Kam Hing Jujube Tea: Kam Hing is a cash-only shop on Baxter in Chinatown that is known mostly for their $1 sponge cakes that come in a variety of flavors. To accompany my sponge cake (review forthcoming), I purchased an iced jujube tea, made to order with chopped up dried jujube dates on the bottom (a popular Chinese snack). The drink instantly brought me back to Taiwan, where I spent some summers in my childhood – the beverage tasted like sweetened honey water, and the beverage softened & hydrated the diced j... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Kopitiam Lychee Bandung: Kopitiam is everything I want in a restaurant – it's unfussy, always introduces me to new flavors, is dependably delicious, and a great value. And I love their drinks, which are always served in pouches. Their current seasonal drink consists of lychee and rose syrup, with a generous helping of whole pieces of lychee fruit. I'd normally find it a little too sweet, but with the extremely hot weather in NYC, it was the perfect thirst quencher. Its floral notes are present but not overly dom... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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Beneficial Brewing Company Jamaican Ginger Hibiscus Kombucha: Great purity of flavors – ginger and hibiscus are refreshingly balanced. Slightly tart with a nice amount of spice that doesn't overwhelming. From Seattle-based brewing company and purchased at stocked at Chicken Supply in Phinney Ridge. 4.0/5.0
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Tea King Iron Buddha Milk Tea with Boba: Another solid boba tea shop in Seattle is Tea King, which has both quality fresh brewed teas and a wide range of fruit teas made with fruit syrup made in-house. Their Iron Buddha Milk Tea is an oolong tea, which had a lovely roasted flavor. (Oolong is my go-to option when I'm looking for something a little more nuanced than black tea but don't want the floral notes of jasmine tea). 25% sweetness was perfect for my sugar tolerance, and the boba was excellent too. 4.0/5.0
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Young Tea Rose Green Milk Tea with Boba: Young Tea is a local Seattle tea chain that started off in the International District and now has a location in Wallingford. They brew a wide variety of loose leaf tea, catering to customers that want multiple options for their oolong (e.g., red, rock, golden lily, or high mt.). I really enjoyed their purple rose green milk tea, which had an ideal combination of punchy herbal green tea flavor with an aftertaste of floral rose (not quite as pronounced as the purple-pink mixture might sugges... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Happy Lemon Ube Green Tea Smoothie with Rock Salt Crema: Ube, green tea, and salted cream seemed like an unlikely combination, but one that I felt of all chains, Happy Lemon could probably pull off. This smoothie tastes much more of ube than green tea, and with its vivid Grimace purple color, it would be hard to know that it contained any matcha at all. The ube slush was rich and very filling, with a fairly mild flavor that's still immediately identifiable as ube. This was probably the best use of the rock salt crema I've had, which I've been s... (read more) 3.5/5.0
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