Summer Mint – 7 Leaves Cafe

Here’s a story (which I promise is relevant):

So my dad got an email about a week ago for a coupon with HNTea, and asked if we wanted HNTea this weekend, and I’m always down for boba so I said yes! (Spoilers, we didn’t get HNTea.) Turns out, the coupon code expired yesterday, but my dad said we could still go get HNTea, telling me he wants a drink from there. I go onto the online site, because HNTea only does online order right now, and start making an order. Then I point out that since the coupon expired, we didn’t really have a specific reason to get HNTea, but I would be willing to get a drink anyway (because I want to try their other flavors). Along the same reasoning, I also said that my mom thinks HNTea is ok, because I’m considerate, but my dad said he wanted a drink from there so continued making the order. Then he goes to tell me he doesn’t want a drink anymore when I ask him what he wants and said he’ll just buy it for the rest of us. So now what was the point of getting HNTea???

Now we couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a drink anymore, so my mom elected for 7 Leaves (her new favorite go-to?). Originally a milk tea sounded nice, but I wanted something light, so I opted for the Sunset Mint because it was a new choice. What makes this one different from the Sunset Passion is that this actually has green tea in it, along with some other stuff like mint and orange (description taken from the app and can see in the photo), whereas the Sunset Passion is just passion fruit juice. Something that strikes me is it’s not listed on the menu on the website, but the Irvine location has is, so my hypothesis is that it’s either a new-ish item or it’s a location exclusive. Whatever the truth is, it’s supposed to be a different drink.

The drink itself? Pretty good, but it tastes pretty similarly to the Sunset Passion. If I tasted them side to side that might be better, but basically it mostly tastes of passion fruit juice, with a hint of orange. I’m not sure if either the passion fruit was too strong, the tea was too weak, or I’m just an inexperienced tea noob, but I couldn’t taste the tea in the drink. Where did the 7 Leaves quality tea go? Is the passion fruit here too quality (that’s a joke…or is it)? I couldn’t taste too much mint except for when I sucked it up the straw (then it was very minty), so I’m not sure if that’s good or bad because mint can be a little overpowering. The boba today was also a little tough and had barely any taste. According to my dad, apparently there was a delay in getting the order because they were cooking the boba. Then it turned out…fine, almost disappointing for 7 Leaves. Oh well.

I’m all for large sizes and more drink, but sometimes I regret getting the 7 Leaves large because it’s so big. It’s definitely worth the price, but holding that cup can be a little daunting, ha! I wanted a light drink today because I figured we would eat dinner soon after, but I guess the large size counteracted the pre-thought. My bad. Good drink though!

Details: Summer Mint; Large size; No ice; Regular sweet; With honey boba; from 7 Leaves Cafe (Irvine)