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Today, I paid a visit to a new, popular tea spot in the West Hollywood area, Alfred Tea Room. Managed by the same people who run Alfred’s Coffee, owners of the famous “But First, Coffee” slogan.

Alfred Tea Room is located on the corner Melrose Ave. and Alfred St. It’s virtually a little hole in the wall if not for the eye-catching pink exterior. Meter parking was fairly easy to find on an early Wednesday afternoon on the quiet street, but be careful, parking enforcement literally waits around waiting for someone to slip up and park in the resident parking permit areas. There is no lot so expect to park far and walk, and bring coins for the meter!

Upon walking up, you can already tell it’s a trendy spot to be reckoned with. Tween white girls taking brick wall pics with their trendy boba litter the outside (no offense to anyone… I literally do the same… #basic, anyone?). My brother and I were surprised to find that they even had security guards watching the front… like bruh… it’s boba…………..

Anyhow, you walk in and the interior is really not much. It’s a small room with a cashier station, a few chairs lined up against the wall, and the back area where they’re making drinks. I came for the milk tea boba’s so I didn’t see much in terms of other menu items but it can easily be found on google, if you’re interested! What would cost $3 for a QUALITY milk tea boba is $5 for a WATERED DOWN milk tea boba. I got a Matcha milk tea boba for $6.50 with whole milk and it still didn’t really taste like much.

I’m not going to say this is the new boba spot, because it’s obviously not, but it’s a trendy place that serves subpar boba. The milk teas themselves don’t really taste like anything and if you have a real hankering for boba, go to your local boba spot and get your money’s worth. If you’re doing it for the ‘gram, and don’t care much for quality, you should stop by. They’re relatively fast and no one really hangs around to chill, it’s more of a ‘get your drink and go’ kind of place.

There’s a small little alley outside of the shop next to a clothing store where a lot of people hang out and take pictures. It’s always taking outfit pics in front of strangers, but it’s more of a glance then no one cares anymore.

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All in all, it’s a place that’s all hype and in my opinion, isn’t worth the money… but then again, I’m a self-proclaimed boba queen and I know quality when I taste it… but if you’re in the area and wanna be aesthetic/trendy af, stop by!

Update: I bought a spinach and cheese croissant because I was dying of starvation and it was actually really good!