Nestled in the western hills of San Mateo and tucked away in a discreet corner of the Laurelwood Shopping Center lies RareTea, an unassuming new boba shop. RareTea, only a 3-minute drive away from the College of San Mateo, has filled up the boba desert of this neighborhood, providing a closer and more convenient option to thirsty customers who may have previously had to travel downtown for boba.
Since its opening in August, RareTea has garnered positive attention from locals, earning an impressive five-star rating on Google and a 4.5-star rating on Yelp.
RareTea belongs to the RareTea franchise, which has locations all across California. Its first location was started in Berkeley in 2016, and it has quickly expanded to include multiple stores across both the Bay Area and California in general. RareTea’s menu offers an ambitious array of milk teas, fruit teas, smoothies, ice blends, cremas, fresh fruit drinks, Yakult drinks and food. It also boasts a sizable variety of toppings, including classic tapioca pearls, grass jelly and almond pudding. RareTea’s expansive menu undoubtedly offers something for everyone — even boba tea haters.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent health regulations, RareTea is currently partially opened: it’s available for online orders with either in-store pickup or delivery. Their main website links to an ordering website for the San Mateo location, which is easy to use. The drinks were ready to be picked up on time, already placed in a convenient bag for carrying. The indoor section of the shop is closed off to everyone besides employees, with an outdoor pick-up station up front — equipped with napkins, straws and hand sanitizer.
For a boba tea shop — one of many notorious for masking cheap tea with loads of sugar — the tea was surprisingly tasty. The black tea was strong and clear, with pleasantly light and nutty undertones. The sweetness levels are adjustable, but the recommended 80% sweetness is inoffensive, an agreeable level comfortably between saccharine and bitter. The peach black tea was also decent. While the peach puree itself had a very one-dimensional flavor and was quite obviously not real peach, the end result of the peach puree mixed alongside the black tea and tapioca balls was nonetheless delightful and refreshing. Of course, most boba tea shops don’t use real fruit in their teas anyway, but a more authentic fruit flavor would have been a nice addition.
The tapioca balls themselves were unobjectionable. Naturally, there is a good degree of variance in peoples’ preferences in the consistency, texture and flavor of the boba, but most would likely enjoy RareTea’s tapioca balls. They’re on the firm and chewier side, generously given and thoroughly sweetened — nothing far out of the ordinary expectations for boba.
There is, however, a certain something left to be desired in the tapioca balls; they lack a softness that usually adds an interesting juxtaposition to the chewiness.
Regardless, RareTea’s ability to stay running during the pandemic is admirable, especially with the constant threat of shutdowns looming over San Mateo businesses. Even though nothing besides its location really distinguishes it from the countless other boba shops in San Mateo, RareTea provides another convenient place to grab boba tea from, with a solid array of options, reliable boba and good quality tea.
