Yaya Tea Clean Clothes kiwi and mango fruit tea with boba: This Little Italy-based tea shop has mixed fruit tea flavors with bizarre names like “Blue Blood” and “My First Car.” I ordered one of the weirdest ones, a mango and kiwi fruit tea called “Clean Clothes.” Somehow the tea managed to be simultaneously super artificial tasting yet also incredibly diluted, with a sweet yet sour flavor that reminded me of those Chinese jello snacks and Jolly Rancher candies. The boba was similarly subpar - overly hard and lacking any taste. Definitely the worst... (read more) 1.0/5.0
avoid nyc drinks bubbletea yayatea clean clothes kiwi mango fruit tea boba 1.0
Matchabar Rose matcha milk tea: I really enjoyed a bottled Fuji ginger matcha drink from Matchabar a few months ago and decided to try a freshly-made beverage from their small to-go window in Soho. This rose matcha milk tea, while colorful, was actually quite bad - very sweet, and quickly diluted. Hardly any green tea flavor, and tasted like watery milk after only a few minutes. Definitely $5 wasted. 1.5/5.0
avoid drinks nyc matchabar rose matcha milk tea 1.5
Bao Tea House Rose milk tea: This is a perfectly balanced rose milk tea from Bao Tea House, a serene tea and bao shop on the west edge of Washington Square Park. Faintly sweet at 25% sweetness, the drink has a clean floral flavor without overpowering, and the frothed milk is delicately creamy. I’ve had a good number of rose teas over the course of Tasty Snacking, and this one is by far the best. 5.0/5.0
exceptional nyc milktea drinks baoteahouse rose milk tea 5.0
Hanco’s Black milk tea with boba: Went to 5 different supermarkets in Brooklyn to look for fish sauce and could only find Thai Kitchen brand. Stopped by Hanco’s, a Vietnamese sandwich shop a few blocks from where I live, to ask where to find. They told me there were no asian grocery stores in the area and I would probably need to go to Chinatown. The sandwiches at Hanco’s were pretty good, but this bubble tea was quite bad - very diluted and milky tasting, with overly chewy boba. Might need to go to Chinatown for that too. 2.0/5.0
drinks brooklyn hancos black milk tea boba 2.0 bubbletea
Tea Hut Jasmine milk tea with boba: It’s kind of outrageous how saturated quality bubble tea shops are in the Bay Area. We’ve all become accustomed with fine-tuning our drinks to our exact specifications - with numerous toppings, sugar levels, and even the amount of ice, down to a percent. With the range of available options, tea shops are resorting to other ways of distinguishing themselves beyond ingredients, turning to the beverage’s vehicle itself: the humble cup. Here at Tea Hut, a small bubble tea shop right next to b. P... (read more) 4.0/5.0
recommended sf drinks bubbletea boba milktea teahut jasmine milk tea 4.0
Bubble Tea Share Time Thai iced tea slushie: I went to the dentist yesterday and didn’t have any new cavities, which is quite a feat given the existence of this blog. Also, it’s getting hot in Berkeley. To celebrate, I got a Thai Iced Tea “slushie” with boba from Share Tea, a bubble tea shop on Shattuck in Berkeley a few blocks away from downtown. While I asked for it to be less sweet, I should have asked for it to have 0 added sweetness as it was still overly sugary. But the Thai iced tea flavor, though classic, was refreshing, and th... (read more) 3.0/5.0
berkeley bubbletea drinks sharetea thai iced tea slushie 3.0