Cha House Oolong milk tea with boba: This charming Taiwanese cafe on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, NC has a variety of snacks but specializes in bubble tea, with a mix of classic milk teas and fruit teas. I purchased their oolong milk tea at 0% sweetness since the boba are already steeped in brown sugar. The boba had a pretty good texture, though it was a tad soft for my taste. The oolong tea had a refreshing herbal flavor yet was also creamy and rich from the frothed milk. Overall, a solid and very traditional milk tea. 3.5/5.0
recommended bubbletea chahouse oolong milk tea boba 3.5 chapelhill
Happy Lemon Taro with fresh milk drink with boba: A tri-layer drink with boba at its base, a milk slush at the top, and bits of taro root sandwiched in between. Purchased at 0% sweetness, the boba, which had a honey coating, was sweet enough to keep the drink balanced. The taro root pieces had a good amount of bite and starchiness to give the drink extra substance. And the slushie was both creamy and rich. If you’re a fan of taro, you’ll like this drink! 3.5/5.0
recommended berkeley drinks bubble happylemon taro milk slushie boba 3.5
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
Bubble Tea Sharetime Matcha milk tea with boba: This compact bubble tea shop on Shattuck in Berkeley, CA is best suited for ordering bubble tea to-go. Its proximity to my apartment, as well as its consistently good quality boba and drinks, have made it my go-to bubble tea cafe, particularly when it comes to milk tea (for fruit teas, Asha still wins). As far as Berkeley goes, the milk teas at Sharetime are better than UCha, Purple Kow, and Sweetheart Cafe, mostly because they aren't too sweet and taste more like tea than milk. On my last... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended bubbletea berkeley bubbleteasharetime matcha milk tea boba 3.5
Noosa Peach whole milk yogurt: Rounding out this week of Noosa reviews is their peach flavored yogurt. Peach is such a standard yogurt flavor that it verges on mundane, but a good one, even if it doesn’t surprise you, can be satisfying, as this Noosa flavor is. The sweetness of the fruit compote is slightly tempered by the richness of the yogurt. Overall, a solid take that’s a welcome option when you want to eat something familiar. 3.5/5.0
recommended noosa peach whole milk yogurt 3.5
Sweet Belly Desserts Rosie Milk Tea Soft Serve: Sweet Belly Desserts is a small shop around the corner from the 19th Street Oakland BART station. They have a rotating menu of seasonal soft serve flavors as well as mini donuts with housemade glazes and dips. I ordered just the softserve, without any toppings, which cost a little more than $5. This particular flavor is an excellent tribute to floral milk teas, capturing the herbal yet creamy essence of black milk tea along with an aromatic rose flavor. And it wasn't too sweet! Textuall... (read more) 4.0/5.0
oakland softserve icecream sweetbellydesserts rosie milk tea soft serve 4.0 recommended