Tsaocaa Rose oolong tea with pear: Tsaocaa is a small trendy bubble tea shop a block away from the Chicago CTA subway stop it's large enough to seat groups of teenagers hanging out for hours. I ordered a cup of rose oolong tea with pear with a topping of honey aloe. Served in a sturdy cup, the tea had a slice of orange and lime and a scattering of goji berries floating on the surface alongside a pyramid-shaped tea bag. While the honey aloe was on the sweet side, the drink on the whole had a cleansing and refreshing herbal f... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended drinks chicago fruittea fruit tsaocaa rose oolong tea pear 3.5
Furano Melon caramel: These melon-flavored chewy candies are from Hokkaido, purchased by way of Jmart in Flushing. I love the packaging, which somehow managed to combine the rainbow lavender fields of Hokkaido with wine, a ball of yarn, and a stormcloud. Inside the box is individually wrapped Starburst-sized candies the pastel-orange color of cantaloupe. They have a concentrated melon flavor that I really enjoyed. I also like that the candy is not so sticky that it gets stuck in your teeth. Would purchase other f... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended melon fruit caramel candy sweets japanese hokkaido cantalouope furano 3.5
Mango Mango Mango Sampler: Purchased from the St. Mark's location of asian-dessert-chain Mango Mango, this platter contains a sampling of three different desserts. The first was starchy and slightly too firm glutinous rice balls paired with fresh mango fruit (the latter of which was ripe and sweet). The next was lychee jelly (very sweet and similar to the type you would expect to be at the bottom of a bubble tea) and a scoop of mango ice cream, which was a tad creamy and did not tasting distinctively of mango. The ... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended desserts nyc mochi icecream lychee jelly glutinous fruit asian mangomango mango sampler 3.5
Mr. Wish Mango passion fruit babo drink with aloe: I was sad when I learned that Mr Wish in Flushing had closed, but the franchise has quickly expanded to many other locations in the city, so it’s actually easier to find now. I purchased a mango and passionfruit babo drink with aloe from the Williamsburg location. Originally I thought babo was a typo, but it’s a name they’ve given to their carbonated, non-tea fruit drinks. They just use fresh fruit, so I didn’t adjust the sweetness level. The textures in this drink, from the fruit pulp to th... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended nyc drinks brooklyn Williamsburg mrwish mango passion fruit babo drink aloe 3.5
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
avoid nyc drinks bubbletea yayatea clean clothes kiwi mango fruit tea boba 1.0
Van Leeuwen Passion fruit ice cream: I ginormous scoop of ice cream so large that it took multiple tries to balance it on a cone. What struck me about this ice cream shop was the strong buttery smell upon entering. I personally prefer lighter, more subtle flavors and found the richness of the passion fruit ice cream to be somewhat overwhelming. Mixed in with the ice cream were oddly dry pieces of cake - what they had to do with passion fruit ice cream I’ll never know. Expensive at almost $6 a scoop. They also don’t mix two flav... (read more) 2.5/5.0
nyc icecream dessert vanleeuwen passion fruit ice cream 2.5