Tea Do black milk tea with boba: Decided to try this highly rated spot in Chinatown, but the milk tea was all wrong. It had a syrupy taste with very little herbal flavor, and the boba was some of the worst I've had. Far too soft. For a high calorie item, this drink fails on all fronts. 1.0/5.0
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Kung Fu Tea honey lemonade with boba: This "less sweet" drink (at 30% sweetness) was unbalanced, with an unpleasant amount of acidity that built up over time. The real crime was the boba, though, which was so soft it was almost like chewing gum. No bite whatsoever. Quality control is not good in Chinatown. 1.0/5.0
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Yaya Tea Clean Clothes kiwi and mango fruit tea with boba: This Little Italy-based tea shop has mixed fruit tea flavors with bizarre names like “Blue Blood” and “My First Car.” I ordered one of the weirdest ones, a mango and kiwi fruit tea called “Clean Clothes.” Somehow the tea managed to be simultaneously super artificial tasting yet also incredibly diluted, with a sweet yet sour flavor that reminded me of those Chinese jello snacks and Jolly Rancher candies. The boba was similarly subpar - overly hard and lacking any taste. Definitely the worst... (read more) 1.0/5.0
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Nohohon Iced Matcha: I was really excited to finally try this small matcha shop on St Marks, where matcha beverages are whisked by hand to order. To judge the quality of the matcha alone, I opted for the iced matcha instead of their lattes. While I enjoyed the experience of entering the small storefront through their traditional Japanese Noren curtain and watching my beverage made, with hot water poured into the whisked matcha with a wooden ladle, the positives end there. The matcha was bitter with no complex... (read more) 1.0/5.0
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Dydo Grandtime Vanilla Drink: I found this in a Dydo-branded vending machine at the Tameiko-Sanno Subway Station in Tokyo and decided to give it a try. I couldn't read the Japanese, but I guessed that it was flavored like vanilla ice cream from the graphic on the can. It has a milky, slightly-yellow semi-opaque color and tastes really strongly of Breyer's Vanilla Ice Cream, or something that I had growing up at kid's birthday parties. It was way too sweet and honestly pretty gross. I didn't want to finish the whole c... (read more) 1.0/5.0
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O'Food Seoul Sparkling Yuzu Prebiotic Drink: I'm pretty open minded when it comes to trying new snacks, but this prebiotic drink made from fermented radish is simply not good. Its unusual ingredients include radish water kimchi (pear, green onion, ginger, and garlic), and it contains just 1% juice and 25 calories. It tastes like drinking a watery salad dressing, and the fermented ingredients totally overpower any type of yuzu flavor. Definitely avoid. Purchased from Uwajimaya. 1.0/5.0
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