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
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
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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
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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
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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
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