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
recommended drinks nyc malaysian kopitiam lychee bandung 3.5
Hanco's Honey Green Tea with Lychee Jelly: I'm not homesick per se, but I do find myself frequently sad about the lack of good bubble tea options in NYC. I think I had 5 different bubble tea stamp cards in the bay area, and I only have one for NYC, at a bubble tea shop that closes at 8pm during the week (Mr. Wish). Given that most of my bubble tea purchases in Berkeley or SF were late night impulses, I don't get to drink much of it here. Hanco's, a Vietnamese sandwich shop close to me, has pretty bad boba from my previous experie... (read more) 3.0/5.0
drinks brooklyn hancos honey green tea lychee jelly 3.0
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
Cones Lychee and ginger sorbet: Cones in the West Village never disappoints with its superbly fresh sorbets. I realize in the handful of times I’ve been to this independent ice cream shop, I’ve never had any of their actual ice cream because I’m always lured by their excellent sorbets. This time it was their lychee and ginger sorbets, which were both very sharp and clean tasting. The ginger had a great level of spice, which paired well with the tropical lychee scoop. Smooth and consistent texture as well. 4.0/5.0
nyc dessert cones lychee ginger sorbet 4.0 recommended
Boba Guys Lychee Green Milk Tes with aloe: I wanted to order one of the seasonal fruit drinks from Boba Guys at Canal St Market, but they aren’t able to adjust the sweetness level on their all-fruit drinks. Instead, I purchased their lychee green tea with aloe. Even at 25% sweetness, I found the tea a tad too sweet for my taste, but the sugar may have come from the aloe, which nonetheless had a satisfyingly firm bite. The milk tea otherwise had a creamy and clean flavor. Sometimes fruit teas don’t mix so well with milk, but lychee an... (read more) 3.5/5.0
drinks milktea nyc bobaguys lychee green milk tes aloe 3.5
Purple Kow Lychee slushie: I usually opt for milk tea or fruit teas when I go to bubble tea shops, but this time I went for the lychee slush at Purple Kow, a Bay-Area-based chain. Their drinks are served in a single-size short, fat bucket with substantially more than your typical cup. Their generosity was unfortunate in this case because even at 25% sugar, the drink was far too sweet, reminding me of the lychee mini jello cups you get at asian grocery stores. If you don’t like sweet, artificial flavors, don’t order th... (read more) 2.0/5.0
drinks berkeley purplekow lychee slushie 2.0