Bubble Tea

Share Tea, Under-advertised bubble tea franchise in Vancouver

Aside from the things I have said about the bubble tea served in Share Tea, I quite enjoyed my stay here. I think that is the princess within me talking. The tea is actually not bad once you get past the sweetness. As long as I know the taste profile for Share Tea is over-sweetened, I can customize my drink according to my taste anyway. That is not a big deal. The $4.80 for a large cup of bubble tea is very affordable, considering other places are serving $7 per cup. I was also very happy that the credit card machine didn’t even have a tipping prompt. I would recommend Share Tea but perhaps ask for half sweet with extra ice.

OneZo Tapioca, The worst bubble tea franchise in Vancouver

If the saying of “There is a reason for everything” holds true, then the purpose for having OneZo Tapioca is probably to demonstrate the absolute rock-bottom quality of a bubble tea. The $6.20 cost for a cup of bubble tea is way too high when the customer is getting powdered milk tea. You can get a cup of bubble tea with fresh milk and specialty tea leaves from other locations. I would definitely not recommend OneZo Tapioca. You can come here to check out how bad a cup of bubble tea can be.

Weekend Tea, a bubble tea shop in Burnaby

Weekend Tea definitely used quality ingredients, but I think the cup is a little too small for the price they are charging. I have mixed feeling about this place and not sure if I should recommend it. Zang is a direct translation of “Dirty”. It is to resemble the beautiful exterior marbling of the brown sugar pearl milk in the clear cup. The cup size is comparable to Xing Fu Tang, both are quite small. This one at Weekend Tea cost $6.50, one size only. The milk came shaken. There’s no precipitation of brown sugar syrup at the bottom. I also couldn’t experience the warm and soft pearls. The drink doesn’t taste too sweet compared to many other brown sugar drink from other tea shop. The taste is a little boring at the beginning. Towards the end, the saltiness starts to shine through to give this drink a layered flavour. For some reason, the rim of my cup have some brown sugar syrup. Maybe this is what they meant by “Dirty”? My finger kept getting dirty from touching the rim. I had to go get napkin twice.

Myst Asian Fusion, Taiwanese Restaurant in Burnaby

MYST has a pretty high price point at $20 per person. Their food is quite authentic, and the speed of bringing the orders to the table is very fast. All the dishes I have ordered have a good portion. I would definitely recommend MYST if you have not tried it yet.

Chatime, The bubble tea franchise that started it all

Chatime’s drinks cost are considered average compared to most other bubble tea places. Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea costs $5.85 each. The Brown Sugar Pearls Fresh Milk cost $6.35. Most of the tea served here are pre-made and kept in different casks. They might not be the best bubble tea place, but the taste really entice my palate.

Hanlin Tea House, oldest bubble tea franchise

I like the decoration very much. It’s clean and looks like a bookstore. What a perfect place to take someone you admire. you might be perceived as clean and well-read. I don’t understand the $6.59 price tag. The drink is worth that price tag, but I would prefer a clean number like $6.50 or $6.75. I highly recommend Hanlin Tea House. The bubble tea tastes really good here, no wonder bubble tea become so popular around the world.

Chase Tea, John 4:14

On the outside of the original milk tea, I see a failed attempt to mimic the trendy brown sugar pearl milk tea. The exterior streaks are crude for marbling. The milk tea tastes quite watery. There is not much taste for either tea or milk. The pearls have acceptable chewiness. Some pearls are stuck together but separate with a light shake. I was disappointed that they used taro powder instead of the fresh stuff. In my defense, the taro milk tea’s location on the menu was a little misleading. It was below Earl Grey Milk Tea, and above Fresh Milk Tea. I didn’t think they would use “Earl Grey” powder or “Fresh” powder, so I assumed “Taro” is also not powder. To be honest, it’s probably my own fault for the assumption.

Bubble Waffle Cafe, Cantonese Food Stand

The first bubble waffle cafe I tried was the one in Landsdowne Mall. I considered it a high-school kids operated food station at the time. Their bubble waffle are too awful to call themselves the “Bubble Waffle Cafe”. Obviously, their business model took off with all the people whose only consideration for food is the price. Bubble Waffle Cafe can now be found in most malls in the lower mainland. Bubble Waffle Cafe calls themselves “Hong Kong and Taiwanese Cuisine”. I can tell you right now that Bubble Waffle Cafe may give their food Taiwanese names, but their food are not Taiwanese cuisine. Their food has lots of carbs. It is similar to Cantonese Style Cafe food, so I guess it is Hong Kong Cuisine.

%d bloggers like this: