Paws Tea

In Fountain Valley, just one plaza at the intersection of Brookhurst and Edinger has 19 different eating and drinking establishments to choose from, including four (soon to be five) Kei Concepts restaurants and three different tea/coffee-focused cafes. Soft opened in late October 2024, Paws Tea is the newest of the drink shops, a tiny space filled almost entirely with its prep kitchen and a generally unmanned ordering counter. With or without assistance from a printed menu, you place your order on a touchscreen, then receive your drinks five or so minutes later from a person. There’s no place to sit while waiting or drinking; this is really just a takeout-focused place to get tea, including choices originating in China, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Although the logo has a cute dog, there’s not much else to the paw/pet theme than that branding. The menu is divided up into familiar sections – fresh tea, fruit tea, milk tea, cheese foam teas, smoothies, and three coffee drinks – with relatively few surprises. A few unique items include Japanese brown rice, smoke b’lao, and metal buddha oolong milk teas, as well as fruit yogurt smoothies. Several of the milk teas, including those just flagged, are also sold in bottles.