When you are trying the online dating life, first dates can be trying affairs. Where do you meet that is both intimate enough to get to know each other, and public enough to be able to make a quick escape if the date goes bad?
As it turns out, to at least three different dates, they chose this little cafe on Maple.
That's right, three different guys have suggested the same cafe to meet up at.
The first thing I though upon driving to the Tea Leaf was... where is it? If you pull through the parking lot from the Maple side of the lot, this little cafe is nearly invisible. I actually passed it before I figured out where in this plaza the damn thing was. For the record, it is recessed a bit at the end of the first plaza building structure, just before you reach the building that AMC is in.
Once I found the cafe, it wasn't a problem to find parking early in the day, but a later date proved more difficult when battling for room among movie goes and the Patio Bar crowd.
I arrive early for my dates, I like to be able to buy my own first drink before my date arrives. It gives me time to relax and still my first date nerves. The workers here are consistently polite and helpful. They have a lot of tea options, and they will gently guide first timers through their first order. I am a bubble tea novice, so the first two times I visited, I just got hot tea with honey and no tapioca.
Unfortunately, my first two dates weren't worth a second drink. The atmosphere is perfect for good conversations, but my companions weren't. So when my third date suggested Tea Leaf, I was a little concerned the place might just be cursed for me. But I liked their tea, so I agreed to give it one more go. This time I ordered myself a nice strawberry black tea, iced with tapioca and waited for my date. We sat and talked for an hour before I realized I had finished my first tea, so he bought me another.
I will say, the Tea Leaf's decaf options are limited, for those of us who can't have more than one drink with caffeine a day, you are pretty much limited to the herbals, of which they only have about 5. I chose to try my first chamomile, which was delicious.
My date and I ended up talking for nearly 7 hours, slowly drinking our bubble tea and enjoying ourselves. Luckily we were there on one of the nights the cafe is open till 1am, because we almost closed the place down.
Anyway, this is a nice long review to say this cafe is a great first date location. I 100% recommend.
I love bubble tea and I love this place! I go in for a bubble tea before going to the movie theater next door! The bubble teas are so yummy and I love Bobas! My new favorite is taro and watermelon! It tastes like cotton candy! Cool place and such a treat!
Christine Smith-Koziel
+5
I tried another so called bubble tea place. Never agin. Love the tea leaf. My daughter said she can't wait to look for work. This is her first stop to apply. Ppl there have been helpful when I ask to try new things. Ty. I would love to find out on opening another tea leaf and partner with this place.
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