Presotea

Presotea is one of many Taiwanese boba tea chains with multiple Orange County locations – around five as of mid-2025, down at least a couple due to fairly rapid openings and closures in Garden Grove years earlier. Typically found in food courts, food halls, or strip plazas, Presotea shops are leanly staffed in order to keep prices down: large cups with 10 different types of iced tea are roughly $5 each, with either fruit syrup or milk teas going for around $6, and blended drinks $7. While some drinks include a topping, additional choices are around $1 each, including multiple flavors of jelly, boba, and popping boba, as well as toppings such as creme brulee and four foams – cheese, taro, tiramisu, or matcha.

We’ve visited three Presotea locations over the years – an Anaheim location at the Center Street Promenade near House of Chimney Cakes and Okayama Kobo, an Irvine space at Trade Food Hall, and a Westminster cafe beneath Seafood Cove 2 – but always found the drinks to be competent rather than memorable. On two visits to the Irvine location, a tablet rather than a human was taking all orders, and one person making drinks would emerge from the kitchen just long enough to call out names. We found out later that this location had recently been cited by the health department for an infestation, and though the issues were remedied, the overall feeling the unattended counter gave off was “modestly operational.”