John Dinh, Scott Nguyen and Ted Vu opened their superior tea parlor in a Garden Grove strip mall in 2000, specializing in tea drinks and complimentary puns. A lot of boba establishments rely on powders to flavor the teas, a pitiable artificial shortcut. Tastea is committed to serving superior products, using fresh fruit and fresh fruit juices, making it a worthy finish to any Little Saigon outing.

The wall menu is loaded with painfully punny drink names, including Tootea Fruitea (kiwi and pineapple tea with diced jackfruit, lychee and longan), Bootea Shaker (mango, peach and pineapple tea with black jelly) and Krypteanite (green tea smoothie).

Peach Me Sweetea ($3.10) is a Specialtea shaken like a martini. The iced black tea was delicious, featuring plenty of fresh peaches and strawberries, chunks so big that they couldn’t all fit through the oversized boba straw.

Slushy Lychee Freeze ($3.35) offered a terrific blend of fresh lychee juice and lychee jelly for texture.

Every drink is available with boba, the tapioca balls that customers suck through a colorful, oversized straw. Tastea’s boba balls are supposedly fresher than at other tea parlors, and they did have better than average bounce. If the chewy orbs sit around for too long, they apparently solidify like paintballs. According to a Tastea disclaimer, “Boba may cause choking if swallowed without chewing,” not that anybody should fret about their boba.

Strawberry Sensation ($3.60) is a smoothie blended with non-fat frozen yogurt, ice, fresh strawberry juice and fresh strawberries. Unsurprisingly, the smoothie was totally satisfying.

The menu also features Classics (teas and milk teas), Hotteas, and Shaved Ice Delights (topped with coconut milk, condensed milk and toppings like red bean, peach, and Mandarin orange). All are available with Yummy Add-Ons: boba, black jelly, coconut jelly, lychee jelly, mango bits and fruits.

No matter what you order, everything comes with the Tastea Smile Guarantee: “At Tastea, we feel that our greatest accomplishment is your smile. If for any reason you are not smiling with your drink, we’ll simply replace it or refund your money. It’s that simple.” In my many visits, I’ve never considered returning any drink.