On University Avenue, the Tea Comes Long After the "Coming Soon" Sign

Molly Tea's sign at 318 University Ave. said "coming soon" for more than six months. When the Shenzhen-founded jasmine tea chain finally opened its fourth Bay Area shop on Nov. 21, 2025, its chief financial officer, Xin Wei, explained the wait to The Paly Voice. "Palo Alto has very strict rules," Wei said. "Applying for the permit takes a long time, way more than the other cities [we opened in], so that was the biggest challenge. We've been waiting for almost a year to open."

Almost a year later, that quote is the best guide to downtown Palo Alto's tea blocks. Within a few minutes' walk of Lytton Plaza, the street now has a Japanese matcha house, a Chinese jasmine tea chain, a matcha cafe from a Los Altos omakase team, and a Sunnyvale-born coconut pudding shop. Two more are on the way. Molly Tea picked University Avenue by counting foot traffic, and its neighbors keep landing on the same blocks. The shops with published targets have mostly opened, or are still opening, later than they first announced.

The shops chose the street by counting people

Wei described the site selection to The Paly Voice in plain terms:

"It's the downtown street. We check around and did surveys to see how many people are going to the stores, how many people are on the streets and that's how we decided [on this location]."

That logic explains the clustering. When Palo Alto Online reported in February 2026 that Auntea Jenny was coming to University Avenue, it called the chain "the latest of many tea-focused beverage shops to come to downtown Palo Alto." A September roundup in The Almanac listed Auntea Jenny, Mixue, HeyTea, Charlie's Tea and Molly Tea among the Chinese tea brands growing along the Peninsula. Once one chain's survey shows downtown has the foot traffic, the next chain's survey shows the same thing.

What's pouring right now

Here are the shops with a confirmed downtown address, listed roughly in the order they arrived. Hours are included where the shop publishes current ones.

1. Maruwu Seicha, 250 University Ave., Suite 101. This is the oldest of the group. It soft-opened Oct. 20, 2024, with matcha and hojicha drinks, matcha gelato and cheese tarts. Its location page lists 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Sunday through Wednesday and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, the latest hours on this list.
2. Molly Tea, 318 University Ave. The jasmine tea shop opened Nov. 21, 2025. Wei told The Paly Voice the menu changes with the seasons, following changes the company makes in China.
3. Rikyu, 121 Lytton Ave. A block off University, this Japanese cafe comes from the team behind Hiroshi, the Los Altos omakase restaurant. It had planned a mid-February 2026 soft opening. The menu runs to matcha drinks, hojicha, sandos, chirashi and sweets, so it works for lunch as well as a drink. Its site lists hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, making it the morning option on this list.
4. Tong Sui, 540 Bryant St. Tong Sui's store locator lists the Palo Alto shop at this address and takes online orders for it, but gives no regular hours, so check before you walk over. The brand started in Sunnyvale in 2019 and is known for coconut pudding topped with fresh fruit. Its top sellers include Mango Mochi Coconut Pudding and Mango Sticky Rice Coconut Pudding.

Taken together, the hours cover most of the day. Rikyu opens at 8 a.m. and closes in the late afternoon. Maruwu Seicha stays open until 10:30 p.m. or later every night.

The two that are still on the way

Here is each published forecast next to what happened.

Bonbon Matcha is taking over the former Gong Cha space at 439 Waverley. Founder Emily Niu opened the first Bonbon Matcha in Cupertino in June. In August, the East Bay Times reported a late September or early October target for Palo Alto. In September, The Almanac's roundup narrowed it to early to mid-October. Then a Palo Alto Online newsletter announced a soft opening for Oct. 20. No Palo Alto hours have been published yet. The 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. hours in the East Bay Times story are for the Cupertino shop. The menu leans toward dessert: strawberry, mango and yuzu matcha lattes, lattes topped with sea salt cheese foam or strawberry cloud, matcha crepe roll cake, matcha tiramisu and several kinds of Basque cheesecake.

Auntea Jenny is the clearest example of the delays. The Shanghai-based chain has more than 10,000 stores worldwide and picked 328 University Ave. for its first Bay Area shop. That puts it 10 street numbers from Molly Tea, near the Apple store. In February, Palo Alto Online reported a summer opening. By September the target was late September. A month after that, the Palo Alto listing on the brand's own website still says "Coming Soon." When it opens, the space will be small, with an orange banquette and two small tables. Palo Alto Online named the mango pomelo sago as its most popular drink and described a vegan "pearl boba" made with watercress instead of starch.

Neither chain has said publicly why its date moved. Molly Tea, on the same block as Auntea Jenny's space, put its own wait of almost a year down to the permit.

Why a matcha latte costs what it costs

The menu prices also have a backstory. In September 2025, The Almanac reported on new Peninsula cafes opening during a matcha shortage. It credited growing demand and matcha's reputation as a healthy drink. In the same story, a manager at a Santa Clara shop said suppliers had raised prices 50% to 60% over the previous year, citing tariffs and demand for premium ceremonial-grade matcha.

That squeeze helps explain why the newest menus lean on fruit and milk teas. Auntea Jenny's superfood drinks, such as the kale fiber boost tea and six-berry glow boost tea, were listed at $6.99 to $7.59 in February. Cherry Wu, marketing manager for Auntea Jenny North America, told Palo Alto Online the brand aims to "move beyond the 'sugar-heavy' stereotype of bubble tea." A shop built mostly on fruit, jasmine and milk depends less on one costly ingredient than a pure matcha bar does.

Lytton Plaza is the corner the tea blocks surround

These shops matter beyond a mid-afternoon drink because the city holds its downtown gatherings in the middle of them. Lytton Plaza, at University Avenue and Emerson Street, is a short walk from Maruwu Seicha at 250 University and Molly Tea at 318.

• Jack-O-Jaunt, Friday, Oct. 30, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The City of Palo Alto fills the plaza with a display of jack-o'-lanterns, and visitors vote on Scariest, Cutest and Most Creative. A $25 on-site carving session runs from 3 to 5 p.m. that afternoon. Staff supply the pumpkin and carving kit but do not teach. Pumpkins carved at the workshop go into the display and can be picked up from 8:30 to 8:45 p.m.
• Holiday Tree Lighting, Friday, Dec. 4, 5:30 to 7 p.m. The city's tree lighting returns to Lytton Plaza at 200 University Ave. Listed performers include School of Rock, the Boost Class Merry Holiday Dancers and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra.

Rikyu closes in the late afternoon, so for either evening event the open options nearby are Molly Tea and Maruwu Seicha. If Auntea Jenny has opened by Dec. 4, it will be right next to Molly Tea on the 300 block.

For the other side of town, our California Avenue guide covers that district's schedule for the rest of 2026. Openings there have been slipping as well. In January, Palo Alto Online reported a fall 2026 target for Arsicault, the San Francisco croissant bakery, at 388 Cambridge Ave. The September roundup moved that to the first quarter of 2027.

Some downtown storefronts sit behind paper for most of a year before they open. If you're curious about what a particular block of Palo Alto is turning into, Aaron Buntin follows these openings closely and is happy to share what he knows. Start Your South Bay Home Search whenever you're ready to plan around your own walk to University Avenue.