Far Leaves Tea Reviews

Really excellent tea! Tried the pu-erh and one of the oolongs, and managed to milk the pu-erh through several steepings. The folks there source their teas directly, from what I understand, and make a couple of their own blends, and they REALLY know their stuff. Also got one each of the buns and a rice ball, and two mochi. I was there with a group, and you order up front, take your snacks or mochi to your table, and they bring you any of the cooked food and tea. Everything was brought quite promptly.

It's a fairly quiet place, but nobody seemed to mind us chattering away at a low volume. A number of folk were at small tables reading or working on laptops, and each table has its own electric kettle. Very civilized. It felt like a great place to come with a book or maybe a casual date.

My 5yo was part of our group, and the folks who run the place treated her with great aplomb, helping her pick from the small snack choices they had on offer and giving her a tasting cup for her tea. I was really happy with how courteous they were to her, given her age, but I guess they could tell she was on her best manners. I'm looking forward to coming back with her and my sweetie sometime!

Small and simple shop. The selection of excellent teas is heard towards those who want a quality, not quantity of options. Everything I've gotten has been the best/superb of that type of tea. Whenever I'm visiting from east coast I stop by to restock my supply of hojicha and try another green tea.

Lovely quiet tea house (with wifi!) that has an assortment of seating - a no shoes zone on an elevatrd platform bamboo matt with cushions, rock garden, comfy couches, and tables. Staff is kind. 2 hour limit on weekends for at least some of the seating areas.

Cool place to hang out, read, and drink some tea. Or, hang out with a small group of friends.

Very mellow place with excellent tea, ambiance, and service!

Hands down one of the best selections for world class teas sourced by the owner and provided in an amazing atmosphere. Having been to at least 50 tea houses around the US, I can say I make a special trip in the Bay Area just to visit. The staff (Brad) is great in recommending something I'll love and just generally being super chill.

If you want a better coffee shop vibe with a better drink, you can't be disappointed!

This place is such a treasure of a tea shop! All the elements combine to make it a consistently lovely experience. Quality, welcoming ambiance, outstanding selection of tea, delicious snack accompaniments, and smoothing background music, except that day they where playing speed metal.

Very good atmosphere overlooking the gardens. Food was super as was the tea. The Chia Pudding was divine!

Best tea shop in Berkeley. Quiet atmosphere and friendly, knowledgeable staff.

Really great selection of teas! Reasonably priced and you get all the hot water you want to re-steep your tea for hours. The steamed buns were also quite delicious. I definitely plan to come back.

Weird hours but I love this place! Great tea selection and great place to just chill out for a while.

I love this tea place. Since I moved from New York to the Bay Area, I have made this place my "zen" home. I love the tea selection and the atmosphere of this place. It is comfortable and quiet and the best place to read and write.

Quiet place for really good tea, especially oolongs.

Just the best tea in the world right here in Berkeley Ca so clean tasting and the water stays hot for a long time. I really love this place

It was amazing and just what I needed. Thanks to Anthony I was able to get a fabulous pot of Yunnam Gold with dates filled with walnuts! I highly advise to any and all tea lovers to make this stop.

They have electric kettle receptacles placed around the seating areas. When you order tea, they bring you a cup, a teapot, and an electric kettle of water.

The tea here cost about $7.50 on average, but wait! This place has the best environment in all of tea places I been to in Bay Area. The tea quality is also 7/10. Right when u walk in, your brain will feel numb like the same feeling u get when u go to a Japanese tea garden. Strongly recommend if u want to regain ur focus.

Wonderful tea shop with a great selection of teas. My personal favorite is the Kagoshima Sencha. It is the only green tea I drink now and I buy it in bulk. The tea is a great quality for a very fair price, I was loyal to Song Tea in SF for several years, but now I have been converted!

Far Leaves doesn't have much in the way of food, because it's all about the tea. Very nice menu of excellent loose leaf teas with a good selection of blacks and oolongs as well as some herbals.

This is the spot for a grounded, Zen, pure experience of Tea.

I have not been to other tearooms in SF yet, mostly because from my google searches, it seems that a lot of them are more "trendy" or are culturally based in English High Noon fancy frills tea service (nothing wrong with them, but to me, Tea is an eastern thing). Atmosphere is spaciously intimate, music is subtle, but complimentary (Pandora did a stellar job with their jazz playlist today, mmm Ben Webster). The owner is lovely, and the entire place constantly reminds you "be here now."

This is a quiet little treasure in the neighborhood. You can find many tea varieties and a few sweet or savory snacks in Far Leaves rustic but cosy space.

Far leaves is a fantastic spot to share quality tea with your friends! This cozy tea shop is a fantastic study spot too. We love their Alishan, and also their tasty pork & taro buns!

Their tea plus the atmosphere will take you in a tropical and tranquil place.

Good tea shop with nice slightly Asian rustic ambience.

A nice "Tea for the people" vibe, in this relaxing unassuming Westside spot, with a good tea selection as well as some fine pottery in both Gaiwan and Japanese varieties. Nice staff. My only critique, is that there never seems to be enough seats when I go there, and that, they might consider putting a table or two out in the alleyway next to the business, so I could come there more often!

Quiet non-trendy spot. One of the few places that I've been able to find some high quality first flush, estate Darjeeling whole leaf tea. Fresh and flavourful. And the prices are reasonable and the staff know their teas and are willing to share taste notes and offer suggestions.

Delicious tea and you can sit for a long time with multiple refills so the cost ($6+) doesn t feel so much. However, the staff are frequently grumpy and even complain about having to be there. Doesn t make me feel great about going there when the staff are unhappy!

The atmosphere is peaceful and not pretentious. The tea is always top quality. The staff are the most friendly and always go beyond basic service to make a visit feel like home (if only my home was so cool!). It's so dear to me that I wrote an Internet review, something I've only done a few times. I pray that they have continued success!

Calm and spacious. I love sitting here with a pot of pu erh. They have a great selection, and everyone I have talked to here has a good knowledge of their teas. Today I ordered the Ochazuke, and it was exactly what I craved. They use a fancier tea than I would use (sencha/ matcha rather than genmaicha), so the flavor of the tea was more pronounced than usual. I loved that they later offered pickled plum. A perfect spot for a rainy day.

Huge shout out to Far Leaves who made my day during our visit to Oakland! It's was so lovely to go to a sit-down tea house where you have a kettle at your table, a wide variety of quality, directly sourced teas to choose from, and delicious treats to pair with it! We ended up getting a perfectly sweet white tip oolong for our tea, ochazuke (with genmaicha), and two steam buns (pork and burdock). Everything from the atmosphere to the service was incredible and I wish I lived nearby so I could visit all the time! Super excited to try out the locally inspired blends and puer tuo I brought home as well!

I want to live here. I don't want to tell you why it's so great because it may become crowded as a result. Don't go! Let me keep it to myself!

I'm partial to oolongs and greens and good quality oolongs are fairly rare in my area. I'm willing to drive 50' to get here.
Their Alishan is divine but overpriced if you compare it to Pasadena's Bird Pick: $50 for 4.75oz whereas Bird Pick (and others, in SF) sell 4oz of a very similar quality for $30.
Dong Ding is, for me, the best value: comforting warm and floral aroma, leaves are whole, very few twigs, it steeps quite comfortably 5 times, 4.75oz - $30.
Green Goddess has a beautiful emerald green color but the leaves (after steeping) look broken, with many twigs, the 3rd steeping is already pushing it in terms of flavor which is slightly grassier and more simplistic than Dong Ding.
Osmanthus oolong is good but not as good as Bird Pick's Osmanthus Milk Oolong.
Their Sencha is inferior.
I'd rather not drive all the way to San Francisco from the South Bay, so that's the best oolong I can find along the way.
I also enjoyed having a tea inside. However a different table other than next to the window would have been too dark for me; I like to see the color of my tea and leaves...

Really cozy, really good teas. Come here to read a book or catch up with a friend over several steepings of delicious tea!

Quiet tea house. Decor leaves something to be desired, but their tea is good!