The one thing I have to say is they do put too much ice in their drinks... but that's the only bad thing I have to say. Even when you order light ice. But they give a shit ton of whatever jelly or Boba you pick. I always come here when I go to the doctors office monthly and grab myself a large beef Bulgogi onigiri and a pork floss onigiri for lunch on my way home. I also always get The Boyfriend or The Hulk... and I haven't had a single bad thing ever. All of it is delicious, I love the spicy mayo, treat yourself truly. The tea is are a little sweet, so I always get 50% sugar because just plain is crazy sweet and it's just enough at that rate. But the staff is super considerate and there is an older woman that works in the back that has such a sweet personality. Sometimes when I stop in, I think she remembers me, because she dropped something once and I went to pick it up for her, she shooed me away... and now she always makes a smile at me. Probably because I come in at the same time monthly or remembers me trying to help. But I don't know who remembers me at that rate? it's not like I come in every day or every week. Go enjoy a little bite, and a fun little sip, and go on with your day.. read more

We came here randomly on a Sunday night in search of a quick bite to eat before a show at the Paramount Theater. We ordered three onigris/rice balls. They were pretty satisfying and satiated our hunger. They were made pretty quickly. The place itself is fairly small and more designed for grab and go but there's some space to sit and enjoy the food. I can't vouch for the team as we did not order it but it smelled pretty good based on what I could tell. read more

See all

Delivery Order: The Rice balls I ordered were The Crispy Pork Floss, Spam, and Shumai. My favorite was the Crispy Pork and Shumai. I do think they need to add more filling inside of the Rice. And if you Order a large one, just note that it's not more filling just more Rice surrounding it. The delivery was packaged well and had stickers to show which was which. I also ordered the Rose Milk Tea with Boba. This was tasty. I would order from here again. read more

See all

Someone recommended me this place, and it's amazing already. The service is amazing, the food is awesome, I tried the appetizers with the spring roll they taste great. I do love the toppings they have, and I always make sure to add them into my drink, but overall this is a great place to get a drink!! read more

See all

Ordering bubble tea for the family- yummy! Great flavors Good service Nice ambiance Almost perfect boba Limited seating-but streets of Brooklyn are waiting outside! read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Ordering a bunch of bubble tea for the family - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

I recommend Yaya Tea for their bubble tea and gyozas. The rice balls were very popular, but I cannot say I tried them. The service is quick and the employees are nice. Ambiance is cool, no sitting area, it's a to go spot. But it has enough space for at-least 10 people to stand around and wait for their number to be called. read more

Love this small spot across from LIU. Tricky at first eating their rice and chicken ball. ( probably got that wrong ) because of the paper but after the second it was all good. Truth be told one was more than enough. Easy to order, Friendly staff and quick with your order. read more

See all

I wanted a little snack before a concert and this rice ball was a great option. It was pretty cheap. I got the salmon with mayo and seaweed rice ball. It was good and had a nice flavor to it. read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Rice ball with salmon - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Good place for quick drinks and rice balls. Ordered online, they had it ready early. Don't show up late - you might get skipped and have to wait a bit. Kawaii Smile 7/10 They forgot the tapioca in one of my drinks . Get a stamp card, order in person, after 10 stamps you get a free drink. read more

See all

Haven't had onigiri at yaya tea for a while so I bought a bunch of different onigiri to try out. The good ones are Japanese and crab & shrimp tempura (not pictured). Chicken is meh. Salmon and tuna are pretty dry; they would be better if you ask them to add mayo probably. Highly recommend getting the good ones for a quick snack! read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Tuna Salmon Japanese Chicken - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Come for the onigiris and forget the rest! SPACE: A small location with no seating so it's a quick grab and go venue. MENU: There are a lot of drink and snack options! The more popular drinks were the fruity drinks. DRINKS: I ordered the First Love with aloe and my partner ordered the Boyfriend. We typically get drinks with 25%-30% sugar and most places do it right. Unfortunately, Yaya Tea wasn't able to provide a good drink. It was flavorless with a hint of tart. Only the aloe provided a burst of flavor. SNACKS: We ordered 4 different onigiris to try and they were delicious! Our favs were the spam and the the crabmeat with egg and seaweed salad. read more

As previous person commented on the bubble texture, yes it is quite hard. Jasmine Milk tea flavor is good. Riceball is good. We got a Large shrimp tempura riceball. Finished the shrimp and got left with a lot of rice T.T It happens with a large tho I get it.. read more

See all

We were jonesin for some bubble tea (at least my 11 year old was) and we pass by this shop all the time after baseball practice. They have a great system where you can self-order that is very intuitive even if you've never been here before. We decided to get a few bubble teas and try the rice balls (that are interestingly not balls). There isn't a place to eat there so we brought it home with us. We really enjoyed all of the teas and had ordered one from the "secret menu" with pineapple that was yummy. The riceballs were satisfying and still warm after 10 minutes to get home. They have a loyalty program with stamps and possibly with your mobile number too. Overall we felt that the quality and service were excellent and we will make it a treat when nearby. read more

See all

I REALLY TRIED TO LIKE THIS PLACE because it's an addition to the neighbourhood and because one of my best friends loved the Chinatown location. Similar to what a lot of the reviews say, the fruit teas are quite bland and lack both tea and fruit flavour. I also felt that their onigiri were more rice than toppings, which made me sad to eat just a rice ball with dots of flavour. Their service however is very nice and it is easy to pick up- in a pinch. Unfortunately would not likely choose this place until something changes about the tea or onigiri. Every once in a while I'll come back to try. read more

Review based on just the tea: Balls are good texture. Tea at 100% sweet isn't that sweet. BUT the amount of ice they give is crazy. Definitely get lass than half. My cup (and I ordered a large) had ice all the way to the top!!! And don't bother with getting extra tapioca. They do not put a lot =( and you will run it out quick! Last time coming here for the tea, but maybe I'll try their food. read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Large milk tea with extra tapioca - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Great service and excellent bubble tea. Not sure abt anything else. If you're going to a train like the r train, you could grab a drink because it is very close. It wasn't busy at the time I ordered but it took like 1-2 minutes. Maybe less. read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Loved the first location in Chinatown and had to try this when I was in the neighborhood. I remember when the menu used to only be a lot shorter. Decided to try something new on this day. The menu was too big so I couldn't figure what I wanted so I got the Random drink with bubble tea with less sugar. It was good but I think too many flavors in one for me. Drinks came out timely and I love the packaging and saying on the bottom of the cup. read more

See all

Yaya Tea is just outside LIU in Downtown Brooklyn. Back in the day, I frequented the Yaya on Hester Street, so it was a nice surprise to see a Yaya here. Staff are kind, the packaging is off the walls cute, and the menu is very affordable. My go to's are the cold milk tea with bubbles/30% sweet, the Thai tea/30% sweet, the small Japanese rice ball (egg, seaweed, imitation crab - more refreshing and less yeet hay), and the small shrimp tempura rice ball. The takoyaki, spring rolls, and dumplings are okay. I steer away from the fruity teas (too sweet, low on tea intensity) and the large rice balls (too much rice, not as pleasant a ratio of filling to seaweed). This place is packed weekdays at lunch and when Brooklyn Tech lets out (3pm?). Weekends are very quiet. Small staff here, so when there's a long line, its not worth it. You can also order online, which has been very reliable for me. read more

I've been a fan of Yaya Tea for years and I'm so glad that they opened up a location in Downtown Brooklyn. I got their takoyaki and salmon rice balls and both were delicious. I can't wait to be back to get more riceballs and bubble tea. Also, note that there is a $5 minimum spending limit in order to use debit or credit. read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Takoyaki Onigiri and Salmon Onigiri - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Been coming here every other Monday while I'm in school. In so glad they have vegan options for me. Definitely enjoy their rice balls. The vegan options for rice balls are gong bao, spare ribs, and ginger chicken. It can either come in small or large size. Fun and easy to eat while in class. read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

See all

Onigiri was busting fire yummers I ate it right up, drinks were also great! Service was interesting , took a very long time but the people were very nice once they handed me my delectable rice ball and nectar from heaven, Bless the Lord ord i've never been so bloated! read more

Daddy and Daughter Time... good tea and good eats ... one of my daughter's favorite places after school Shawn B. Singh, Financial Professional at Guardian read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Daddy and Daughter Time... good tea ... good eats My daughter's favorite place after school Shawn B. - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

The past decade has seen an increased demand in high quality bubble tea that contain better teas and other ingredients. Numerous international chains have established a lasting presence in NYC, such that it's easy to assume that the next random bubble tea shop you enter will be comparable in quality to some of the big names. The lesson learned here is to never assume. Until my recent visit to this Yaya Tea location, bubble tea has not disappointed me in recent memory, and certainly never to this degree in my 20+ years of drinking bubble tea. Neither of the drinks I ordered, a jasmine milk tea with tapioca and a lychee jasmine tea with herbal jelly, each at 30% sweetness and less ice, had any redeeming quality, except possibly the fact that they hydrated me - but so would drinking from a park fountain. Neither drink was worth finishing. The jasmine milk tea used weak tea and stale boba. There is no other explanation than the fact that my lychee jasmine tea was likely a botched job. It wasn't even that the tea was weak; rather, any tea flavor was nonexistent. The herbal jelly was equally tasteless and chopped into tiny bits that offered zero texture enjoyment. While bubble tea shops may be few and far between in the area, they do exist, and you would do yourself a huge favor by walking an extra 10ish minutes to the next closest one. read more

The rice balls at this location are always warm and tasty, I get them pretty often before work/during school hours. Drinks are also good, nothing to complain about. Fair warning it is located between a largely populated High School and College and it's not the biggest location so service may be slow due to demand. Great location otherwise. read more

So it's been about half a year since my first review during their grand opening. You would assume they've figured things out by now? We decided to give them another chance today, I have no idea whyyyyy lol. We ordered black milk tea, the lychee tree, seaweed salad, and a large spam rice ball. The black milk tea was pretty light on the boba and could have used a bit more milk (same as my first visit, it seems like a common problem here is watery drinks). For the Lychee Tree, I paid for 3 add-ons: lychee jelly, aloe vera, and grass jelly. My drink only had the aloe in it. The large spam rice ball looked nothing like the photos. I opened up the rice ball and there's one thin slice of spam that looks like it was torn apart and smushed in there. Seaweed salad was fine, it's just the standard kind you get in giant frozen tubs from restaurant wholesale supply store. Here are my final thoughts: It's 2022...There are WAYYY too many other good boba spots in the city to waste your money here. Sure, you can attract customers with cute anthropomorphic rice ball cartoons on your window but no one's going to come back if the actual food and drinks are consistently substandard. With that being said, if you're located in downtown bk and looking for a good boba place, I highly suggest Mogee Tee. I order from them maybe 2-4x/week and they get every drink correct, every time, with perfectly cooked boba and healthy/high quality ingredients. Gong Cha is another acceptable option but they do occasionally mess up my orders. read more

See all

Quick and friendly service, but my Thai milk bubble tea was incredibly bland, and tapioca has no flavor.

The pictures on the menu board look NOTHING like what is served. The rice balls are actually JUST rice balls. There is nothing else inside, just tons of rice and seaweed on the outside. The egg one didnt have egg and the crab one had a sliver of crab (see pic). It's cheap so if you want just rice and seaweed this is your place. read more

Yaya Tea - Downtown Brooklyn - Crab rice ball (with no crab) - Bubble Tea Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

The taro tea are made with powder taro Artificial flavor The boba milk tea are very water down read more

Easy fast ordering process. Food tasted great! Inside was nicely decorated and clean.

My favorite tea place in the city for their fruit teas and snacks! Amazing onigiri. I only wish they had more dairy free options

Cheap product and terrible customer service. Waited 20 minutes for two rice balls and a tea. The boboa was over cooked and the Kani rice ball was so disappointing. The imitation crab they used was the bottom of the barrel. Strong fishy smell and taste. And it was straight crab and rice. No sauce or avocado Inside. To top it off. I asked if they could spare a plastic bag to hold my water bottles so me and my son could eat. (The plastic bags were visible from the counter ) the cashier acted like she didn't see them and the manager came out and asked for what I needed the bag for and just stared at me when I said for my water bottle. I just spent money and too much time waiting for my food to be given a hard time about a plastic bag. Terrible customer service. read more

Customer service always on point. Food is fresh and hot every time. Ambiance is simple to go and clean read more

So lately, I've developed a taste for Rice Balls. In Brooklyn, there is this little spot called YaYa Tea. It was crowded, usually that is a sign of something good. I am not fond of lines, but at the urging of my wife, I decided to wait and give it a chance. We ordered three sets of rice balls, I don't have pics because my previous phone was lost but needless to say, they were great. Tasted great. And the teas were also great tasting. I intend to visit again and this time I'm sure to have some pics... This one is a like.. read more

Fast service and great taste. They give a good amount of boba and jelly. Love that they have a manned cashier as well as ordering kiosks

Got a Thai iced tea and a couple different onigiri -- both delicious (especially the spam) and pretty great price for the portion sizes! Will definitely come back read more

I literally fell in love with this place the first time I tried it. The bubble tea was good but I especially love their rice balls! My fav is the chicken kind. Me and my bf come here all the time and every single time we left feeling even more satisfied then when we came! Needless to say this is definitely one of my favorite spots! read more

Yummy rice balls. Good bubble tea. What more could you ask for!? Only note would be to adjust the meat to rice proportions for the large rice balls. Sometimes there's too much rice. read more