Tisane TBar

Named after the tea-like infusion of herbs, spices, or plants into water – something that can be done with flowers, beans, fruits, and vegetables – Tisane TBar is a small boba tea chain with two locations in San Jose and one in Orange County, offering over 30 specialty tea and coffee drinks, plus one namesake tisane. Unusually, the drinks aren’t Tisane’s most distinctive feature: From morning until night, the Westminster location has the look and feel of a small EDM bar, blasting loud dance music with accompanying videos on two TVs, while people play Nintendo Switch games on a third. As it’s in a plaza only footsteps away from stores such as Goodwill, Albertsons, and Daiso, it’s perhaps not surprising that Tisane offers neither the alcohol nor the dancing found in actual clubs.

Tisane’s ordering experience is odd. While the tea and tisane drinks have individual names and tiny descriptions on TVs mounted above the bar, a smaller number of coffee drinks are briefly referenced on a K24 sign on the counter. Touchscreen ordering stations display all of the drink names (“GTA,” “Bae-Nana,” “Ark-Nado”), but force you to tap each drink to see their ingredients and customizations. Unless you arrive having already read through the menu, you’ll have to hunt through the descriptions to learn that the single available tisane is the Green Panda, made with mung bean and pandan, and try to order while music pulses through the air. Two “snack” items – beef jerky and spam musubi – are also listed on the touchscreens, but were sold out during our visit.