Coco is one of the oldest bubble tea franchises to entered the Vancouver market. They came to Vancouver around the same time as Chatime. The arrival of these two bubble tea franchise marked the new era of bubble tea cost standard for Vancouver. We visited Vancouver’s first Coco fresh tea and juice location on Kingsway.
Strength: Giving lots of toppings for drinks
Weakness: Pricy drinks for powder mixed drinks
Other Bubble Tea Franchises
- Share Tea (4.5 Stars)
- Gong Cha (2 Stars)
- Chatime (4.5 Stars)
- Yi Fang (4.5 Stars)
- Xing Fu Tang (4.5 Stars)
Unnoticeable storefront
Coco is located on Kingsway. If you are travelling towards East on 41st Avenue, their store awning is very noticeable. However, Coco’s logo cannot be seen anywhere when you are just walking on the street.
The interior looks trendy
Coco’s interior space is mainly white and wood. This somewhat correlates to their orange and white logo. The interior looks quite spacious but gets filled up quickly if there’s a lineup.
The staff area looks very busy
The other side of the counter looks very busy. There’s an internal kitchen to make toppings, and staff outside putting drinks together. Similar to Chatime, Coco also has the top 10 drinks shown on the display monitor.
Lots of customizations
Coco offers flexible customization like other bubble tea places. I am surprised to see their wide selection of toppings.
Logo and Slogan
I never understood Coco’s floating head logo. My guess is the cartoon face is supposed to attract young kids to come into their store.
Merchandise for sale
To my surprise, I found some retail items on the counter and hanging on the walls. I personally don’t like paying $10 for a shopping bag to advertise for Coco. They’re not big enough to become art yet. It’s very nice to see reusable stainless steel straws sold at a bubble tea shop. Since the metal would be dull, I think the straw is going to have a hard time penetrating the plastic film on the cup.
Large Three guys $6.40
The tree guys milk tea is filled with bubbles, grass jelly, and pudding. They have very good textures. The bubbles are chewy, grass jelly is soft and slippery, and the pudding is soft, but more firm than the grass jelly. I can feel a little powder in the pudding, but not as noticeable as many other bubble tea shops. My milk tea has good sweetness, but I think there is a little too much ice. I don’t particularly enjoy the amount of topping given to me. I know a lot of people would think they’ve got their money worth, but I am here for the drink, not the topping.
604 Food Critic Assessment
Most of the large tea in Coco is in the range of $5 to $6. My 3 guys cost $6.40 because of the toppings. Coco’s large size drink uses the long and narrow deceiving cup. It is because of this, I prefer Chatime over Coco. All prejudice aside, Coco’s drink has a good flavour. They are not aiming to be the top of the line bubble tea place, but they are the good enough tea shop when it’s convenient to you.
Menu
How to get in touch
- Phone: (604) 620-6255
- Address: 3275 Kingsway, Vancouver
- Hours: 11:30 am – 11:00 pm, Friday and Saturday 11:30 am – 12:00 am
