Hi Tea Cafe

The bubble tea is great but the owners are SUPERR rude and with a huge attitude and dont even try asking to the tapioca bubbles 1.5 hours before closing. The only good thing is that they have a good selection of people tea but the factors with customer service is horrible.

I don’t know about the rest of the tea, but the Thai tea is nasty. The taste is very artificial and powdery. Go to king fu tea down the block even if it’ll cost u a few extra bucks.

Hi-​Tea had been a good spot for bubble tea for the past few years and after the addition of new bubble tea cafes, this place continues to be one of the cheaper ones (even after their recent price hike).
I believe that a small bubble tea with a topping is now $ 3 without the stamp card and $ 2.50 with one (?). Sorry guys, don’t quote me on that. Besides that, the fact remains that its probably the cheapest place you can get boba.
Anyway, I’ve been coming here for years and the quality of the bubble tea has never wavered. I recommend just getting your basic milk teas and fruit flavored teas. Service is quick but the people behind the counter tend to be quite surly. I don’t really mind but some people may take them to be a little rude.
I don’t usually stay in the café once I get my order as it tends to be quite loud and full of students when I get there. But all in all is a pretty solid place for you to get a drink.

When the owners of this place arent here, the place seriously sucks. The people they hire do not know how to do anything, they refuse to mix flavours. When I asked for a honeydew watermelon bubble tea, they looked at me as if I were speaking a different language. I’ll walk the extra mile to go to vivi bubble tea to get good service.

I love it!!! By far my favorite bubble tea spot! Theres tons of options.

Came today for the first time since its close to my house. I usually go to Chinatown I Manhattan to get bubble tea since I work there, but had to find a spot by where I live. This is the first bubble tea I tried around here and I’m pleased. I usually stick with coffee bubble tea which I love. It was yummy, I’ll be coming again!

Had the thai tea with lychee, it was good but I liked the lychee jelly better than the drink itself.

I been going to a lot of bubble tea spots but i can say that this place is the place to be. It’s not very big and well know but it make up in Personalty and Originality. The menu is Awesome. Drinks (hot or cold), food and snacks are yum!!! I been going there for a few year now and when I move away to East New York, i still make it my business to get a cup or two of bubble tea when I’m in the area. I just wish i could give more stars but i guess 5 out of 5 will do. };{

Wanted to explore place around 86 for some bible tea boy that experiment ended pretty fast. Ordered two bubble tea and it’s nasty. I’m not sure if I had tea in their. Tasted pretty bad and the topiaco balls were really sweet. Not sure about other teas maybe there better but I will stick to my original spot for bubble tea.

I walked like .6 miles to get here for some pretty bad boba: I
I paid the same price I would pay for kung fu tea to get sugar water and half cooked boba. A bit disappointed in trying out a new boba place.
the only part I like was the vibe.
It has a family style to it which is nice.

This place is pretty big, I do not understand why they cannot add more seats and tables to allow more customers to sit in.
I decided to come here to try their drinks because I heard a lot about it and boy, was I disappointed. For a place that specialize in making tapioca pearls, the ones I got was horrible. Crusty, without the chewy consistency, just a big let down. The milk tea I ordered did not taste any better. My friend ordered a hot chocolate and he was not impressed. He said he could have easily made it at home instead of wasting money on the one there.
The only good thing here was the nice people working behind the counter. I would have just given them one star if they were not so polite.
I will not come here. There are so many options and buying a drink from a place that makes their drink halfheartedly is not worth my time and money!

They ignore you most of the time, especially when you ask them a question regarding their menu. They talk to each other instead of taking your request. Just walk out of there after being disrespectfully ignored twice.

I rated this a 5 star because of my experience others may think different, but anyways on with the review.
When I first entered the café, I was greeted by the employees and was dealt with immediately after the other customers, there wasn’t a long waiting time, and their services were prompt, when I ordered my 2 regular small bubble teas for the first time they quickly served with and in a few minutes (I would give or take at least 2 minutes) my order was finished, the staff were extremely friendly and asked if I needed or had a stamp card from the beginning, I’m a student so I asked about the offer and it was inputted into the order, therefore lowering my price for a fairly cheap drink. The menu was great and it was very diverse I think I’m going back to try the chocolate and vanilla teas sometime this week! Check it out though it’s a sweet place! It’s interior is designed to comfort you while you lounge around.
I ordered this in the night so I presume staff changes? I’ve read other reviews about staff being extremely rude, but in my case they were actually nice and of course this could be shift for different employees I don’t know much about the place, but I’m happy with my experience.
Enjoy!
お楽しみください！
disfrutar!

Their menu is quite extensive and diverse, ranging from classic bubble teas to fruit teas to house special drinks to coffee bubble tea (wha?) to milkshakes and smoothies. It probably took me over 5 minutes just to place my order, most of it being spent going back and forth with the cashier because they were out of the drink I ordered.
The drinks that I tried to order were the rose milk tea, rocky road (I forgot what was in this), and one from the coffee bubble tea series (my memory fails me again). Most of them were more uncommon flavors so it seems that they don’t stock up on those enough. At this point, the cashier was rolling her eyes and I felt pressured to complete the transaction, even though I was the only customer in line! I gave up on trying any of the «exotic» flavors and blurted out «green tea latte». Surely they had to have those in stock. Lo and behold, they did. It didn’t come with any toppings so I added bubbles, which earned me an extra $ 0.50 charge.
The drink tasted all right, though the green tea flavor could’ve been stronger. To make matters worse, the person who made my drink forgot my bubbles! I understand it may be slightly unorthodox to add pearls to a green tea latte, but you can’t charge me for it and not put it in!
While the drinks are not bad, this place loses 3 stars for:
1) Poor employee attitude
2) Not having multiple menu items in stock
3) Bad service

I honestly feel neutral about this place. The interior design of Hi Tea is cute and nice. They offer free wifi and there’s enough seats (it’s usually really empty).
The employees are very rude. I was trying to order what drink I wanted but I was struggling because I was getting tongue tied. Instead of just giving a little laugh because I was getting tongue tied, he rolled his eyes and just told the employee a drink I didn’t ask for. He didn’t even give me time to repeat my drink.
Why such the rush? There was literally no customers. I was the only customer. The employees just basically wants you to get the f*ck out and go on their phones behind the counter.
However I love the variety of flavored tea and toppings. I’m in love with lychee green tea with lychee jelly!

I usually get the regular bubble tea and it’s ($ 2.75). They gave me a stamp card where you buy 5 and get your 6^th drink free. Not only do they have a stamp card their price is lower than the other bubble tea places in the area. Plus they have student discount, which makes the price even lower. The bubble tea is pretty standard. The tea is very strong and the bubbles are nice and chewy. The other time I tried the thai flavor bubble tea and I don’t recommend it. The thai tea taste nothing like the ones at the thai restaurant. There are tables and chairs for you to lounge around.

Hmm… not bad. Although I honestly can’t decide which I like more, Hi Tea Café or Kung Fu Tea. Taste-​wise, I think I like KFT more because I always get the «less sugar» option and it never ends up being too sweet and because the Green Tea with lychee jelly that I got was really good! The Mango drink with pop bubbles that I got at Hi T was alright. Décor-​wise, I think I like KFT more since it seems more classy while Hi T is more plain. Both are overrun by high school kids so it is loud and impossible to find a seat, especially during dismissal time. However, price-​wise, Hi T is definitely a steal! They give you a VIP card which automatically gives you a discount on drinks and if you buy 5 drinks, they give you one free! They also have a student discount which is even more $$ off! I also like how I got my drink within milliseconds at Hi T as compared to KFT where I had to wait like a millenium just to get my drink… I do think KFT has better service than Hi T though.
Between the two, I think I’ll just wander around aimlessly and order from the one that I end up going to lmao.

I wanted a smoothie but they didn’t offer any fresh fruits so that was pretty depressing… When something goes wrong in life… just call it a plot twist and move on… I guess…
Took my order and saw the staff in action!
Boiling water poured over a tea bag… it steep for 5 mins… stir a little… pour 5 teaspoons of sweeten milk… stir for 1 minute gotta stir long… apparently it won’t taste as good…
I got the lemon kumquat milk tea I thought The flavors were good but the bubbles is not… the bubbles were extremely small and it was just not chewy… while I was drinking my brevage my cup broke… these plastic cups was too weak… How the hell is there a big hole on the side of my cup while I was it sitting there haveing a few sips… beside the cups material being so cheap and the bubbles aren’t so great… I do however enjoyed the taste of my drink and the seatings inside the café…

This place is very similar to Kung fu tea, I’ve tried the grape fruit green tea with popping boba and the strawberry black tea from here. Their grapefruit green tea is very light and has more of a green tea taste as compared to Kung fu tea which has grapefruit pulp in it and taste more like grapefruit. Their strawberry black tea is pretty good and I like that they have the option of green or black tea as compared to Kung fu tea which is usually milk tea or green tea.
Pros: they offer a stamp card which you can collect drink stamps and when you reach a certain amount of stamps you receive a free drink, or you can show a student id and receive 50 cents off each drink. They also have a variety of topping such as pudding and different flavored popping boba
Cons: haven’t thought of any yet

Absolutely maddening how this place has high marks on Unilocal.It is NOT the best place for bubble tea with its cold and awkward interior disconnect, and I can and will attest to the horrible customer service here.
Lanky, tall dude: what’s with the attitude? I asked if they offered a milk tea/​coffee combo besides the honey/​coffee one, and this dude just points at one of the menus and turns his back on me. I give up and order an almond/​coffee milk tea and the honey tea/​coffee.
Then he gives me a defunct cup for one of my beverages, causing the contents to spill in my car. I go back in and ask if he gave the right sized cover, demonstrate how easily the lid just came off and he tries on several different lids and finally pours my beverage into a different cup. He then retorts with «it’s not our fault; it’s the cup.» Yeah, blame an inanimate object. Because the cup was the one who slapped the lid on itself and didn’t feel how loose it was.
Mind you, he didn’t even apologize or care. Dude had the most stoic face I’ve ever seen. Even the little girl, who might have been illegally working behind the counter, seemed more concerned.
I see a lot of people referencing and comparing KFT in their reviews. Hi Tea prices aren’t much different ($ 4 for the large), and exactly what is everyone drinking that’s so much less sweeter? My drink was gross; the artificial taste created worry lines in my forehead, it had a chalky consistency (because the powder they used wasn’t shaken enough to mix the contents), and I tasted JACK SHIT coffee. He had given me a regular almond milk tea, which goes to show he wasn’t paying attention.
86^th street continues to lower the bar. On an end note and a big one at that:
IT’S VERY OBVIOUS THAT THIS PLACE IS TRYING TO ‘GAME THE SYSTEM’ WITH ALL THESE GLOWING REVIEWS. THERE IS NO WAY THAT SUCH DISCREPANCIES IN THE REVIEWS EXIST! [FRIENDLY STAFF?! FRESHLY MADE AND NOT FROM POWDER?!] REALLY? IS THE EARTH FLAT? WAS ANDREA FROM THE WALKING DEAD YOUR HERO?