Spill the Tea: Joe & The Juice

My sister and I had our bags packed and ready to go to the San Francisco Airport. However, after all my planning things did not go as anticipated for this trip from the beginning.

First we tried to check in but my passport would not work. I kept trying it and eventually had to input it by hand and flag down a United worker to approve it. It turns out I forgot to sign it.

From Clueless

I should have known then that things would turn out different from expected. My sister breezed through all the customs and TSA stuff while I had to have my picture taken a ton of times as I couldn’t see where we were supposed to look at with my glasses off; curse of the extremely nearsighted.

But once we were through we had a few hours to kill. We ate at a Mexican fusion place that wasn’t that good and then went to Joe & the Juice.

The creator of Joe & the Juice, Kaspar Basse worked in an advertising agency and in 2002 he was inspired to open a cafe and juice bar. He asked two of his good friends about opening a café & juice bar in their clothing store. Basse opened his cafe and was later joined by his cousin. In 2004, Philip “Pippo” Finsteen joined and helped Basse switch his focus from products to people, establishing a “juicer ideal”. Joe & the Juice came to the US in 2015, expanding to the West coast in 2018.

They sell food and tea, but I was only interested in the tea. I ordered a vanilla matcha latte.

In a weird coincidence there were three of us women who all shared the same name and had all ordered Matcha lattes in succession. Whenever a drink was up there was a bit of an Abbott and Costello moment as all us weren’t sure which of us was the one being called.

If that’s not a recommendation for how delicious it is, then I don’t know what is. I definitely recommend stopping and getting a Matcha drink from Joe & Juice as mine was delicious and the perfect beginning for my trip.

For more tea cafe reviews, go to Spill the Tea: Pickwicks Pub

For more matcha tea reviews, go to Matcha Ice Cream

For more tea posts, go to How to Throw a Hallotean Party

Spill the Tea: Pickwicks Pub

Two years ago my family and I went down to Los Angeles for my aunt’s wedding. When we drove up to the hotel we passed Pickwicks Pub and I knew I had to stop there before we left. It was such a cute English pub and since my friend’s trip to England was canceled in 2020, I decided that if I can’t travel to England at least I can pretend.

The Pub is located in Woodland Hills, CA in 1974 and was rebuilt from scratch in 2005 after a bad fire. It is owned and managed by a local family and offers two tournament dartboards, 14 large Televisions, and a very full menu. The decorations are super cute and on theme.

When we went to the pub, the very first thing my sister and I ordered was tea (of course!). We were served a very good English Breakfast tea. It was from a teabag but whoever they purchase it from is tops!

I looked over their current online menu, but it appears the food I had ordered is no longer on the menu. Back in 2021 you were able to order a ploughman’s lunch which consisted of meats, bread, cheese, a pickle, and a meat pie.

The food was good, but the savoury meat pie was so delicious, that I had to go back for dinner. I found the the Stout Braised Steak in a Guinness Gravy to be absolutely wonderful, even if it doesn’t photograph well.

You can’t tell from the picture but it was absolutely delicious.

This was a fun place and a wonderful atmosphere. I loved it and definitely recommend stopping by if you are in the area.

For more tea cafe reviews, go to Spill the Tea: Bon Bon Tea House

For more tea posts, go to Berry Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Spill the Tea: Bon Bon Tea House

Two years ago my family and I went down to LA for my aunt’s wedding. Before the rehearsal dinner we went to the Old Trappers Lodge, visited by great Tia on my mom’s side, and then wanted to get a cool drink. I had wanted to stop by a tea place and suggested this one I had seen online, Bon Bon Tea House in Northridge, CA.

Bon Bon Tea House’s website isn’t connecting but I was able to see on their Facebook page that they are a Boba Tea House that has been operating since 2014.

They have a ton of different boba tea options; along with smoothies, tea lattes, coffees, etc.

I of course ordered a matcha boba tea, no boba (as I have said before I don’t care for tapioca).

It was delicious and has a cute little outside area you can sit in while you enjoy your drink. I definitely recommend if you are in Northridge.

For more tea cafe reviews, go to Spill the Tea: B & B (Bakery and Boba)

For more boba tea reviews, go to Spill the Tea: Bubble Tea Station

For more tea posts, go to Cheese and Basil Scones

Spill the Tea: B & B (Bakery and Boba)

Two years ago some friends, my niece, and I made plans to go to the Tudor Rose Tea House in Santa Rosa, CA; but some things came up and we were unable to go there.

Instead we tried to find something that was a little closer and headed out to the Tea Nook in Lincoln, CA. Unfortunately, we didn’t call to see if they could fit us in and when we arrived it was closed for a private party.

We were all disappointed and decided to search online for a nearby tea house that would be open and while we didn’t find a high tea place, we did find this cute Boba place; B & B (Bakery and Boba).

I don’t know a lot about the place as they do not have a website and their Instagram was hacked so they had to recently create a new account. I did discover that they opened in 2018 and since then have served baked goods and boba tea.

They had a lot of different teas to choose from. My niece is a fan of taro and that’s what she went with and loved.

I liked that they had so many options, even though sometimes I can be terrible at making decisions. I, my sister, and friend all decided on Rose teas (mine with no boba as I don’t like boba), and I loved it as did others loved theirs.

I can’t recommend the baked goods as we didn’t order any, but otherwise we all really enjoyed being there, and the cafe is super cute. I definitely recommend this place if you love Boba and are in the Lincoln area.

For more tea cafe reviews, go to Spill the Tea: Alley Cat Cafe

For more boba tea reviews, go to Spill the Tea: Bubble Tea Station

For more tea posts, go to Pepper Teigen’s Thai Sweet Chili Tea Sandwiches

Spill the Tea: Alley Cat Cafe

Last year my sister needed some help with my nieces as it was spring break, her husband was out of town due to family illness, and she was working. I had promised my niece I would visit them in Georgia before they moved and found this to be the best time as my work had finally lifted their COVID19 ban on vacations.

While there that week we planned to go to a mall in Florida, but plans changed and we ended up visiting Columbus, GA. I had wanted to visit a tea place in Florida, but as we changed where we were going so did I. I quickly googled and discover a Cat Cafe. And you all know how I feel about cats.

Thats me

My sister didn’t want to go to the Cat Cafe as she felt it was too expensive, but after I told her I would pay for it we headed over there.

I’m not sure how long the business had been opened before we went and unfortunately I cannot find a lot of information as I just discovered (when I was going to link their website to my post), a few months after I visited, it permanently closed.

That’s not good.

As I already wrote the post before my Horrorfest ones, I decided to still post it. While I was there the Cat Café served a variety of coffee, some tea, and had 10 cats that would by cycled out by Pat’s Rescue Cats. It cost $10 an hour for an adult to visit with the cats and $7 an hour for kids under 12. One drink is included with the hourly rate.

When we arrived at the cafè I paid for our time and we chose our drinks. The only tea included with the hour was my choice of a tea bag; my sister ordered a Dolly’s Doughnut (cinnamon bun + vanilla coffee, my niece ordered a Whiskered Mocha (white chocolate), and my littlest niece had a hot chocolate. They told us they would let us know when our drinks were ready and we could go in to see the cats. Because of COVID-19 we had the whole room to ourselves as they could only let so many people in at a time.

The cats were cute and most of them very friendly, allowing you to cuddle and play.

They came into the room and gave us our drinks, giving me a to-go cup of hot water. I was just given the water and then had to leave the room to go to the front counter and make my tea. I thought that was an odd choice as they ask you at the counter what tea you want and you “order it”. It wouldn’t have bothered me if we all had to go and get our drinks, but I felt that if they are preparing the drinks and bringing them to you, then they should do it for all the drinks. And if they were just going to give me hot water, then why not do that before I went into the cat room, as I could have gotten my tea before going in.

After I got my tea and went back to the room, I asked everyone what they thought of their drinks. My tea wasn’t that good, very weak tea bag and no sugar or milk available. My sister and niece did not like their coffees as they both felt the coffee was bitter. My younger niece also didn’t care for her hot chocolate as she said it “tasted weird”. I decided to try it and found myself agreeing with her. It did have an odd aftertaste.

My biggest critique of this place would be to work on their drinks, although I suppose it doesn’t really matter as they are no longer open. The rest of the cafe was cute and fun. I loved the decor, cat items available for purchase, and of course the kitty cats themselves. I hope that they decide to reopen.

For more tea cafe reviews, go to Spill the Tea: eleven tlc

For more tea posts, go to Spill the Tea: There & Back Again Cafe