T4, Palo Alto’s only solely Pearl Milk Tea shop, hosts its grand opening today at 165 University Ave.
T4 has other locations around the Bay Area, including San Leandro and Fremont. The T4 brand started in Taiwan in 2004 and is working its way around the globe, according to its website.
T4 replaced the Loving Hut, which went out of business at the beginning of the school year. Loving Hut served PMT while it was in business, but it was vegan and had very few flavor options.
Many Palo Alto High School students have been impatiently waiting for a PMT place in Palo Alto.
“It’s hard to be environmentally friendly when you have to drive all the way to Mountain View to get a quality PMT drink,” sophomore Nathaniel Hancock said. “It also would take up a large amount of a day that could be spent doing homework or socializing.”
What I ordered: Large Jasmine Pearl milk tea with extra pearls ($4.89)
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
Student opinion:
“I liked to get PMT at Loving Hut too, but this is better since they specialize in it,” junior Rowan Lee said. “One thing I wished they [T4] would change is that they should have pearls with flavors.”
Features:
T4 has two sizes: small and regular. The menu provides the customer with a variety of options. For example, both the ice and sweetness levels can be adjusted from the standard to be at 30 percent or 80 percent.
I personally got the standard amounts and found it a little sweet. The pearls are fairly large and very soft. The drink itself is not very thick and creamy, but the tea flavor is not overpowering.
The current Palo Alto location is very clean and has a blue color theme around the entire restaurant. There is room for seating, and it is easy to see into the back work area where the drinks are made.
The staff is very friendly and can answer any questions. Manager Miki Murphy was excited to mention that all tea is brewed on site and changed out every hour, even if it not used up completely.
T4 is currently scheduled to be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and currently does not have a significant line.
“It’s delicious. It’s about time we had [a Pearl Milk Tea place] in Palo Alto,” junior Eli Craveiro Frankel said.