The storefront at 439 Waverley Street used to be a Gong Cha. The next sign on that door belongs to Bonbon Matcha. It's a matcha dessert shop that debuted in Cupertino in June and chose downtown Palo Alto for its second location. A boba counter turning into a matcha counter is one small lease, and it shows where downtown tea has been heading.
Two blocks of University Avenue and a few side streets now hold two different kinds of tea shop. One is the Japanese-style matcha cafe, where the tea comes with real food: cheese tarts, gelato, sandos, chirashi. The other is the Chinese tea chain, and those chains have been gathering on the 300 block of University. Both groups have a new arrival on the way, and each newcomer joins a different side.
The matcha side keeps putting more on the plate
Maruwu Seicha started this side. It soft-opened at 250 University Ave., Unit 101, on Oct. 20, 2024, so it turned two this month. Palo Alto Online described it as a Kyoto-rooted cafe known for matcha and hojicha drinks, cheese tarts, soft serve and gelato, including a gelato made with ceremonial-grade matcha. Since then the brand has opened in Campbell, and it plans a Castro Street location in downtown Mountain View for June 2027. The University Avenue shop is where it started on the Peninsula.
Rikyu, at 121 Lytton Ave., brings more food to the counter. Palo Alto Online reported in February that the concept comes from Daiji Uehara, who founded Daiji Yacht Club and is chef-owner of the Los Altos omakase restaurant Hiroshi. Hiroshi's executive chef, Masakazu Nonomura, also leads Rikyu's kitchen. The menu pairs matcha drinks, hojicha and espresso with made-to-order Japanese sandos and chirashi bowls. The drinks use Japanese matcha and housemade fruit sauces, with no boba or artificial syrups. When an omakase kitchen runs your matcha bar, lunch is part of the plan.
Bonbon Matcha brings the dessert case to this group. Creator Emily Niu's menu includes strawberry, mango and yuzu matcha lattes, plus lattes topped with sea salt cheese foam, banana cream or strawberry cloud. The desserts include matcha cake layered with matcha cream, matcha crepe roll cake, matcha tiramisu and several kinds of Basque cheesecake. The Almanac's fall cafe roundup set its Palo Alto opening for early to mid-October, and the same piece named Maruwu Seicha and Rikyu as matcha cafes that had recently opened downtown.
Put the three together and you get a matcha group that sells meals and desserts as much as drinks. Maruwu has the gelato and tarts, Rikyu has sandos and rice bowls, and Bonbon will add cake.
University's 300 block is becoming a tea-chain row
The other group sits a little farther down University Avenue, and it comes from a different direction.
Molly Tea is open at 318 University Ave., as the Downtown Palo Alto Restaurants Rants + Raves page noted in February 2026. Next door at 328 University, Auntea Jenny is preparing its Peninsula debut. It's a Shanghai-based tea brand with more than 10,000 stores worldwide. Palo Alto Online's February report on the chain listed fruit teas and milk teas as its specialty. The Almanac roundup named specific drinks:
- Classic Mango Grapefruit Sago: a mango smoothie with red grapefruit pulp, coconut milk, crystal pearls and sago
- Jasmine Green Fresh Milk Tea: jasmine green tea with milk
- Green Grape Jasmine Milk Tea: muscat grape juice, milk and jasmine tea
These drinks are built around fruit, milk and texture, which puts them far from a ceremonial-grade matcha gelato. The same roundup placed Auntea Jenny's arrival inside a wider wave. Chinese tea brands including Mixue, HeyTea, Charlie's Tea and Molly Tea are expanding along the Peninsula, and Auntea Jenny also plans a second shop in the former Hereetea space at 253 S. B St. in downtown San Mateo.
So downtown Palo Alto is getting two chains from the same wave side by side, at 318 and 328 University. On a single block, this is the kind of tea shop that's multiplying fastest.
Tong Sui, at 540 Bryant St., sits close to this group and in its own lane. Debby Wang started the brand in Sunnyvale in 2019. It's known for jiggly coconut pudding loaded with fresh fruit, plus fruit smoothies and tea drinks. Top sellers include Mango Mochi Coconut Pudding, Mango Sticky Rice Coconut Pudding and Coco Mango, which is mango puree with whole milk, green tea and crystal boba. The brand has seven locations and wants to reach 12 within a year.
The two sides also keep different hours
The split shows up in when the shops are open, not just in what they pour.
Rikyu runs like a daytime cafe. Its online ordering page lists Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. That's a shift from the February plan, which called for daily hours of 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. The early breakfast window gave way to a later lunch window, which suits a kitchen serving chirashi and sandos.
Tong Sui's store locator lists the Bryant Street shop as open until 8:45 p.m. Coconut pudding after dinner works in a way that a Rikyu sando can't, because Rikyu has closed by 4.
In practice, a matcha visit fits into the morning or early afternoon, and the tea-chain and pudding side stretches into the evening. That shapes the order you walk them in.
An afternoon loop, by address
If you're doing both sides in one outing, this order starts with the shops that close earliest:
- Rikyu, 121 Lytton Ave. Go first and make it lunch: a sando or chirashi bowl with a matcha or hojicha drink, before the 4 p.m. weekday close.
- Maruwu Seicha, 250 University Ave., Unit 101. Head back to University for dessert: a cheese tart, or gelato made with ceremonial-grade matcha.
- Bonbon Matcha, 439 Waverley St. Once the doors open, this is the stop for a slice of matcha crepe cake or Basque cheesecake to take home.
- Molly Tea, 318 University Ave. Switch to the tea-chain side.
- Auntea Jenny, 328 University Ave. Next door to Molly Tea once it opens, so you can compare the two chains in a single stop.
- Tong Sui, 540 Bryant St. End on coconut pudding, with the most room on the clock.
Where the two new doors stand
For anyone reading this at the end of October, here's where each arrival stands.
Bonbon Matcha was slated for early to mid-October at 439 Waverley, after an East Bay Times report in August had pointed to late September or early October. Check the shop's Instagram, @bonbon_matcha, for an opening day before you walk over.
Auntea Jenny was first expected this summer, and later in late September. The chain's own store locator still lists the Palo Alto location as Coming Soon. Its Instagram, @aunteajennyusa, is the place to watch for the first pour at 328 University.
Once both open, downtown will have three matcha cafes built around food on Lytton, University and Waverley, and two Chinese tea chains next to each other on University's 300 block, with Tong Sui's pudding counter on Bryant open the latest.
At The O'Lanre Collective, we pay attention to the blocks you already walk: which storefronts change hands, what moves in, and how that shifts a neighborhood's daily routine. When you want a local read on what's changing near your own address, we're glad to talk it through. Start Your Legacy Journey.
