Haru Coffee & Tea

The best tea store that we have ever visited. Personally I highly recommend this store to my friends. The clerk is very nice and their tea is tasty with a very reasonable price. My wife loves it so much and insists to visit again next time — though we live in SF bay area… :(
Go go go, HARU!!!

TEA of the MOMENT: Pomegranate Lemonade
A bit bitter, a bit lemony. I was really hoping for something overly powerful sugary, but you do get the pomegranate taste in the drink. Not complaining about it, but I sure regret for not asking for a skinny cup.
—
It’s 100+ degree in Southern California. In September. My first reaction was «WHERE THE HECK IS THE A/​C!»
I was randomly in the neighborhood, wanting something different from 85 or Dialogue. I did remember that I bookmarked a place that was in the Rowland Heights area, but wasn’t sure what the place was. A quick swipe from my Unilocal app, and I found out it was Haru Coffee & Tea.
So, why Haru? Is it a «day» café, or a «spring» café? I was confused at first, but after I went in, I figured it was a more Korean café, rather than Japanese, even though they were playing Japanese music.
Love the coziness the place brought, and LOVE the fact that drinks were under $ 5. Not much seating, for a person who wants to chill out.
I would want to come back here and try something else, but there’s really not much to drag me into staying longer than getting a to-​go drink.
I did see the goguma drink AFTER I ordered. Maybe this will be my goguma of SoCal, because I really don’t want to wait for me to travel to NorCal, to go to YakiniQ just to get my sweet potato fixin’.

This place is a Korean-​ish Half and Half wannabe. As I’ve said, my standard really is the green milk tea. Ordered it with half sugar and it was just sugary water with milk flavor. The green tea flavor wasn’t there.
The cups might be the annoying – can’t-fit-in-your-cupholder half and half style cups, but the tea is really lacking. They do hat that goguma addition which is cool, but I’m just a tea/​iced milk kinda person so it really wasn’t a great new place for me. Perhaps the other drinks on the menu would be geared more towards people who like their drinks sweet. I’ll go back to Half and half still if i’m craving for a milky drink.
The inside of this place is more conducive to hanging out though so if you are looking for that this is a better choice than half and half for sure, but for the price, there are more options so not on the top of my list.

Korean owned joint, seems to specialize in iced milk.
Strawberry was actually pretty good (thanks Winnie!) and better than Half & Half’s. It could’ve been a bit less sweet though. The goguma, which is Korean for sweet potato was… way too grainy, and not the texture I was expecting from an iced milk drink. I know it’s sweet potato but it was a bit too much on the sweeter side.
Good service though, and better interior than most places in the area.

Oh the goguma (sweet potato) is soooo delish in the drinks! LOVE! I usually can’t find this at other tea and boba places. I think I’ve found a new addiction. =)
Although I’m sad that the BOGO deal is over, the drink sizes here are definitely big enough to share. I’d feel a little overwhelmed drinking the whole thing (and I’m probably also suppressing the urge to think about the calorie count). Drinks are big like Half and Half. In fact, the cups look even bigger.
I’ve tried the milk ice with boba, goguma and pudding and also with a milk ice with goguma and coffee jelly ($ 3.85). The goguma is delightful. Lightly sweet, the pieces are big enough to chew after you slurp it up through the straw. It tastes good with everything! The boba is also lightly sweet and cooked just right. Not too soft or hard. The pudding wasn’t very memorable. The coffee jelly was delish though and gave the drink just enough of a hint of a coffee flavor that every sip was a contrast between coffee and goguma. Great combination! Everything tasted super fresh. I want to come back for other sweet potato type drinks. I saw on the menu that they have a sweet potato latte too!
I’ve also tried the strawberry smoothie. It was ok. Not too unique and the strawberry tasted a bit artificial. I’d stick with the milk ices!
On weeknights they close right at 11pm. They were shooing us out by 10:50pm. Unlike Quicklys nearby, these people do not like to stick around! =P

Specialty drinks here are what makes this joint good.
My goto is: Strawberry ice milk with pudding, no boba. Oooeee, son!
Special Latte Coffee is also pretty damn good.
Heard the goguma ice milk is good too.
I tried the iced milk green tea and was disappointed. Learned to stick with the special dranks, nawimsayin?
Have yet to try their food, but they do sound good. Wish they had tater tots… actually, i wish everywhere had tater tots.
Oh, yeah, you also get a choice of cups, tall or fat… just mentioning, cause some people care.
There are table games and magazines for patrons too. Jenga, rubiks cube, cards, motha fuckin dominos, and some circular puzzle game-​madoo.
Cozy little place with simple décor, me likey. Workers speak fluent english, are helpful, and friendly.

I decided to try this place after having lunch next door at JJ noodle house. I was attracted by the buy one get one free drink grand opening promotion.
I ordered what I usually get at any boba place, the iced green milk tea with boba. It was not clear how the buy one get one free drink deal works. I thought I could choose whichever drink I wanted for the, but the free drink needs to be one of their iced milk drinks.
So I let my parents choose their own drinks and I just settled for the iced milk drink with caramel, boba, and egg pudding. When I got the drinks I was happy to see the familiar half and half bowl cups. However, after taking a sip of my iced milk drink, I was super disappointed. The caramel was super bitter and the egg pudding tasted kind of off. It was so bitter that I could not finish my drink. This place is a bad knock off version of half and half.
I decided to give it a second try on a different day. I ordered the iced green milk tea with boba and again, I was disappointed! The tea was kind of bitter and it didn’t have enough milk.
For a second, I thought I found an alternative to Half and half, my favorite boba place, but I was tricked!

Alright, I said I would come back to give it another try. This time I tried their green milk tea with boba. This is a boba drink I normally get whenever I order boba drinks. One word. BLEHH.
It was too watery and it didn’t have enough tea taste. There was also not enough milk. The cashier got my order wrong too. I asked for no caramel sauce in my iced milk drink and guess what?! It had caramel in it. The iced milk drink is way too sweet. I am sticking with Half n Half.

The BOGO grand opening special is now over. Sadness. But when they had it, I visited often. I have tried their Matcha Milk Tea and the Ice Milk Drink with Taro, Grass Jelly and boba. The menu is simple to order from with many choices of add-​ins to choose from for the Iced Milk Drinks. Their milk tea is not as sweet as other places so that you can taste the tea, but it was just perfect for my taste. Compared to Half&Half or other boba milk tea places around the area, I do consider this a good joint.
The ambience is homey with the decorations and brick walls. There are just enough chairs even though the place isn’t too big but at least bigger than Meow Meow. I have never seen this place get crowded. Haru also offers wi-​fi, magazines, and some games for your entertainment.
It’s a great place to come on a hot summer night when you need a big cup to quench your thirst.

THIS PLACE TRYNA BE ALL HYPE NO THANKS.
Well, kinda. Their grand opening special makes it a REALLY good deal, because you can buy a cheaper $ 2.85 drink and get the iced milk, which is more expensive, for free!
…but it ends… yesterday… so that was kinda pointless… anyway.
I had the Haru Special Milk Tea with Boba. It was decent/​good. Not too sweet, and I can definitely taste the tea. Worth it? I don’t know. Probably not, with the likes of Quickly in the very same plaza. And I don’t know if it was just me, but my cup was probably ¾ filled with ice CUBES… needless to say, I wasn’t really stoked.
This place isn’t BAD, but it really just has nothing new to offer. It tries to have that «hangout» appeal, with complimentary cards/​games and stuff, but it’s really just too small and that brick wall is painful to look at. Drinks aren’t special, and there are better, bigger, hipper, nicer places to hang out (Factory Tea Bar comes to mind). Wouldn’t come back.
Oh, and ca$h only.
But let’s be real, you probably knew that already.

I’ve been here twice. They have a BOGO special like everyone says. Yes, their BOGO sign is misleading because only the iced milk is BOGO. But, everything automatically tastes better to me when I think I got a good deal. Twice I ordered the Okinawan sweet potato ice milk. Both times they told they don’t have it. I think I am fully trained not to order it again. I ordered the goguma, coffee jelly, and boba, ice milk. I don’t know what a goguma is, but, it was crumbly and sweet, just like taro. Maybe they give me taro instead? Whatever it was, it was good.
Yes, I am cheap. As long as they have their BOGO special, I’ll be back!

We came here a few times for their iced milk drinks, milk teas, and plum slush. Their iced milk drink is milk blended with brown sugar and loose shards of ice. It’s decent and refreshing but not as satisfying as the thick slush versions found at all other places (Ten Rens, H&H, Meow Meow, Tea Bar, etc). We tried it with pudding and boba, and pudding and taro. Their boba was bland and firm, but their pudding is soft and eggy. Some places use «fake» pudding which is hard, floppy, and hard to drink, like jello.
We tried ordering a plain milk tea «half sugar» but we were told the milk tea is fixed. However, every other place just adds more tea which should be common sense. I’m not sure if they tried to make it less sweet but it was very sugary. We also tried ordering a «fresh milk tea» (fresh milk + black tea) but we were told they only have «fresh milk green tea» (fresh milk + green tea).
Lastly, we had their plum slush which was okay. It’s flavor is very faint compared to Tea Bar, Lollicup, and H&H.
Overall, the drinks here are decent but unimpressive considering price. Service is just okay, not friendly or unfriendly. The space is too small which makes it awkward when it’s just you, your friend, and an employee behind the counter. One time it was two employees fooling around behind the counter. I would like this place more if they were more experienced but I wouldn’t mind returning. I recommend their iced milk drink with pudding and taro. Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal all summer: buy any drink and get a complimentary iced milk drink. :) +1 star.

This place is brand new and you can take advantage of a «Buy One Get One Free» special!
I ordered a Rose Milk Tea with Boba and actual pieces of Strawberries cut up in it and it was absolutely lovely. My girlfriend got an ice milk drink with strawberry syrup, pudding, and boba and it was super sweet and reminded me of strawberry milk.
This is a nice place to hang out or study. The servings are pretty generous for around $ 3.50 and it taste good. Their service is SUPER FAST too, probably because no one knows about them. This is a GREAT ALTERNATIVE to Half and Half whose service is like paying a limbless prostitute and expecting great things.
Come check them out before their special ends!

Just one of the MANY boba places in the 626 area and not gonna lie, it’s PRIIITTAYY good considering Half & Half is just down the street. They share their ginormous cups of drink in similarity, which you’re going to have that same love and hate relationship with it seeing as it’s not going to do you any good putting it in your car cup holder (except Honda Civics… Mine adjusts according to the size of the cup… LOL). BUT, they’re having their grand opening sale of BOGO all day! Buy one any drink and get a free ice milk on the house! It’s located where Love Letter, Paris Baguette, and a Korean Market is on Fullerton Rd and Colima.
DRINKS: I don’t really like their original ice milk, it has this some kind of weird coffee flavored syrupy thing going on when you shake it and it makes the whole thing taste coffee[y]. I’m not a big fan of coffee so it didn’t suit my taste. The ones I would recommend is their strawberry ice milk with pudding and boba. IT. IS. FANTASTIC. It’s an addiction in a cup. The colors are just beautiful with the layer of pink, yellow, and brown on top of each other then you take that first blissful sip… *Exhale in happiness* The sweet flavor of the strawberry milk mixed in with the soft gelatin like pudding is just to die for. Then you get the boba, it’s chewy with just a tad bit sweetness in the center. NOMZ! ($ 3.85) I would also suggest the yogurt drinks… They’re really sweet, but strangely delicious because they seem to have a milkier consistency than Half & Half’s (Like Calpico!) ($ 2.85)
SERVICE & AMBIANCE: Service was great, one of the make workers was ultra friendly and directed us through the whole menu before suggesting some good ones to us. Their area is decorated very simple with earthy tones, so it’s a great place to wind down after work or school! :) They also provide games like Jenga and playing cards to pass the time. But it’s not a lot of seating, so you’ll have to almost stake out the tables and chairs.

A new tea place with grand opening banner and BOGO sign? ;)
Ordered iced milk with Okinawan sweet potato, coffee jelly & black pearls and kumquat slush. They didn’t have the sweet potato so I changed it to taro.
Iced milk with taro, coffee jelly and boba ($ 3.85): the only iced milk I like. I dont like iced milk from both Half & Half and Meow Meow. I am glad this place isn’t called Haru & Haru or Haru Haru. The taro was crumbly and yum and I liked its coffee jelly.
Kumquat slush ($ 3.50): it was a little too sweet for me but it was super refreshing.
The free drink from BOGO was only for iced milk. That was a good deal for me because my iced milk was more expensive than my slush muahahahaha
Total for both drink was only $ 3.50. I like this place better than Tastea across the street.
4 stars!
Haru Coffee & Tea is yummylicious!

Haru is located right next to the Galleria Market on the corner plaza of Fullerton and Colima.
The Iced Milk Drinks are good, especially since it has the Buy one Get one free deal for the Iced Milk drinks. Personally, I like Half and Half a little better, but my coworkers prefer Haru. As long as Haru has this special deal, I’ll probably come here instead of Half and Half.
Stay away from the milk tea drinks! The boba chewiness is fine. However, the tea in their milk tea makes my tongue totally feel fuzzy. Plus, Haru’s milk tea is way too sweet for me. Due the the fuzzy mouth factor, the most number of stars that I could give Haru is 3 stars.
As everyone says, stick to the Iced Milk Drinks.

The best thing about Haru is that it’s buy one get one free if you order an iced milk. I personally am a big fan of iced milk, but this one for me, tasted a little too crème brûlée-​ish, and by that I meant, the drink had this burnt caramel taste that almost made the entire thing a little bitter. I ordered the regular iced milk with boba, pudding, and taro, and this is something I would probably never try again if I was to ever visit again. I would like to try their strawberry iced milk one of these days though.
Aside from the drinks, the décor is extremely ADORABLE. I can literally sit here forever and imagine that I was that korean girl in that one sappy korean drama waiting for my prince charming to come running to me and confess his love for me… ok maybe I went a little too far, but the interior is so high school love-​story setting looking, that you cant help but get a little carried away with these sappy imaginations. Definitely a great spot to hang out with friends, and I although had a bad first time experience with the iced-​milk I’d ordered, I would like to come back again to chill and try some other goodies on the menu.
Plus, for buy one get one free, you really cant complain!

BOGO deal right now! The free drink is restricted to the Iced Milk drinks only.
But hey, 2 drinks the size of Half & Half cups for only $ 3? WHAT A STEAL. GO NOW! :)
I just got the green milk drink ($ 2+) which came with a free iced milk drink (includes pudding and boba!!).
The décor is beyond cute w exposed brick interior consistent throughout the café, even in the restroom. Speaking of, the restroom is the most posh br i’ve ever seen! Look at the pictures I posted. Oh, Haru haru you sure know how to win a girls heart x3

Looks like they want to be in direct competition with Half and Half, which is close to the mall on Colima. They sell the infamous iced milk tea here.
Their tapioca balls are cooked decently. If you know anything about making tapioca balls is that they need to be constantly monitored like a risotto. So they didn’t mess that up so that’s good.
I had the milk tea boba. Like I said the boba is good, but the milk tea is kind of atrocious, to be honest. Without the boba, I wouldn’t be able to drink the milk tea. There is no tea flavor. Correction. There is no strong tea flavor. As any respectable tea drinker can compare to, it’s like drinking Lipton tea bags when you had loose leaf tea. Lipton is the left over crap from actual tea leaves. The tea here tastes like the Lipton. I actually have no idea how the iced milk (not iced milk tea, different) here taste like because I only got the boba milk tea.
The décor is very cute and reminds me of a kindergarten with a bit of the exposed brick. I definitely think they can compete with Half and half if the boba is anything to go by.
A note on the parking. It seems like every spot is for a compact car so be careful parking here if you do have a larger car. Good thing I was skinny enough to squeeze out of my door, but I can see anyone with an SUV have a hard time parking in their lot.

since i was in the area, i wanted to grab some groceries at galleria. but to my dismay, it was closed due to remodeling. oh well.
noticed haru with a grand opening sign. it was 90 °F…i was already in that plaza, so why not? clean, new restaurant that is now occupying the space where a korean restaurant that was expensive and mediocre. haru (korean owned) opened at the end of may. (it’s been open for 10 days)
* IT SAYS A LOT WHEN I GO TO A PLACE TWICE in the SAME DAY *
* especially since i don’t usually buy these drinks much anymore *
they have a BOGO promotion for a couple ice milk drinks. their drinks come in the huge cup that doesn’t fit in the cupholder. i blame half and half for starting the lame trend.
BUY ANY DRINK and get an ICE MILK for FREE.
the ice milk comes with three items that you can choose (boba, pudding, goguma, jelly, etc). *goguma is sweet potato. delicious!
i’ve had the rose green tea and the strawberry ice milk with boba and pudding. apparently, strawberry is a favorite flavor.
prices are not bad since i didn’t know my cup would be so big. haha. i ordered the rose tea which tasted good. great deal when you think of how much other places charge for the same size special drink.
they have a stamp card. you get a free drink after the 5^th one!
you don’t have to buy 10… just 5!
*so at this time, you buy 5 drinks and get 11 drinks total*
grabbed a menu to take home for reading… haha.
they not only offer drinks but they also have
— jello ice, slush, smoothies, coffee
— caffeine free drink options
— yogurt
— shave ice with brown sugar (not available yet)
— snowflake shave ice
— ramen
— snacks like fries and mini corndogs
— brick toast
surprised and delighted that their menu is so ambitious. guess i’ll find out if the rest of it is any good later.
** A COUPLE HOURS LATER **
after i had dinner, i went back to haru. LOL.
it only cost $ 3.10 for TWO HUGE drinks. why not?
CASH ONLY