trip advisor of my reviews! Thank you (:
Location: It is within a plaza where the Asian grocery store is, I am not sur eI think it may be a Lion’s Market I forgot. Plenty of parking but busy all the time because of the grocery store along with the other stores within the plaza. As you walk into the grocery store it is to your left.
Customer Service: Fast service even though there was a long line!
Décor: Simple small boba shop set up, nothing fancy no sit down area. It is literally a buy and go type of thing!
Presentation of Food: BOBA DRINKS!
How did the food taste?: Yummy, I got almond milk tea with boba and coffee jelly and it taste amazing!
Overall Experience: We actually Unilocaled what was in the area that was good boba because we finished eating at little dipper and this showed up! Good find!
Would I Come Back?: Yes if I was in the area!

Tea Island is STILL my favorite go-​to spot for boba tea. BTW, I’ve been on a Thai Tea kick there, so my favorite (for the time being anyway!) is the Thai Tea, regular ice with tapioca pearls and coconut jelly. It’s awesome — AND they don’t use a powder mix for that either. It’s brewed and kept cold in refrigeration in a pitcher until it’s used. I’ve seen them add the milk to it myself. Love it! Was able to get my fix yesterday… and I’m sure I’ll be going again within the week haha!

Tea island is probably one of my favorite places to go to for my milk tea cravings. It’s inside the Marina market and located to the left when you walk in. The staff is quick and accommodating and there is almost never a wait! The parking is always crowded whenever I go so it can be hard to find parking sometimes.
My go-​to drink whenever I come is the honey jasmine milk tea with half agar jelly and pearls. I don’t like my drinks very sweet so it has the perfect amount of sweetness for my liking. They make their teas fresh and right in front of you which is a plus because it’s not pre-​made in batches like some places are. You can definitely taste and smell the tea. The pearls are soft and chewy and they have agar jelly! I love their pearls but they do give you a lot, maybe a little bit more than I would like in my drink. It’s not that big of a deal because you can just ask for less. This is also very inexpensive. I paid $ 3.54 for a large drink that had two toppings. Some places would charge me $ 5! Drinks are made fast as well.
The only downside is that it’s CASH ONLY but overall, the drinks are great, affordable and quickly made.

I came here randomly after a wedding with my boyfriend. It’s inside the asian supermarket. Dont worry you’re not lost! Typically asian supermarkets are very low quality in terms of tea drinks. Tea Island is not that kind of place! It is surprisingly delicious! I got a peach green tea and it was PERRRRRFECT :3 Sorry the review is late so my memory is gone. But definitely try it out!

I want to apologize for my creeper stalkerazzi photos I took of the staff working on preparing my drink. They are awesome!
This has been my favorite boba spot for many years now mostly because of the fresh Individually brewed tea that they make for every drink, and are made to order. They insert tea leaves into an espresso contraption al la SF coffee house style and brew you a fresh cup of tea. Then they mix it in with milk and other things you want to add into your drink. The base is high quality tea, which I appreciate more than the hot trendy boba places now.
The prices have stayed the same since 2012 when I last reviewed this place. 2.99 for every drink, plus any extra for other things. I usually get my earl grey with no ice and half sugar, strong tea with pearls. Today I ordered a peach oolong strong with half sugar no ice and pearls, which was nice and bright but I prefer my earl grey more.
Their menu selection will not be hot and happening but they have all the basics covered. Located inside Marina foods.

TL;DR Great tea, quick service, cash only.
If you’re wondering where this place is, it’s actually located inside the Marina supermarket; enter the market and then right and you’ll see the little boba corner.
There are so many choices of teas at this place. You have your standard black and green teas with standard fruit flavors such as strawberry and peach. You can also make most of them milk teas.
I got the Roasted Oolong milk tea. Not only can you specify the sweetness and ice, but you can also specify the strength of the tea! I’ve never seen that before in a boba place, so I was quite impressed at the amount of customization you can do to your drink. The milk tea was pretty good, not as good as PurpleKow but it still has a nice roasted flavor that I really like.
This place is cash only!
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There are a ton of boba shops around Warm Springs, but I always find myself frequenting this one whenever I’m around the area.
This boba «stand» is located on the inside of Marina supermarket right when you enter on the left. I have tried this place a few times now and it has become one of my favorite places to get specifically the jasmine milk tea. I’m a huge fan of having a stronger tea taste when it comes to my drinks and that’s what Tea Island does a good job at. I like how they actually brew their tea here so I know it’s fresh. Not only can you customize the intensity of the tea in your drink, you have the options of choosing what level of sweetness you’d like, the amount of ice in your drink and how much milk is used.
Not a fan of boba, but they offer agar boba (white pearls) here, so I’d probably experiment with my drink next time with them in it.
Wish they accepted card here though!

Overrated, and overall just bleh.
I ordered a passionfruit green tea with normal ice and sugar level and it was WAY too sweet… Should have gotten less sugar but who can even drink that at the normal level?! The boba was also a really weird consistency. It was too soft and not the right kind of chewy — just kind of unpleasant in general. I tried my friends’ drinks as well and they were all just okay.
The cup size is huge and the price is really cheap, I’ll give them that. I’ve read a lot of great reviews about this place so maybe what we ordered was a miss. Not sure if I’ll be coming back though.

I came across Tea Island at least three years ago, and despite that Warm Springs is a little out of my way and the emergence of many boba places all over Fremont since then, I still come here for tea!
Okay, yeah, there’s a T4 just 50 feet away, Tea Papa in the next plaza, Gong Cha and Verona and One Tea in ANOTHER plaza across Tea Papa, and Verde farther down.
But for me, Tea Island is where I can get strong flavored tea that does not taste too artificial syrupy (this taste is evident in every tea place I mentioned) at regular sugar for $ 2.99. It’s $ 3.39 when I add tapioca. Cheap, no?

Yum! Like everyone has said already, this is inside Marina, and they have a sign outside to tell you that. The tea is brewed from tea leaves, and the prices are quite low. I got an earl grey milk tea without ice and without sugar, and it was quite good. They use powder milk though. Anyway, the tea flavor was quite good, and the drink was quite big. The prices on the board include tax! My drink was $ 2.99 and it was one of those taller cups! I will be back to try other teas for sure!

It was a pretty early Sunday morning when my hubby and I decided to try a new boba place. Tea Island was next on our list so onto Fremont we went.
Located in the Marina supermarket, Tea Island inhabits a small corner to your left when you enter. From the look of the menu, I thought it was similar to Tapioca Express or Quickly’s, but upon closer reading, I realized they had more tea based drinks than fruity ones.
We ordered the oolong milk tea with pudding and the black sugar milk tea with no additional topping. (We also purchased a peach oolong milk tea with grass jelly and jasmine milk tea with pudding, but did not try the actual drinks because those were for other people.)
Taste wise, the drinks are pretty decent. The black sugar milk tea had a deep roasted flavor to it while the oolong had a slight bitterness that complimented the sweetness of the milk well. Size wise, you get a whole lot of bang for your buck, with Tea Island being just a bit cheaper than your typical boba places.
While we enjoyed our experience, we can’t say it was the best. Some downfalls were that they only accept cash, which is a bummer, and they don’t have any reward system. Also, when we stopped by, they didn’t have any pearls on hand.
So overall, a pretty decent place for our first try. Maybe we will stop by again.

To all the reviewers — what hype? I have never had anyone recommend me this place nor seen it much in Instagram or any other social media.
Anyway, this place isn’t bad. I like strong tea flavor a and this place definitely has very strong tea (you can adjust this). However, I’m not sure what it is but the overall taste of the drink isn’t great. I would rather get my strong tea at Ten Ren or milkier milk tea at Gong Cha.
It is worth a shot at trying, for sure. I think it could definitely be someone else’s cup of tea because it isn’t all that bad. I usually get the Jasmine milk tea.

I remember coming here three or four years ago and liking it much more than I do now. The drinks taste watered down, the white pearls are a far cry from the quality they need to be, and service seems rather impatient.
Osmanthus oolong with agar pearls:
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The osmanthus oolong here is supposedly one of their best drinks, but I feel that nearby T4’s version is more much palatable. I barely tasted any osmanthus flavor here, and the tea itself was rather weak. I appreciate that their drinks aren’t deathly sweet, but tastelessness isn’t exactly appealing either. The agar pearls were incredibly disappointing, as there were little chunks of white agar that had broken off floating around in my drink. It was really texturally unappealing, and even the whole white pearls weren’t a pleasing flavor. I much prefer Gong Cha’s white pearls to these.
Jasmine milk tea with agar and black pearls:
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The jasmine tea flavor was again barely detectable, the proportion of milk was lacking so that the taste was akin to that of watery milk, and the pearls were again disintegrating. The black pearls seemed fine, but the overall quality of this drink was disappointing.
I don’t believe I’ll be back to Tea Island anytime soon, especially as there are so many superior competitors in the same vicinity.

My favorite boba place in the area! I ordered a good ‘ol milk tea with aloe (about $ 3.50). Half sugar please. I opted for aloe because they ran out of boba. As always, there was a nice milk to tea ratio.
Cash only so bring your dolla dolla bills y’all.

Came by the other day for a milk tea with pearls. To my surprise this place was a miss.
Good thing was that there wasn’t much of a line inside the Marina Food grocery store.
The drink was «XL» and the tea tasted slightly watered down. Pearls were okay… although I’ve had better.
Cash only and they appear to not have a stamp card program.