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
drinks boba bubbletea pearls oolong milktea asian berkeley purplekow roasted milk tea 3.0
Purple Kow Roasted oolong tea with boba: A so-so cup of bubble tea at this downtown Berkeley location of Purple Kow. Too milky to have much herbal flavor; the boba is slightly chewier than average. Generous cup given the price. 3.0/5.0
drinks boba bubbletea berkeley purplekow roasted oolong tea 3.0
Volcano Tea House White peach oolong tea with boba: At 25% sweetness, this herbal oolong tea had a light and refreshing white peach flavor, though it did taste syrup-y. The boba was quite good-neither overly chewy or soft and just a tad sweet. Good enough that I would consider revisiting this Sawtelle-based bubble tea shop in the future. 3.0/5.0
recommended drinks bubbletea volcanoteahouse white peach oolong tea boba 3.0
Kuang Chuan Oolong Tea: I spent some time this summer looking for the best asian grocery store to buy bottled tea in Chinatown and ended up wandering into a handful of different small shops. To be honest, I don’t recall exactly which one this drink was from, but this bottle of oolong tea was decent - slightly roasted flavor, unsweetened, and thirst quenching. It wasn’t good enough for me to seek out again, though. 3.0/5.0
drinks tea chinese kuangchuan oolong 3.0
Happy Lemon Light Oolong Tea with Salted Cheese: As a frequent patron of Happy Lemon, I've always been curious about their salted cheese drinks (who wouldn't be), but I've been too afraid to try them. On my last trip, though, I decided to give in and ordered the most neutral flavor, a light oolong tea. I expected the cheese to come in solid form as a topping for the drink, but it was actually more like a thick milk that could be stirred to flavor the entire drink. The salted cheese had a slightly savory aftertaste but wasn't highly seas... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks happylemon light oolong tea salted cheese 2.5
iTea Roasted Oolong Milk Tea with Boba: While I previously have had very good experiences at iTea in San Francisco, I've found that the quality has seemed to decline over time. On my last trip, I ordered their Roasted Oolong Milk Tea with little sweetness and ice, yet the drink was still sweeter than I would expect and diluted tasting right from the start. The boba, too, was overly chewy without much character. I typically like to order new things every time I go, but if I find myself at iTea again, I will likely order one of m... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks boba milktea bubbletea itea roasted oolong milk tea 2.5