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
Cha House Oolong milk tea with boba: This charming Taiwanese cafe on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, NC has a variety of snacks but specializes in bubble tea, with a mix of classic milk teas and fruit teas. I purchased their oolong milk tea at 0% sweetness since the boba are already steeped in brown sugar. The boba had a pretty good texture, though it was a tad soft for my taste. The oolong tea had a refreshing herbal flavor yet was also creamy and rich from the frothed milk. Overall, a solid and very traditional milk tea. 3.5/5.0
recommended bubbletea chahouse oolong milk tea boba 3.5 chapelhill
Bubble Tea Sharetime Matcha milk tea with boba: This compact bubble tea shop on Shattuck in Berkeley, CA is best suited for ordering bubble tea to-go. Its proximity to my apartment, as well as its consistently good quality boba and drinks, have made it my go-to bubble tea cafe, particularly when it comes to milk tea (for fruit teas, Asha still wins). As far as Berkeley goes, the milk teas at Sharetime are better than UCha, Purple Kow, and Sweetheart Cafe, mostly because they aren't too sweet and taste more like tea than milk. On my last... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended bubbletea berkeley bubbleteasharetime matcha milk tea boba 3.5
Sweet Belly Desserts Rosie Milk Tea Soft Serve: Sweet Belly Desserts is a small shop around the corner from the 19th Street Oakland BART station. They have a rotating menu of seasonal soft serve flavors as well as mini donuts with housemade glazes and dips. I ordered just the softserve, without any toppings, which cost a little more than $5. This particular flavor is an excellent tribute to floral milk teas, capturing the herbal yet creamy essence of black milk tea along with an aromatic rose flavor. And it wasn't too sweet! Textuall... (read more) 4.0/5.0
oakland softserve icecream sweetbellydesserts rosie milk tea soft serve 4.0 recommended
U-Cha Bomber Man milk tea with boba: After having a surprisingly good ginger milk tea last time I visited U-Cha in Berkeley, I decided to try one of their signature drinks, the Bomber Man milk tea. Unfortunately, the drink has nothing to do with our favorite Hudson Soft video game hero. Instead, the drink is essentially milk without tea. But even at 25% sweetness, the drink was overwhelmingly sweet as the honey boba has a caramel-like gooey outer layer. I wouldn't be surprised if even at 0% sugar, the drink would still be t... (read more) 2.0/5.0
avoid drinks milktea bubbletea ucha bomber man milk tea boba 2.0
iTea Matcha milk tea with boba and red bean: This matcha drink from iTea in SF contains red bean and boba as default toppings. While the matcha milk tea was decent, the red bean was heavily sweetened so that this 30% sweetness beverage tasted more like a normal 100% sweetened drink. Texturally, the red bean also seemed canned as it was slightly too soft. As a result, I’d recommend getting the drink but skipping the red bean topping. 2.5/5.0
drinks sf milktea itea matcha milk tea boba red bean 2.5 bubbletea