Basilur Tea & Coffee

While we were previously unfamiliar with the Basilur Tea brand, the Sri Lankan company specializes in selling premium teas, largely over the internet. Without realizing there was a larger company behind the beautifully decorated Buena Park tea and dessert shop Basilur Tea & Coffee at The Source, we visited two times: first just for drinks, and then for drinks, souffle pancakes, and an ube waffle.

Although we absolutely loved the dining room’s dangling globe lighting and library-like decor, the food and beverages were a seriously mixed bag. The ube waffle was great: unlike some renditions of this dish, the waffle had its own ube-coconutty flavor, with strong ube ice cream, strawberries, and syrup to complete the package. It also looked pretty fantastic for a waffle.

Unfortunately, both of the souffle pancakes – banana and matcha versions – were mediocre at best: not especially fluffy and light in flavor, though their caramel and banana toppings were totally fine. And though what originally drew us in were Basilur’s visually appealing iced drinks, which frequently used syrups and interesting colors to draw attention, we didn’t like the flavors or find anything else special about them.