If you live or work in northwest Fresno and love tea or coffee, you’ll be excited to know there’s a fantastic new tea shop in the former Lime & Basil/TeaZona location at the Pavilion West shopping center on Bullard and West. While many loyal customers were sad to see TeaZona go, it’s nice to have a new option in the same spot offering a wide variety of coffee and tea choices for all palates.
The new shop, Okome (which means rice in Japanese), will soon offer both bakery items and sushi boxes! I had planned to wait to write about Okome until the sushi boxes officially launched, but I’ve seen so much buzz online — people calling it the “best matcha ever” and “the best tea place in Fresno” — that it felt like a disservice not to share the news of this great new spot sooner rather than later.
The combination tea house and sushi restaurant currently has two entrances, and when you enter through the tea shop side, you’ll find an ordering kiosk where you can customize your drink (adjusting sweetness, ice levels, milk options, etc.) and pay, or you can order with assistance at the counter. When my friends and I visited, we used the kiosk but were offered help by a friendly team member. Ordering was easy, and within just a few minutes, beautifully crafted drinks, meticulously made one by one, were presented to us, and they really wowed.
My friends and I have different tastes and drink preferences, so I feel like we were a great test group for Okome’s menu. I chose the Crème Brûlée Coffee, a house-made iced coffee sweetened with dark brown sugar and topped with a homemade egg custard that was torched to create the perfect brûlée. They weren’t kidding when they named it as there was a generous portion of dessert-quality crème brûlée floating atop a delicious, well-balanced, brown sugar-forward coffee.
One of my friends, a big matcha fan, ordered the Strawberry Matcha, made with fresh strawberry purée and organic ceremonial grade matcha. As soon as she saw the vibrant color of the matcha, she said, “This is going to be good” — and she was right. She loved it. Our other friend was in the mood for something light and caffeine-free, so she chose the Hibiscus Berry Fruit Tea and thoroughly enjoyed her drink as well.
The owners of Okome have created a lovely, inviting space inside, and I’m really looking forward to returning once the food service begins and staying a while. It’s spacious and welcoming, an ideal spot to relax without worrying about finding a seat. I’ll revisit this story once the sushi service launches, but in the meantime, I highly recommend stopping in for an amazing coffee or tea, custom-made just the way you like it and beautifully presented.
Okome is open daily from 11 AM to 9 PM, except Tuesdays when they’re closed. Follow them on Instagram for menu updates and announcements!
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