Golden Tea Shop Oakland

A great place to get tea or other drinks. Owners are really friendly and helpful if you need recommendations. A lot of choices to please anyone. I've gotten the milk teas with red bean and tofu. Red bean smoothie was great too. Non dairy milk options available. Come support small Chinese shops in Oakland Chinatown!

My SO is a fervent tea enthusiast so we've been here a handful of times thus far and it's definitely worth at least one visit if you like tea as well! (Much as we love boba, this review is for the left side of the store where they sell loose-leaf tea! We've never made it to the other side yet, but maybe one day, I'll be able to update about the boba as well!) This is still the only place I've found thus far that offers quality loose-leaf Chinese tea in the bay. SO likes for me to be there with him because I speak Cantonese and it's a lot easier to ask questions ("Never have I felt more powerful than when I walk in here with you."). Oakland Chinatown businesses have been hurting, especially over the last couple years, so I like to support whenever I can + I happen to also love tea (my tastebuds are much less cultured though) -- win-win! We've asked the staff for recommendations and they've been great about giving us a variety of different tea recommendations that fit the bill. This can get to be a pretty expensive habit, so thankfully, you can choose to purchase these by weight (e.g. we sometimes do 2oz of a higher-end tea and 4oz of a more budget-friendly tea). Prices are very fair considering the quality of the teas they offer. (Please don't waste it and only steep it once! The taste often changes with every infusion!) They have a pretty giant selection of Pu-erh + Iron Goddess/tieguanyin (I'm sure there are other types but those are the ones we've focused on so far. Will update as time goes on!) There are also some flowers (e.g. rose petals, chrysanthemum -- I've also seen osmanthus + lavender), tea sets, teapots, tea accessories and other little gifts available. The teas come in loose leaf, "pearls/balls," and cakes. Most recently (aka yesterday) when we came in, one of the owner's relatives was helping out at the store and we inadvertently disrupted his late lunch. He waved aside our apologies and asked if we'd like to have tea with him, and what was originally a "we'll just stop by for 5 minutes to pick up more chrysanthemum" turned into a lovely 1.5 hour chat where we learned all about different types of pu-erh, what to look for in a good tea, the differences between raw (un-fermented) vs aged (fermented) pu-erh. SO was absolutely thrilled (he has been to 1 tearoom in Montreal where he got to do something like this and has been searching for a similar experience/place ever since). We had a really great time! :] I don't think I've quite settled on a favorite yet, but right now, I am partial to the pu-erh + the milk oolong (if you've never tried it, it's super cool--tastes milky + reminds of a unsweetened milk tea despite there being no milk in it!). I also really like getting the chrysanthemum flowers here to make my chrysanthemum/goji berry/date tea for nighttime (I am super sensitive to caffeine). They do accept credit card, but due to the service charge fees, if you can do cash or Venmo, they'd appreciate those forms of payment more. Sooo, in short, if you are a fellow tea enthusiast, you'll be super happy here! Stop by and check it out sometime! P.S. The aisles are narrow so if you're wearing a backpack, please be mindful of where that may go in space when you turn around, especially if you usually lack spatial awareness. Please don't knock out an entire aisle of tea!