Cafe LaTTea doesn’t just have a unique name, it has a unique taste as well. Located nearer to Cupertino High School than MVHS, it is neither as convenient as Quickly’s nor as popular as Verde. Yet this newest cafe and milk tea shop has already become the newest topic of conversation for many hungry Matadors. Nothing about Cafe LaTTea is really surprising, but that’s a good thing. Its baristas are welcoming and friendly, but didn’t attempt unnecessary small talk. An order of Oolong Milk Tea with Pearls ($3.75), Green Tea and Red Bean Tofu cake ($4.99), and Strawberry Delight Honey Toast ($9.99), came to about $18.79 before tax, seemed to be quite pricey, but because of size and quality of the drinks, the price was not unreasonable. The Oolong tea has the refreshing tea taste of a Fantasia drink, thanks in part to the “tea machines” to keep the drink authentic and not too sweet. The non-milk tea drinks were also very delicious, tasting natural and fresh. Cafe LaTTea is well-known for its taro latte, and on a chilly drizzling afternoon, a warm cup of frothy, milky taro is perfect. Cafe LaTTea is the only known cafe to allow customers to select the level of sweetness, based on the percentage of sugar the customer desires. All its drinks are customizable to not only toppings, such as milk tea pearls or pudding, a thoughtful additive to cater to each customer’s individual tastes.The cafe’s food items, however, were more hit-or-miss. The Green Tea and Red Bean Tofu cake is not worth ordering; the Tofu cake is comparable to a cheesecake with stripes of red bean filling and matcha powder on top — an interesting, but highly risky and disappointing experiment. The Strawberry Delight, although another of Cafe LaTTea’s experiments, was a hit that was suitable to both Asian and non-Oriental tastes.
LaTTea is known for its “honey toast”, a ridiculously huge and thick slab of hollowed white bread filled with buttered bread chunks, ice cream, fruits, syrup, miscellaneous toppings and whipped cream that is very sweet but very delicious. The confection is around the size of a small square cake but needs an appetite equivalent to that of four teenage girls needs to be present in order to finish the entire dessert.
Cafe LaTTea is modern, sophisticated, and much-needed. It would not be surprising if LaTTea became a go-to hangout spot for students to sip on milk tea or to curb a sugar craving.
Cafe LaTTea is located on 19501 Stevens Creek Blvd, Ste 101, Cupertino, CA. Opening hours are Monday to Sunday from 7am to 11pm.
