Heytea

All 116 rated mentions, most helpful first

  • in:Best matcha spots in nyc?1 pts
    replying to u/Mission_Remote_6319: Are all the matcha drinks at hey tea good? I went once for a mango drink and it tasted terrible so I haven’t gone back lol

    “It had a rich matcha taste and wasn’t clumpy, there’s matcha mochi at the bottom and the matcha foam at the top which made it super creamy”

    H3

  • in:who do you think makes the best boba tea in New york city ?1 pts
    replying to u/JuZNyC: I feel like Hey tea when it's good is well above everyone else

    “As a matcha lover, HEYTEA is one of the few chains I genuinely enjoy. I’ve tried the Triple Supreme Matcha Latte from their regular stores, Matcha 3.6 from LAB, and the Bitter Matcha Latte from TeaBar—all three have a strong matcha flavor without tasting overly syrupy.”

    H3

  • in:best boba?19 pts

    “heytea for fruit drinks though their milk tea isnt bad, just on the milkier side”

    H2

  • in:Until next time NYC...9 pts
    replying to u/Hamatoros: Limiting one pic per place to avoid the clutter... I had quite a list of things to try but ultimately it boils down to where we are at the time and what was the nearest option for us. I also had a few michelin star reserved but changed plans as we were not flexible enough especially traveling with a toddler. We had an average of 2 meals a day since we mostly slept in or had breakfast at hotel. Here's quick review of all place we were able to go to: \- Au Cheval - Lived up to the hype for a great burger. The steak frites were also good \- Ramens: Ichiran - Good and just like how remembered it in Japan. Their matcha dessert is surprisingly good as well. Not sure why this place got so much hate lately. It's still good to me and yes the price went up but they also don't encourage tipping which is a little refreshing to see / Ipuddo - also great and the same as I remembered from Japan / Tsuta - Didn't get to try the one in Japan while it was Michelin (line too long). Excited to try it here but it was a bit underwhelming as they ran out of the signature ramen, so I got the spicy. It was good but I have to say I enjoy Ichiran/Ippudo more. I know there's better recs for ramen but they were few and far from where we were at the time. I'll leave that for next time. \- Uncle Lou - had the Chow fun, salt pepper shirmp and scallops, crispy garlic chicken. All were good but crispy garlic chicken is where it's at. big portions as well. We wanted to try more items but 2 adults…

    “HeyTea has immediately shot up to the top for my fave boba spots and their attention to detail was so impressive, especially when it came to brewing the tea”

    H2

  • in:Does anyone know why Heytea smells insanely good inside the store?5 pts
    replying to u/iamcdrom: A lot of bubble tea shops like Hey tea use high fructose corn syrup in their drinks, which is much more unhealthy than ordinary sugar. However good it smells in store I'm still wary about it.

    “Heytea is really big on real dairy, tea, fruit and no artificial sweeteners idk what makes you say that Higher quality boba franchises are typically similar”

    H2

  • in:DIY Chinatown Food Tour3 pts

    “HeyTea has a great “coconut mango boom” drink with purée and sago, they also do boba so more of an array.”

    H2

  • in:Why so many HEYTEA and Poetica Coffee locations?2 pts
    replying to u/Okilokijoki: From a taste perspective, Heytea has good fresh fruit smoothie teas that no other fruit tea place compares to in NYC. I know from personal anecdote they have super strict corporate inspectors so they have good quality control.   Most mom and pop stores (and kungfu tea) use syrup and powder.  The ones that try to use fresh tea leaves often have poor quality control because it is easy to  overbrew the tea or have it sit too long with the leaf/powder. High end tea places avoid this  by using fresh tea leaves with every drink and using innovative espresso-like machines that gets all the freshness of the tea (an example is Chicha Sanchen, which has the best basic milk teas in NYC and super high qc)  Also, imo the name boba tea that got popular in the US is limiting the genre at this point because all the "local" stores sell and customers focus on bubble/boba/珍珠 tea.  In Chinese those stores are just called 奶茶店 naicha store without the boba. All the innovations in the past ten years have been in other parts of the tea.  Even with Heytea, their first flagship store in nyc initially had a sign suggesting people to not get bubbles with their teas. But less than a year in and they have given up and are currently doing a whole boba themed campaign. Heytea's milk tea with boba is ok but it's their fruit smoothies that makes them stand out and it's always sad when someone new to it orders the milk tea with boba and then ask what's special about the store.    It's like judging an aut…

    “i love the fruit teas at heytea but i don’t think their boba drinks are run of the mill by any means.”

    H2

  • in:Why so many HEYTEA and Poetica Coffee locations?2 pts
    replying to u/bluuay: i love the fruit teas at heytea but i don’t think their boba drinks are run of the mill by any means. if anything it further distinguishes them bc i feel like most shops i’ve tried are better at either or, but rarely both (yifang for fruit tea comes to mind)

    “I definitely think their boba and milk teas are definitely better than most places (definitely better than kf tea, vivi's,coco and a few other popular chains) but they're not leaders in the game.”

    H2

  • postUntil next time NYC...1 pts

    “blew me away, I've heard good things about it and it lived up to the hype. Probably my fav spot for now.. their Jasmine tea is just divine.”

    H2

  • in:Until next time NYC...1 pts
    replying to u/Hamatoros: Limiting one pic per place to avoid the clutter... I had quite a list of things to try but ultimately it boils down to where we are at the time and what was the nearest option for us. I also had a few michelin star reserved but changed plans as we were not flexible enough especially traveling with a toddler. We had an average of 2 meals a day since we mostly slept in or had breakfast at hotel. Here's quick review of all place we were able to go to: \- Au Cheval - Lived up to the hype for a great burger. The steak frites were also good \- Ramens: Ichiran - Good and just like how remembered it in Japan. Their matcha dessert is surprisingly good as well. Not sure why this place got so much hate lately. It's still good to me and yes the price went up but they also don't encourage tipping which is a little refreshing to see / Ipuddo - also great and the same as I remembered from Japan / Tsuta - Didn't get to try the one in Japan while it was Michelin (line too long). Excited to try it here but it was a bit underwhelming as they ran out of the signature ramen, so I got the spicy. It was good but I have to say I enjoy Ichiran/Ippudo more. I know there's better recs for ramen but they were few and far from where we were at the time. I'll leave that for next time. \- Uncle Lou - had the Chow fun, salt pepper shirmp and scallops, crispy garlic chicken. All were good but crispy garlic chicken is where it's at. big portions as well. We wanted to try more items but 2 adults…

    “HeyTea has immediately shot up to the top for my fave boba spots - bare minimum for me is using real ingredients (no powder) and allowing the customer to set ice/sweetness”

    H2

  • in:Out of the Loop: Which are the current great bubble tea spots?1 pts
    replying to u/koteofir: I spent a few months reviewing boba spots in Manhattan and this was my conclusion too: Xing Fu Tang is unmatched

    “I prefer Hey Tea since the pearls are just about as good while their menu offers more variety as far as using real fruit ingredients and the option to make the drink caffeine free”

    H2

  • in:Out of the Loop: Which are the current great bubble tea spots?1 pts
    replying to u/koteofir: I spent a few months reviewing boba spots in Manhattan and this was my conclusion too: Xing Fu Tang is unmatched

    “I prefer Hey Tea since the pearls are about as good while their menu offers more variety as far as using real fruit ingredients, add ons like sago/jelly/popping boba, and the option to make caffeine free drinks”

    H2

  • in:Out of the Loop: Which are the current great bubble tea spots?1 pts
    replying to u/koteofir: I spent a few months reviewing boba spots in Manhattan and this was my conclusion too: Xing Fu Tang is unmatched

    “Though I still find myself going to Hey Tea more for many reasons: the pearls are about as good while their menu offers more variety as far as using real fruit ingredients and the option to make caffeine free drinks”

    H2

  • in:Why so many HEYTEA and Poetica Coffee locations?1 pts
    replying to u/Okilokijoki: From a taste perspective, Heytea has good fresh fruit smoothie teas that no other fruit tea place compares to in NYC. I know from personal anecdote they have super strict corporate inspectors so they have good quality control.   Most mom and pop stores (and kungfu tea) use syrup and powder.  The ones that try to use fresh tea leaves often have poor quality control because it is easy to  overbrew the tea or have it sit too long with the leaf/powder. High end tea places avoid this  by using fresh tea leaves with every drink and using innovative espresso-like machines that gets all the freshness of the tea (an example is Chicha Sanchen, which has the best basic milk teas in NYC and super high qc)  Also, imo the name boba tea that got popular in the US is limiting the genre at this point because all the "local" stores sell and customers focus on bubble/boba/珍珠 tea.  In Chinese those stores are just called 奶茶店 naicha store without the boba. All the innovations in the past ten years have been in other parts of the tea.  Even with Heytea, their first flagship store in nyc initially had a sign suggesting people to not get bubbles with their teas. But less than a year in and they have given up and are currently doing a whole boba themed campaign. Heytea's milk tea with boba is ok but it's their fruit smoothies that makes them stand out and it's always sad when someone new to it orders the milk tea with boba and then ask what's special about the store.    It's like judging an aut…

    “Drank a ton of their mulberry seasonal last spring/summer and that drink made me loyal to Heytea”

    H2

  • in:Why so many HEYTEA and Poetica Coffee locations?1 pts
    replying to u/Okilokijoki: From a taste perspective, Heytea has good fresh fruit smoothie teas that no other fruit tea place compares to in NYC. I know from personal anecdote they have super strict corporate inspectors so they have good quality control.   Most mom and pop stores (and kungfu tea) use syrup and powder.  The ones that try to use fresh tea leaves often have poor quality control because it is easy to  overbrew the tea or have it sit too long with the leaf/powder. High end tea places avoid this  by using fresh tea leaves with every drink and using innovative espresso-like machines that gets all the freshness of the tea (an example is Chicha Sanchen, which has the best basic milk teas in NYC and super high qc)  Also, imo the name boba tea that got popular in the US is limiting the genre at this point because all the "local" stores sell and customers focus on bubble/boba/珍珠 tea.  In Chinese those stores are just called 奶茶店 naicha store without the boba. All the innovations in the past ten years have been in other parts of the tea.  Even with Heytea, their first flagship store in nyc initially had a sign suggesting people to not get bubbles with their teas. But less than a year in and they have given up and are currently doing a whole boba themed campaign. Heytea's milk tea with boba is ok but it's their fruit smoothies that makes them stand out and it's always sad when someone new to it orders the milk tea with boba and then ask what's special about the store.    It's like judging an aut…

    “The mango drinks are also crazy good and I would love to know their mango plug”

    H2

  • in:5 days in NYC1 pts

    “Hey Tea was great, their cheese foam does it for me.”

    H2

  • in:who do you think makes the best boba tea in New york city ?1 pts
    replying to u/DesperateTackle2157: I've honestly had nothing but good experiences at Heytea. The staff have always been super patient whenever I ask about the menu or sugar levels. My go-to is less sugar for fruit teas and light sugar if it comes with brown sugar bobo—the boba is already sweet enough.

    “I waited 40 minutes after placing my order, and by that point the ice had all melted, so my drink was watery.”

    H2

  • in:Best matcha spots in nyc?0 pts
    replying to u/frootjoocedrnker: Brooklyn ball factory, rhythm zero, matcha 108, heytea (new triple supreme matcha is v good)

    “I went once for a mango drink and it tasted terrible so I haven’t gone back lol”

    H2