Califa Farms Unsweetened almond milk: This unsweetened almond milk from Califa Farms is better than most I’ve had because of its concentrated nutty flavor. The consistency is a bit thin but not surprisingly so for a non-dairy milk. Separately, I also tried the original (sweetened) flavor, which was overly sweet, so if you prefer lighter drinks like me, definitely go for the unsweetened. I used this almond milk to make chia seed puddings but also to drink on its own. 3.5/5.0
recommended drinks califafarms unsweetened almond milk 3.5 berkeleybowl
Pressed Juicery Apple lemon ginger cayenne pressed juice: Up to this time in my life, I have completely avoided the pressed juice craze, opting for fruit in the flesh. In fact, more generally, I haven’t bought a carton of juice from the grocery store in years. This particular bottle from Pressed Juicery was a freebie, given to patrons of the Nordstrom pop up on Melrose in LA. I was surprised by its potency, with an impressively spicy ginger and cayenne kick that will almost certainly catch most off-guard. The apple and lemon flavor was also clean t... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended drinks fruit spicy pressedjuicery apple lemon ginger cayenne pressed juice 3.5
La Croix Passionfruit seltzer: As someone who hates beer, I’m so glad that La Croix has enough social currency to pop up as a non-alcoholic beverage option at social events. I think at every get together I’ve gone to over the past few months, I’ve grabbed a can of La Croix in place of a can of soda. This passionfruit La Croix is one of the better ones, with a concentrated tropical fruit flavor that doesn’t leave a bitter or overly sweet aftertaste. And as always, the level of carbonation is good - not overly sharp and fiz... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended drinks lacroix passionfruit seltzer 3.5
Arctic Ocean Orange soda: Arctic Ocean is a Chinese orange soda that has a neon-yellow color similar to Lemon Gatorade. It’s slightly less sweet than Sunkist or Fanta but has a similar underlying citrus flavor, though milder. It tastes more like tangerine to me than your typical orange soda. As you may expect, its ingredients are just high fructose corn syrup, orange juice, sugar, and water. A decent level of carbonation, with smaller bubbles than Coke soft drinks. Overall, not anything particularly out of the ordinary. 3.0/5.0
drinks chinese citrus arcticocean orange soda 3.0
U-Cha Bomber Man milk tea with boba: After having a surprisingly good ginger milk tea last time I visited U-Cha in Berkeley, I decided to try one of their signature drinks, the Bomber Man milk tea. Unfortunately, the drink has nothing to do with our favorite Hudson Soft video game hero. Instead, the drink is essentially milk without tea. But even at 25% sweetness, the drink was overwhelmingly sweet as the honey boba has a caramel-like gooey outer layer. I wouldn't be surprised if even at 0% sugar, the drink would still be t... (read more) 2.0/5.0
avoid drinks milktea bubbletea ucha bomber man milk tea boba 2.0
iTea Matcha milk tea with boba and red bean: This matcha drink from iTea in SF contains red bean and boba as default toppings. While the matcha milk tea was decent, the red bean was heavily sweetened so that this 30% sweetness beverage tasted more like a normal 100% sweetened drink. Texturally, the red bean also seemed canned as it was slightly too soft. As a result, I’d recommend getting the drink but skipping the red bean topping. 2.5/5.0
drinks sf milktea itea matcha milk tea boba red bean 2.5 bubbletea