OO Tea Jasmine milk tea with boba: OO Tea is a Taiwanese import of the brand “Wushiland.” As far as I know, there are only two locations in the US: one in a San Gabriel strip mall in LA and another in a Ranch 99 in San Diego. I went to the latter, which was an unassuming bubble tea stand without any seating; my order was taken in Mandarin, not English. Wushiland uses organic milk for their milk teas and it shows. I ordered their jasmine milk tea and found it to be the single best version of milk tea that I’ve ever had in the ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
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Out the Door Bubble tea: I rarely eat in the Ferry Building in SF, but on this rare occasion, I decided to try a bahn mi at Out The Door. I got a bubble tea to accompany my sandwich and am sad to report that it was terrible. The tea was super sweet, and the boba somehow managed to be both hard on the inside and mushy outside, a combination I didn’t know was possible. Worst of all, it was expensive because it’s the Ferry Building. The sandwich wasn’t too much better, by the way-they use normal French baguette instead... (read more) 1.5/5.0
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Pa Tea Jasmine Green Tea with Boba: I really liked the brown sugar oolong milk tea I had from Pa Tea a few weeks ago and decided to return to try a different beverage. Unfortunately, this jasmine green tea was just ordinary. The tea had an slight floral jasmine flavor, but it tasted predominantly of milk. The boba was also quite bad, with a texture that was too soft. Given this quality, I probably would not go back again, at least not unless I just happen to be near Union Square. 2.5/5.0
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PaTea Brown sugar oolong milk tea with boba: I really love living in NYC, but one thing that was missing for me was a mom-and-pop super-asian bubble tea shop, the kind that has an overwhelming number of flavors that isn’t a major chain like Gong Cha or Coco. Those types of shops are omnipresent in the Bay Area, but not so much here. However, that gap has now been filled by PaTea, a very small bubble tea shop a few blocks away from Union Square. There, they have the “chubby” bucket-sized bubble tea cups in a variety of milk and fruit te... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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Purple Kow Roasted Oolong milk tea with boba: Originally from San Francisco, Purple Kow is a bubble tea shop that also has a location in downtown Berkeley directly adjacent to Top Dog. It serves its drinks in distinctly short and stout containers that are more like buckets than cups. Many of their milk teas are made using organic milk products. I ordered my roasted oolong milk tea with soymilk and 20% sugar and ice. The drink was very mild, tasting mostly of faintly sweetened milk and less so of tea. Their boba are miniature compar... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Purple Kow Rosie Oolong Tea with Brown Sugar Jelly: Somehow, I kept finding myself at this bubble tea shop in Berkeley, likely because of its proximity to the downtown BART station. Purple Kow serves its bubble tea in "chubby" cups (essentially stout buckets) and uses organic milk products for its milk teas. I think they're a little too proud of this fact given that the last few milk teas I've had have been overwhelmingly milky to the point that you feel like you're having sweetened milk. Even with the "micro sugar option," it was too swee... (read more) 2.0/5.0
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