Yifang Matcha Brown Sugar Bubble Tea: I was delighted to come across the Taiwanese bubble tea shop Yifang in Shin Okubo, the Koreatown of Shinuku in Tokyo. I wish I were able to read the menu of fruit tea options, but I had to go by the pictures and decided to try their matcha latte with brown sugar, a drink that has a fixed amount of sugar (unlike some other menu items, where you can adjust how sweet you'd like it to be). I did find the drink to be sweet for my taste, but the combination of bitter matcha with sweet brown suga... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended drinks tokyo taiwanese boba bubbletea yifang matcha brown sugar bubble tea 4.0
酷覓星 Bubble Milk Tea Cake: While I purchased this product in Tokyo, these bubble tea cakes are from the original land of bubble tea: Taiwan. The snack, which cost a little over $5, comes in nice packaging, containing a slide-out tray that's a nice display if you're entertaining or sharing with friends. The cakes are individually wrapped and are disappointingly small, no bigger than 2" in their longest dimension. They are most definitely smaller than most pineapple cakes, which are the most similar type of snack i... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended seijoishi bubbletea bubble milk tea cake 3.5 taiwanese
Wanpo Tea Shop Oolong milk tea with boba: I've had bubble tea in Japan at a handful of shops, and most have been very disappointing, with watered-down powdered tea and overly soft boba. When I saw that there was a Taiwanese chain of bubble tea shops near Ueno station whose wall is lined with loose-leaf tea canisters, I thought they might be different. Luckily, my suspicions were confirmed, and I was actually able to communicate with the shop in Mandarin, a big win for me as I normally feel pretty useless with the little Japanese I... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended bubbletea japan wanpoteashop oolong milk tea boba 4.0
Lipton Tea Ice Bubble Tea Ice Bars: I like seeing how American brands reinvent themselves abroad, offering products especially for foreign markets. I see Lipton tea bottled beverages sometimes in vending machines, for example, where as in the US, I only ever associate the brand with tea bags. Their black milk tea ice cream bars are miniature, about 2/3 the size of American fruit bars, and at 45 calories each, I don't feel bad having them. They have a familiar black milk tea flavor with boba pieces throughout that are actual... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended japanese lipton tea ice bubble bars 3.5
UHA Tea Gummies: An impulse buy at 7-11, these are miniature gummy candies about half the size of a typical gumdrop. There are four different flavors: brown sugar, milk tea, mango tea, and orange tea. They seen extra chewy and dense. My favorites is the milk tea and mango, though they all have a definitively artificial candy flavor. I'm not sure it works collectively since milk tea is pretty different and someway clashing in flavor with free teas. 3.0/5.0
japanese candy 711 uha tea gummies 3.0
Bao Tea House Jasmine peach milk tea: Bao Tea House is a small shop in the West Village close to the West 4th subway stop, and it's my favorite place in the city for tea. Their jasmine peach milk tea was very well balanced, with a fragrant, creamy, floral, and fruity flavor (a combination I imagine most places would not get right). The drink came with brown sugar aloe cubes, with a slightly chewy texture that still has a bit of bite. Though it's an entirely different type of dish, the closest analogy I can make in terms of textu... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended drinks nyc milktea jasmine baoteahouse peach milk tea 4.0