Sencha

I used to really like this place back when it was Tea Garden years and years ago. One of my recent visits here was just unfortunate. The customer service is terrible and the workers are so, so slow without any consideration to the long line of people waiting for their drinks and the people waiting to order. When I finally got my drink it didn’t taste like anything but watered green tea when I had asked for a passion fruit green ice tea with lychee jellies (didn’t get the lychee jellies because apparently the cashier didn’t add them). I told the barista that my drink wasn’t a passion fruit iced tea and didn’t have lychee jellies. She just straight up told me «it is your drink, I made it» and then I said «well I didn’t get any lychee jellies» and she cold cut said «you didn’t order any, if you wanna order lychee jellies get back in line». I was just astounded at how pathetic and horrible the customer service was especially since my last visit before this one years ago was AMAZING with the most laid back employees who knew what they were doing. Never coming here again now. I’d rather walk the distance to Chatime!

I was back in my old stomping grounds at the U of M over Thanksgiving weekend, and found myself craving my sophomore staple: a coconut chai latte from the Tea Garden.
THE HORROR!!! The Tea Garden is no longer there.
Oh wait… Sencha is there and it is basically the same thing. I’m not sure if the ownership changed, or just the name, but I was elated to see they still had my beloved beverage of choice. The space seems a little in need of some TLC — maybe some more decorations — but still has great drinks!

4stars if I’m getting the kids drinks or the royal milk tea. The royal is just smooth and the perfect amount of sweetness. Its pretty large so I usually share it. The kids drinks are perfect for when I want a drink all to myself. My favorite so far is the mango smoothie with strawberry POPPING boba. I can’t stand the regular tapioca boba but the popping ones are soooo much fun to eat. Squish it between your tongue and palate and get a burst of juice! The sad part is when you run out of popping boba or it explodes when you stab it with your straw. Buuuuttttt 3stars from my last interaction, i had a really hard time getting my kids drink (as opposed to all the other times I got it), ain’t nobody bringing kids to sencha. Its a college spot, not a daycare. Anyways, sorry for giving you a hard time cashier/​Batista. I just want my tiny drink!

So this place used to be Tea Garden and it suddenly changed to Sencha. My friend tried the classic royal milk tea with pearls. It wasn’t too sweet so that was good because some other places just dump way too much sugar. The pearls were hard enough to maintain their shape but were chewy when you bite on it. To be honest, I am still not sure what the big difference is in terms of taste between Sencha and Tea Garden. It feels like the store just changed names. Nothing out of the ordinary to rate it more than 3 stars.