Half & Half Tea House

This was the first Half and Half I visited over 10 years ago. I just found out it closed permanently. This store is so iconic I am genuinely bummed out about it. ):

(DRINK)
I always got their regular milk tea or brown sugar milk tea with boba because you can never go wrong with their iconic drinks. The boba is FAR superior to ANTHING I've ever had.

(SERVICE)
Great.

(VENUE)
The place is tiny and I suspect it's to make it look super busy when there's a small group of people which is actually a genius design.

REST IN PEACE HALF AND HALF I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU

This iconic tea shop has lead the boba wave in the late 00s, and after what seems to be more than a decade, this original location seems to be closed forever. I was looking for boba drinks as we slowly come out hiding, and it's quite saddening to see this popular spot to shut down.

I recall this boba shop was a pioneer of Hot Honey Boba before it became the standard in the tapioca ball game. The boba was always freshly cooked, and there was an enormous line in the early days. This store slowly adapted outside waiting and the top ten menu. Although it seems this place gradually lost its shine to the crowding boba competition, this little store forever shall be remembered for helping ushered the second wave of boba with high-quality ingredients.

One of my top favorite boba shops in the 626! I would come here allll the time and order the honey green tea or green milk tea w/ boba depending on my mood. I always enjoyed the chewiness of the boba and the tea quality tastes very true to the leaves. Place a phone order if you want to skip the line and order ahead, but there's a minimum of 3 drinks! They also accept credit card, and don't forget to ask for a stamp card!

The only thing I'm sad about is that half and half used to be one of the cheaper boba places amongst SGV, but due to competition, they really increased their prices and now it's one of the more expensive places around here... so a simple honey green tea w/ boba would cost $5.56 (w/ tax) when it used to be like $4 something !!

edit: oh & MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL.

Home of the original hot honey boba and iced milk drinks. Often imitated but never quite duplicated, so the saying goes. This boba cafe franchise is still going strong and remains wildly popular in and outside of its loyal base in the San Gabriel Valley since they opened at this first location in 2008.

My go-to choice here - iced milk with taro pudding, strawberries and honey boba - happens to be one of my all-time favorite boba drinks. Other favorites include the strawberry milk green tea with honey boba. Any order with black tea and warm honey pudding or boba pearls are good choices as well.

A unique concept at the time they first opened. Unfortunately, they still allow too much ice in the iced milk drinks and the honey boba pearls get hard and doughy as soon as they begin to cool.

The drinks, nonetheless, are always well-blended and delicious. Half and Half Tea House first came up with the concept of sweetening tea drinks with natural, warm honey instead of sugar or artificial sweeteners. And they still make the biggest boba drinks around. The serving cups are huge! The portions are plentiful and balanced.

There are over 40 variety of drinks - including teas, milk teas, iced milk and slushes. Drinks come fairly quick no matter the size of the line, which almost always extends out the door.

I hope they do away with the current stamp cards that includes an expiration date on them.

If you have not tried Half and Half drinks yet, you have to try one as a novelty item. The unique combination of flavors and ingredients still distinguishes Half and Half Tea House from all other boba cafes some ten years later.

I love you half and half. I swear I come here 2-3x a week.

What do I get you ask?

Wintermelon tea with less sugar. So yummy and refreshing. Just a perfect pair when your finish with lunch and wants something to quench your thirst!

Other times I would get almond milk tea with taro bits. This is more of my weekend go to drink. Not super sweet and enough almond flavor. The boba is chewy and soft, not hard and nasty.

You can always call in your order, mim of $10.

Get your stamp card. Get 10 stamps and then the next drink is on them!

not preferred half and half location, nothing much has changed actually since last few visits here, still the small tea store, and the table was not cleaned well, but the good part is that the waiting line wasn't too long during the day comparing to night time, here's the update for drink:
Rose Milk Tea with Boba and Pudding - *** average taste, pudding served as broken into small pieces
Mango Green Tea with Boba and Vanilla Latte - **** refreshing, recommend

My friends and I were eager to try this place out after several friends recommended it and reading through the positive reviews here on Yelp. Extra brownie points for this location for staying open later than the most of the other locations. There is often a line, but don't let that bother you as the line does move quickly and it just gives you an extra few minutes to decide on what to order as there is a lot to choose from.

On my first visit here, I ordered the almond milk tea with taro pudding and regular tapioca boba. The almond taste was very faint and I did not really notice it at all upon trying the drink. The taro pudding tasted very artificial, so I would not recommend this topping at all. The boba were chewy, sweet and slightly warm, so that made up for the taro pudding. This particular drink is one of their "employee favorites," if you're wondering.

On my second visit here, I ordered the iced milk with honey boba, pudding and taro. Half & Half's value proposition is for their offering of real taro pieces as one of their toppings. Thumbs up for that. A lot of bubble tea places use purple powder and call it "taro" since it is difficult to replicate the taste of taro while maintaining the purple color. Their honey boba and pudding were also superb as usual. I do not really recommend ordering this drink if you're not really hungry as this drink does get you full from all of its toppings. Also, their serving sizes are humongous!

Overall, I really enjoyed my first experience here at Half & Half. It was a fun first experience as this place offers better bubble tea than a lot of places on the East coast. The venue was kept clean overall and seating was plentiful. The servers here were courteous and effective and on both occasions, my drinks were prepared in a maximum of 2 minutes despite the crowds! I would recommend this place if you're looking for quality bubble tea, and I'll definitely be back in the future!

I still remember those days where I would see a long line of people waiting for this place to open on weekends. Having been a couple of times over the years, their cups have changed and the hype has died down over the years. Also, they no longer open the window to hand your drink out to you.

Finding parking in this small plaza can be tedious. Parking spaces are pretty small, so getting out of the plaza can scrape the bottom of your car if it's low.

The inside of the store is pretty cramped up, making you feel claustrophobic while waiting to order. There isn't much space to stand inside and wait. Wish they would make use of the pickup window again because that could minimize the large crowd meshed in with customers waiting to order. Service is pretty friendly and nice though.

Pricing seems to be a bit higher than other Half and Half locations, but I still prefer this one over the Pasadena location. I usually get their Rose green milk tea with 1/2 sugar and they make it just right here (more tea flavor, less sugar). The one in Pasadena makes 1/2 sugar taste watered down.

It's been a long time since I came here for a drink. Personally I think it was better in the past. I usually get the milk drink with grass jelly and boba, or grass jelly and pudding. Maybe it wasn't as slushie and I remembered it from the past, but I felt like I was drinking a melted slurpee-- still good but old and melted.

The line is still out the doors though. So I guess something never change lol.

I need boba to survive... especially a taste of the milk drink with honey boba and pudding... yum!

I also love that they change the cup size, for the longest time it was an oddly shaped fat cup that couldn't fit in your cars cup holder... now it's normal but still big.

I try to hit up half and half anytime I get the opportunity.