Happy Lemon

Bubble tea.  Definitely a huge trend, one I even succumbed to, about 10 years ago.  As I said in a post back then of Quickly:

I'm currently obsessed with taro bubble teas, in all variations.  It started a year or so ago with a simple taro milk tea with tapioca from Quickly, and then I upped the ante with a taro milk tea with taro pudding from Quickly, and then sorta forgot about taro teas, after a disappointing one from Out The Door.  But then I had the taro smoothie with tapioca from Miss Saigon, which was a creation entirely of its own, and delicious.  So I went back to standard taro bubble teas, trying a fairly mediocre one from Little Garden, and both hot and cold versions with assorted jellies from Chai Yo.  I crave them all the time now.

Back then, in 2014, taro milk tea/slush/smoothies were novel to me, and basically, I got them everywhere.  Then I stopped getting these kind of sugary dessert-drinks, except a few isolated times like Sharetea or Teaspoon, always because a friend wanted to go.  For some reason, likely because I just don't find the weather in San Francisco that bubble tea inspiring, I rarely get it these days ... in San Francisco (in Sydney, that's another story.  They have excellent bubble tea, and even more excellent yogurt drinks, there, zomg).

Anyway, San Francisco had a rare couple hot days (<3 September!) and, along with plenty of ice cream, I decided to seek out bubble tea drinks again.  My ventures lead me to Happy Lemon, an international chain based in Taiwan, with a few locations around in San Francisco.  I had their goodies a few years ago at a catered event, which I reviewed then, but this was my first time ordering items that I picked out.

Milk Tea

I started with the basics, milk tea.  Happy Lemon makes both green and black tea bases.

Milk Tea (w/ Boba). $6.

The most basic drink at Happy Lemon is their milk tea, made with black tea.  This was the default recipe full sweet, non-dairy creamer.  I'd normally go 50% sweet, or even less, but, I wanted to try their basic, signature drink.

It was pretty standard milk tea - decent tea flavor, creamy.  Sweeter than I'd like, but a nice change.  The boba were nicely chewy, and the quantity was good - sometimes I get sick of it after a while, but this was just right.  I saved a little, and the boba were not too gross after overnight.

Pretty good execution of a basic drink.  ***+.

Jasmine Milk Tea (w/ Boba). $6.

Next up, the same thing, just with jasmine green tea instead of black, slightly less caffeine.  Again default recipe, with boba.

It too was sweet and creamy, and the jasmine tea flavor was nice.  I didn't really notice much difference between the green and black tea to be honest, so again, good execution of a basic drink.  ***+.

Yakults

I'm going to admit it.  I've been to Tokyo several times, and I'm well aware of Yakult, but I've never had it.  Not on its own, and certainly not in a tea shop drink.  If you aren't familiar, Yakult is a Japanese sweetened probiotic milk, I think kinda like a thin yogurt?  Anyway, Happy Lemon has an entire line of Yakult based drinks.  I randomly tried one.

Grapefruit & Yakult. 0% Sweet, 0% Ice. $6.
Add Aloe ($0.75), Fresh Taro ($0.75), Salted Cheese ($1).

It was a strangely hot day in San Francisco, and I was craving something refreshing.  I also wasn't feeling great, and didn't want something very heavy.  So, very out of character, I opted for a drink that wasn't milk (or creamer) based.  Yup, I went for the Grapefruit & Yakult, one of the their best selling items.  I got it without ice so I could split it in half and save half for later, with 0% sweet as I wanted refreshing, not sweet, and I added in aloe so I'd have something to suck up, and taro ... because I couldn't resist (even though after I ordered I realized that it would likely be a strange combination).  And, um, of course I still wanted the salted cheese topping, although I asked for it on the side (again, so I could split it at home and add on as I pleased).

This drink was actually exactly what I was looking for.  It was very refreshing.  It wasn't very sweet, with a nice tartness from the grapefruit (and I suspect, the Yakult).  It had pieces of seemingly fresh grapefruit floating on top.  It certainly needed to be iced down, which I did with no problem.

As for my mix-ins, the aloe was a good pick, it felt healthier than standard jellies, and likely not as sweet either, and again, made it fairly refreshing.  I liked having something to suck up.  The fresh taro, yeah, that didn't really make sense here, it wasn't cubes, but rather, just mashed taro, which was hard to suck up, and not really a complimentary flavor.  Oops.  I mostly let it settle to the bottom and then scooped it out later.

The cheese foam was glorious.  I really do love that stuff.  Slightly savory, slightly sweet, oddly thick but in a way that works well when scooped on top of the drinks ... just, delicious.  I actually decided not to add it to my drink, but I think a lighter, refreshing drink like this, sipped through the cheese foam, would actually be fairly tasty.

Overall, I was quite glad to branch outside my norm, and this drink, besides the taro, was a complete success, and I'd consider it again if I was craving refreshing and healthy.  ***+.

Smoothies

Happy Lemon, like most shops of its kind, has a range of smoothies.  Several contain Yakult, and I almost ordered the Dragon Fruit Yakult Smoothie, but instead, my love of taro couldn't be bypassed.

Taro Milkshake. 25% Sweet. $7.25.
Add Boba. ($0.75).

For my smoothie, I opted for 25% sweet, still wanting some sweetness since I knew Happy Lemon uses real taro and not powder in the drinks, and I added boba, to have something to suck up.

The drink was ok.  It was decently blended, no ice chunks, but, the blended part, and the fresh taro mash, weren't really mixed together all that well, as you can see here.  It had tons, and I mean tons, of fresh mashed taro.  I liked the mashed taro, but, this was kinda more like a blended icee drink and taro mash, just, in a cup together, with some boba on the bottom.

My friend who was with me, looked at it confused, and said, "Wait, I thought taro was purple?"  I explained that it has a purple hue, but is really kinda brownish.  He was still confused, "But what about all the taro milk teas I get? Do they die those purple somehow?"  Alas, I had to burst his vision of taro, and let him know he was drinking powders all those times.  He tried this smoothie, and didn't like it at all.  He wanted sweet bright purple powder, not this.  So, beware, if you are in the powder camp, this drink will not please you.

The boba were fairly average, nice chew, some sweet syrup they were stored in.

Overall, this was a meh for me, but, I give them credit for so much taro. **.

Side: Fresh Taro. $0.75.

I also asked for extra fresh taro, on the side.  I did that thinking the drink might not have all that much taro and I might want to add more in, but, ha, yeah, that wasn't necessary, obviously.  I did like being able to taste the taro on its own.  It was, well, mashed taro, but I quite liked it.  Great smooth texture with some little bits, strong taro flavor, clearly, legit, fresh mashed taro.   I actually used it with dinner the next day, heating it up just like mashed potatoes, and kinda loved it.  ****.

Seasonal Drinks

Every season, Happy Lemon launches a handful of special drinks.  These range from special milk teas, like the "teddy bear" with puff cream and graham crackers (!), to refreshing fruit slushies or green teas, to berry milkshakes in the summer.

Ube Milk Tea w/ Taro Puff Cream & Taro Balls. $7.
0% Sweet, 0% Ice, Soy Milk (+$1).

When I saw the "D6" on the menu ("D" is the milk tea line), I knew I had to get it.  Um, it had two things I love, ube and taro, together, AND it had not just puff cream but *taro* puff cream, AND it had taro balls?  ZOMG, right?

I've wanted to try "puff cream" from a tea shop for years now, but I've never actually done it, and still had only a vague idea of what it would be.  I fully understand cheese foam (or any of its spin-offs), which are toppings on top.  I fully understand puddings that are mixed in like boba.  I think I kinda even understand brulee bits or brulee toppings.  But puff cream?  I still didn't quite get it, but I knew it would be integrated into the drink.  Happy Lemon has regular puff cream, but they also have a taro puff cream, presumably, taro flavored, which this used.

The puff cream, was, well, um, puffs of cream?  Lol.  No wonder I haven't ever really been able to find a good description of it before.  Its hard to describe!  Basically, big pockets (er, puffs) of, well, cream.  Not as light and airy as whipped cream, which would obviously just deflate amongst the weight of the rest of the drink.  But no where near a thick as a pudding.  So hard to describe.  But the puffs were very very rich, being full cream after all.  Fascinating.  And I think I liked them?  That said, I think I'd just go for cheese foam in the future.

The base of the drink was the ube milk tea, black tea based, and I asked for soy milk instead of the regular dairy.  I also did 0% sweet as is my standard.  The tea base was much like I remembered from before, good tea flavor, creamy.  I didn't taste soy in particular, but I'll trust that they used it.  I did hope to taste stronger soy, as I think soy and taro are a great combination.  I suspect the cream from the puff cream just drowned it out?  As for the ube ... um, I didn't taste it at all.  

And then there was the taro balls, fairly standard froyo shop/bubble tea shop likely mass produced taro balls, not freshly made.  Sorta like a slightly firmer mochi / less firm boba, in little balls, vaguely taro flavored.  The fresh taro from the other drinks had a far stronger taro taste.  These were nice to suck up though.

Overall, I'm not sure how I felt about this.  I didn't taste ube, nor the soy milk.  The taro elements weren't particularly compelling either, the puff cream didn't really seem to taste of taro, and the balls weren't fresh taro.  But I enjoyed trying crazy puff cream, and I do like their milk tea base.  I'll put this one solidly in the "sounds better than it tastes" and "I'm glad I tried that, but I won't get it again" camp.  ***.

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Teaspoon, SF

Teaspoon is a small chain of bubble tea shops, based in California.  The menu has all the classics, including some signature drinks like their version of the "taro lover" and a fairly stunning layered "Strawberry Matcha Royale".  They also have a slew of fairly unique drinks, like the "Mango on Fire" which has chamoy and taijin in it, and even a sangria inspired drink.  They also have a few "Snows", a newer addition to the lineup.

I visited the San Francisco location, with a friend, one sunny afternoon.

Taro Milk Tea & Snows!

Everything we ordered was high quality and pretty.

The shop was fairly busy, and the wait took longer than I'd expect.  Staff were friendly though, and I'll gladly return.

Setting

We visited the San Francisco location, one of 20 (!) stores in California.

Storefront.

Teaspoon is located on Polk Street, along a busy section of shops, right next to a poke place.  (Yup, all the trends, in one little block.  The poke place used to be a froyo shop, and this was a bakery with fancy cupcakes.  #soTrendy).

They have a single bench out front, and only a small number of tables inside.  I recommend getting your treat to go, and taking a walk.

Menu.

The menu is digital, with a fixed screen on the left with the options to create your own tea, and special snows. The one on the right cycled through different specialty drinks.

Since it was dynamic, it was a bit hard to follow, and I wished they had a print one to look through.  Am I old fashioned?

Toppings.

Toppings are listed on the menu board, but you can also peek at them at the counter, where each employee scoops them from.

Drinks & Desserts

Teaspoon offers two things: tea and snow.  They don't try to over-stretch with the likes of popcorn chicken (hi, Quickly!), or slush/smoothie/etc options.  Tea - hot or ice, and snow.  No more.

Tea

Tea is the main attraction (it isn't called "Teaspoon" by accident ...).  They have pre-defined specials, or you can make your own.  If you make your own, you have all the standard choices.  Hot or cold. Sweetness level (0/25/50/75/100%). Non-dairy classic cream or organic house cream. A slew of toppings (jellies in all flavors and shapes, a variety of boba, puddings, aloe, red beans, chia seeds, taro chunks, etc, etc). These selections alone are fairly impressive, but it is the tea lineup itself that really sets Teaspoon apart.  5 black teas, 3 green teas, 7 (!) oolong teas, and rooibos can all form your base tea.  They are not pre-brewed, but instead are brewed to order in a machine that looks much like an espresso machine, but, isn't.

Noticeably missing from the menu is a big lineup of fruity flavored things, or other items clearly made with powders.  The only drink that isn't based on fresh brewed tea is the single taro milk.

Taro Lover, Iced, plus Coconut Jellies + Almond Pudding. $4.75 + $0.50 + 0.50.

"Taro milk with slow cooked taro chunks. Lactose free and no caffeine."

For my drink, I skipped all the actual teas, which is what Teaspoon is actually known for.  When a place has taro milk on the menu ... I can't resist.

The "Taro Lover" was available hot or iced, but that was the only choice I had, unlike the other drinks where you specify sweetness level, and if you want cream.  This one came pre-made as taro milk, with non-dairy creamer only, of the sweetness they decided to make it.  This made me slightly concerned, thinking it might be crazy sweet, as, at most bubble tea shops, I find myself going for 25% sweet options.  But it also made me optimistic that perhaps it wasn't just a taro powder?  I opted for iced.

I'm still not sure what made up the taro milk, to be honest.  It was purple, in the way taro powder is.  It was sweet.  I would prefer a bit less sweet, but, the slow cooked taro chunks they added helped balance it a bit.  Still, overall, good taro flavor, creamy, good taro milk.

To my taro lover, I added two toppings: coconut jelly and almond pudding.  I knew it already had the taro chunks mixed in, but I was inspired to try something like the pudding I had in my taro tea at Sharetea, and picked almond pudding over egg custard thinking the almond flavor might be nice.  I added the coconut jellies wanting to add a touch of sweetness, in case the taro milk wasn't very sweet (which is often the case if it is real taro milk, and since I couldn't specify sweetness, I thought this might be the case).

Thus, I wound up with a cup that was like 40% mix-ins.  I'm not sure this was a bad thing, but it was a bit silly perhaps, if a "drink" is what you are going for.  But who are we kidding, this was a dessert.

Still, I'm glad I did the mix-ins.  The coconut jelly was pretty standard bubble tea shop calibre, slippery rectangular pieces of firm jelly, that sucked up easily in my straw.  They didn't taste very distinctly of coconut, but were sweet and did mix nicely with the taro milk.  They filled the entire bottom portion of my cup, really at least double what I was expecting, which worked great, as I could suck from the top if I didn't want any, and push my straw down if I did.

Next, the almond pudding.  I hoped this would be like the "almond tofu" that I just absolutely adore at Sushi Sam's.  It basically was.  Very large chunks (I hesitate to even call them chunks, as they were huge scoops really), of the pudding.  Again, not particularly almond flavored, but, great texture and nice match for taro.  I found that I preferred to not suck this up in the straw, and ate it with a spoon after, just like pudding, now infused with taro.  This worked amazingly well, as there was soooo much of it, and it all rested on top of the jellies.  I'm really stunned by the quantity of the toppings they provide.

And last, the slow cooked taro chunks that are part of the original drink.  This isn't the best looking topping, a rather brownish ugly color.  And it wasn't really "chunks", I was expecting cubes, and it was not.  But that would be hard to suck up right?  Instead, it was more of a chunky puree?  Regardless, it was actually very good.  Great taro flavor, and the texture worked very well for sucking up.  Probably the best taro mix-in I've ever had in a bubble tea.

So, overall, this was a winner.  Sweet, non-dairy taro milk that I enjoyed with sweet sips of coconut jelly or more savory taro mash, which I then followed up with a second dessert of taro steeped almond pudding with a bit of coconut jelly and taro mash.  Two in one!

I enjoyed this, and I'd gladly get another, although I'd leave out the pudding next time.  The $0.50 each toppings were worth it, given just how generously they were added.

Snow

The other product, besides teas, that Teaspoon makes is snows, in assorted flavors, with a reduced set of standard toppings, although fully customizable.

I happened to visit on a day where they had a promotion for two new snows, so I got to try them out.

The texture of the snow was fascinating.  Seriously fascinating. So light. So fluffy.  Amazing, really.

If I were picking any snow, I'd most certainly go for the "Nutty Taro", with taro based snow, mochi, coconut flakes, almond flakes, and condensed milk.  But since this was part of a promotion, I had a limited selection, and together with a friend split both of the options available.

Neither was quite for me, but, the snow concept, and their execution of it, was great.  I just need to go for one I actually want next time!

Lemon Tart Snow.

"Lemon kumquat snow, with rainbow mochi, mint, and mojito sauce."

I don't like lemon desserts, in general.  But still, we gave this one a try.

It was quite tart, as advertised.  Intense lemon and kumquat flavor.  Somehow too sweet for me at the same time, although, yes, very tart.  Perhaps the "mojito sauce" was really sweet?

I liked the soft, pliable, very fresh rainbow mochi.

I loved the texture of the snow, I loved the concept, but, clearly not the flavor for me.

Donkey Kong Snow.

"Banana snow with rainbow mochi, almond flakes, and nutella sauce."

This one had a bit more going on.  More toppings.

The snow was again such an incredible fluffy texture.  And ... banana flavored.  Uh, not my thing either.

On top was the same quality soft mochi, standard almond flakes, and a drizzle of very thick "nutella sauce".  The mochi and almond flakes provided great contrasting soft and crunchy texture.  The "sauce" was far too thick to really be a sauce, and didn't really taste like nutella, but, was otherwise fine.

So again, great concept, quality components, just not the mix for me.

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Gong Cha, Sunnyvale

I did not grow up with bubble tea, milk tea, or anything with taro.  But at some point a few years ago I had my first taro milk tea (I think at Quickly ), and got a little obsessed for a few months.  And then promptly forgot about it and moved on to something else.  I probably had one or two milk teas total in the next 4 years.

And then, on a recent visit to Sydney, where bubble tea shops are nearly as prevalent as coffee shops, and where quality, creative mix-ins, and fun toppings are what make the competitive advantage, I got re-hooked.  Turns out, if you see every other person walking by with a milk tea in hand, the marketing basically works, and you finally decide that you too need one!

I returned from Sydney, and missed my milk teas immediately (like the incredible Bubble Nini Tea!).  One cold, rainy night, I was in a very grumpy mood, and decided I needed a taro tea, right then and there.  But it was raining, and I was exhausted, so ... I did something very unlike me.  I ordered delivery.  Delivery milk tea.  Yup.   And since it was cold, I didn't even want a regular milk tea, I wanted a warm one, which I knew wouldn't be warm by the time it made it to me anyway.  I was just too grumpy to care, really.

I ordered from Gong Cha, a chain I discovered in Sydney, one I never ended up making it to, but had wanted to try.  Gong Cha is originally from Taiwan, started only in 2006, but has locations internationally now.

Milk Tea

Tea is certainly the main attraction at Gong Cha, available iced or hot, as milk tea or fruity fresh brewed tea, usually with black tea as the base, very customizable by ice level, sweetness, and additions (most commonly with boba but plenty of other "toppings" as options as well).

I didn't get a very common drink though, no tea involved, even though called a "milk tea" ...

Taro Milk Tea, 30% Sweet, Medium, Hot. With pudding, milk foam. $6.

I really wanted a warm beverage, as it was a cold rainy night, and I wanted something comforting.  And, uh, taro flavored.  So taro milk tea it was, with one mix-in (pudding) and one topping (milk foam).  I opted for the lowest level of sweet (besides no sweet), 30%.

The drink was about what I expected, a lukewarm, purple milk, with mild taro flavor.  It was still quite sweet though, sweeter than I wanted, and clearly used taro powder, as it had no chunks or residue.  Maybe 0% sweet next time?

Milk Foam + matcha?

On top was the lovely milk foam, slightly savory, slightly salty, fluffy.  I loved it, but I think much of it had melted into the drink already, something I was fearful of with a hot drink, but I couldn't resist anyway.  Love that topping.

Also on top was ... green powder.  Matcha?  Why?  Taro milk tea doesn't have matcha, and this was listed as a caffeine free, kid-friendly option even.  I was slightly worried they used the matcha milk foam instead of the regular, but the foam didn't taste of matcha.

Egg Pudding.

And inside, my mix-in, egg pudding.  I always want some kind of mix-in, and I struggled to think what would work well with the warm drink.  Pudding seemed like a wise choice, since warm pudding is a thing.

The pudding was just one huge scoop, quite rich, quite sweet.  Since the drink trended a bit too sweet for me this wasn't awesome, but I did like having something with a bit of texture.  Still, it was kinda a lot, and not quite what I was looking for.  Still not sure what a good mix-in for a warm taro drink would be.

The taro milk tea base is $5, each topping was $0.50, making this $6.

Overall, it was fine, but not a particularly unique nor notable item, as it seemed to be taro powder.  I'd likely try somewhere else next time.

Yogurt Smoothie Fab Five

"Gong Cha USA California is excited to introduce a series of fruit smoothies for the summer! There are five fabulous fruit smoothies to choose from: Lemon, Lychee, Passionfruit, Mango, and Peach. 

Refreshing and delicious, our fruit yogurt smoothies are a fabulous summer companion!"

I wanted to order one more item just in case I didn't like my milk tea, and also, to justify the delivery, so I threw on a random smoothie at least minute.  These seem to be a California item only, introduced last summer (but, clearly they stayed on menu long after summer ended).

They didn't have taro as an option, and the only non-yogurt versions were mango or matcha, neither of which I was really feeling, so I went for the lychee yogurt one.  No idea why, really.

Lychee Yogurt Smoothie, 30% Sweet. With Herbal Jelly + Rainbow Jelly + Macha Milk Foam. $7.50.

To this I added both herbal and rainbow jelly since I wanted them both in my taro tea, but thought they'd melt in my hot drink, and the matcha foam, because I really wanted to try that too.

Such .... a random creation, I know.  And to be honest, I had no idea what a yogurt smoothie was anyway.  It was a pretty layered creation, with the rainbow jellies in the bottom, then a ton of herbal jelly, and then I guess the lychee yogurt smoothie finally, which occupied less than half the cup since the toppings filled the bottom 35%, and the matcha foam the top 25%.

I didn't even have a clue how to tackle this thing.  Did I remove the lid and try to mix it? Just drink and get "perfect sips" by controlling my straw depth?  I really had no idea.

So I just grabbed a straw, and gave it a try.  Which, turns out, totally worked, and I could adjust my sips based on straw depth with no problem.

The rainbow jellies and herbal jelly were exactly what I expected.  Sweet, fruity, colorful, slimy, firm rainbow jellies that I appreciated for texture and fun.  Big pieces of herbal jelly, less sweet, but again, just fun to have in there.

The base smoothie was the part that wasn't as I expected.  I know lychee is sweet, but at 30% sweet, I wasn't expecting it to be as sweet as it was.  Next time ... 0%?  I also expected the yogurt nature to balance out the sweet, but I honestly didn't taste anything yogurt about this.  No tang at all.  It really seemed much like a lychee milk tea, just, icier.  I ended up opening it up to add soy milk to mellow it out a bit.

The matcha milk foam was just as great as the regular, just, slightly green and matcha flavored.  They do a great foam, light and fluffy.

Overall, I am glad I tried this smoothie, but I think next time I'd get mango perhaps, and definitely bring the sweetness down to 0%.

The base smoothie was $5.75, $0.75 more than a milk tea, and the standard add-ins were $0.50 for this as well, with the matcha milk foam extra, $0.75, making this a $7.50 creation.

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Sharetea (US and AU)

Update Review, 2024, Sydney, Australia

Sharetea is a global chain of reasonable quality bubble tea and adjacent products.  My previous visits have always been in San Francisco, but this year, when I was in Sydney, I gave it a try, when reviews of other, smaller local places all seemed abysmal in comparison.  People really did seem to like Sharetea, and, the menu in Australia is a bit different from the US.

Frozen

"When the mercury rises, chill out with Smoothie and Crushes from Sharetea’s boba menu. Whether you like it shaken or stirred, refresh your taste buds with fruity ice or milky bubble teas. Create your delicious milky Smoothie or icy Crush with any of these flavours. Ice levels cannot be modified."

Sharetea has two different frozen ranges: crushes and smoothies, the later of which is is milky, the former, fruity.  Crushes are available in 5 flavors (mango, mango passionfruit, strawberry, honeydew, rose) and smoothies, 6 (chocolate, honeydew, taro, watermelon, watermelon lychee).

Sweetness level modifications are allowed (none, half, normal, extra), but not dairy type nor ice.  They have no non-dairy options available.

On a hot (90*!) day in Sydney, rather than getting more ice cream / gelato / froyo, which I had done every day prior, I decided to mix it up and get a smoothie.

Taro Smoothie (Large). No Sweet. $9.10.
Add Cherry Blossom Pearls, Add Cream Top (+$1.10 each)

I went for taro, my standard, not sweet.  For my mix-in, I went for a Valentine's day special, cherry blossom pearls, rather than my standard lychee jellies or popping boba.  They were limited and exclusive, and thus desirable, plus I thought they'd have a similar effect on the drink.

The smoothie was well blended, no hunks of ice, nicely icy with tiny bits of ice crystals, not too much milky liquid.  The flavor was strong in taro, but, in the fake taro powder style, clearly no real taro used here, which was a letdown (that I should have anticipated, I had just forgotten that for the milk tea and smoothies, Sharetea uses powder, rather than real taro used in the fresh milk series).  It was also very very sweet.  I know the powder and creamer they use is sweetened, but I was still surprised by how very sweet it was.  I wonder if my no sweet modifier was missed?  Anyway, nicely blended, nicely creamy, but, just taro powder and creamer, no different than you can get anywhere else generically, and too sweet for my tastes.  *** base in terms of my enjoyment, but **** for blendedness.

As for the cherry blossom pearls, they were large size pearls, with a sweet taste to them.  They didn't seem different to me from crystal or agar pearls though.  I suspect there may have been a subtle flavor to them that was masked by the taro powder and sweetness?  The texture was good, not too mushy, none stuck together.  Not quite as novel as I was hoping for, but, good.  High ***.

Overall, a fairly generic taro smoothie, but well executed. High ***.

Cream Top (on the side). $1.10.

I put in the Door Dash notes to have the cream top on the side if possible, and I was happy to see the note was followed, with a smiley face no less!

The cream top was slightly frothy, and had a nice cream cheese tang.  It wasn't as fluffy as some other brands, and was just the kinda standard "cheese" taste, but, I still really do like it.  ***+.

Yoghurt

"For something more-ish, cool off with our Yoghurt drinks. Superbly balanced between sweet and savoury, enjoy a creamy texture and vibrant, refreshing flavours. Delectable with these deliciously sweet treats. Sweetness and ice levels cannot be modified."

Sharetea yogurt drinks are available in 5 varieties: mango passionfruit, strawberry popping pearls, taro & red bean, purple rice, and purple rice with mango.  You cannot modify the sweetness nor ice levels of these.  You can add standard mix-ins/toppings (20 choices!), but can't customize further, e.g. if you wanted taro and mango, or sticky rice and any other flavor besides mango, that is a no go.

I had never had a yogurt drink from Sharetea, and gave it a try, prepared to be pretty sad that it wasn't just Koomi.

Mango Purple Rice Yogurt. $9.60.

I went for the mango purple sticky rice, which is generally my go-to for yogurt drinks.  They don't allow you to modify the sweetness, so I wasn't able to tone that down as I usually do.  I decided not to add any other mix-ins, so this was entirely unmodified.

Yogurt drinks at bubble tea shops have high variance.  Some are thin and watery, and just use Yakult as the base.  Others are not really drinks, and are thick, rich, and boast house made high quality yogurt.    Sharetea's version was actually even different from those.  It was actually a blended ice drink, so, smoothie style.  The ice blending made it thick, but if allowed to sit a while (I ordered two items at the same time, the actual smoothie that I intended to drink right away, and this for later, as I thought it would be a more normal yogurt drink), it quickly separated out into a watery layer, and a milky layer, and not remotely thick like yogurt.  It was slightly tart, fairly sweet, and decently creamy when blended, so decent yogurt-ish base, but not remarkable.

The mango and purple rice are obviously key elements of this item.  Again, Sharetea takes a slightly different approach.  I expected a lot of actual purple rice for texture and hunks of fresh mango.  Which, at first glance, it looks to have.  But, looks are deceiving. It was highly blended, so besides the rice that was visible lining the cup, there were no other grains of rice within.  I really wanted texture and actual hunks of rice, so alas, this was a miss for me.  The same with the mango.  There was a smear of mango puree lining the cup, but zero hunks of mango within.  It was fairly fruity, but, no real mango evident.

So overall, it wasn't really what I was looking for, and really was much more of a drink, a very blended one, than a yogurt or mango or rice forward item.  It was sweeter than I generally want, so I wish they'd let me modify that.  That all said, I wasn't entirely unhappy with it, once I adjusted my expectations.  Koomi is still my hands down favorite. ***.

Original Review, 2019, San Francisco

Sharetea is a bubble tea chain that originated in Taiwan in the early '90s.  Since then, they have expanded internationally, now with more than 450 stores.  In San Francisco, they have at least 3 locations that I know of (the Metreon, Westfield mall, and Geary).

My visits in person were all in 2017, to the Metreon location, where I tried two taro creations, since, I kinda have a thing for taro.   I liked them.

But I didn't go back, I'm not really sure why.  Then, in February 2018, I  attended an event with a selection of bubble teas catered by Sharetea.  This was exciting (yay, bubble tea!) but also meant that I did not select the items myself.  I've grown sick of standard black tapioca boba and prefer jellies, puddings, etc, and all the choices had boba in them.  And I also usually go for less sweet, and most were full sweet.

That said, of course I was excited to try these too, given the taro drink success.

The Menu

The menu at Sharetea, like most bubble tea shops, is broken down into Milk Tea, Ice Blended, Fresh Milk, Fruit Tea, Creama, and simple Brewed Tea.  They show their top 20 prominently around the space, to help guide you in decision making.

All the standard offerings are available, black, green, and oolong tea for the base, fruity flavors like mango, kiwi, passion fruit, strawberry, and more.  The toppings/mix-ins selection is extensive, with all the classics and then some: pearls (mini, large, mixed), jellies (ice, lychee, rainbow), aloe vera, pudding, taro chunks, red bean, and even ice cream.  They also have a few items more accessible to those who have never had bubble tea, like an Oreo or Coffee blended drink (which, to be fair, I actually really liked my Oreo smoothie at Home Plate Boba).  You can customize your level of sweetness and amount of ice.

My favorite menu item, just from the name, is the "QQ Happy Family Milk Tea", loaded with pearls, grass jelly, pudding, aloe, and red bean.  What is QQ?  Who is the Happy Family?  Don't ask me.

The Space

The Storefront.

The Sharetea I visited is located inside the Metreon, alongside several other establishments.

Every time I've walked by, the place is bustling.  The ordering setup is efficient though, with a clear space to line up, order at the register, pay, get your number, and then wait on the side.  Orders are called out on the far side, by number, with a display showing which order number they are on (just like at the deli!)

Behind the counter is the drink processing station, with staff working quite efficiently.  Everything is laid out and just quickly assembled to order.  The space isn't large, but, they use it well.

Sharetea is also on OrderAhead (or, was, until OrderAhead shut down), so I was able to skip the line and order from the app before I arrived.  However, the soonest "ASAP" option was 25 minutes, not quite what I was hoping for.  For OrderAhead, they call your name rather than number.

There is no seating dedicated to Sharetea, but there is general food court seating, along with plentiful outdoor space in Yerba Buena Gardens just outside the door.

Drinks - 2017

Taro Ice Blended with Pudding. $6.85.

For my first drink, I skipped past standard bubble tea, as it was a crazy hot day out, and I wanted something more like a milkshake.  This desire lead me to the "Ice Blended" section of the menu, where I had a few options.  For me though, the choice was clear: taro!  I'm a huge fan of taro (real and powdered), so this was a no brainer.  I was much like a "Slush" from Quickly, which of course I've had before, or the fantastic taro smoothie from Miss Saigon.

Interestingly, the drink comes pre-defined with pudding as the mix-in.  I could add on another mix-in, or perhaps sub it out (although that wasn't an option anywhere I saw), so, I stuck with that suggestion.  I was leaning towards red bean, but, hey, if they put this on the menu as a standard drink, why not?

I opted for 50% sweetness, knowing how crazy sweet these drinks tend to be.  Besides that, I stuck with the defaults.

I'm not entirely sure what was in this drink.  I assume it was taro powder, and non-dairy creamer, plus ice and the puddings?  Some of the ice blended drinks say they have ice cream in them, this one did not list it, so, I think it did not have ice cream?  But I'm not sure.

Anyway, my drink was good.  It was perfectly blended, no ice chunks, no separation.  The taro flavor was also good, although I'm pretty sure this drink uses the powder.  It was a lovely shade of fake purple.  50% sweet was definitely a good choice, as it was still pretty sweet, and I'd actually lean towards only 30% for next time.  I can't imagine this at 100%!

The puddings were interesting.  Basically, big chunks of ... custard pudding, like flan, crème brûlée, or any other custard pudding.  They added a very smooth texture and additional sweetness.  They sucked up easily in the straw.  You'd think I'd love these, as I love pudding, and I like having texture, but, I got pretty sick of the puddings.  Ojan however loved them.  Next time, I'd try something else, like the red bean I originally wanted ...

So, overall, definitely good and I'd get another.  I'd likely tone down the sweetness more and try a different mix in.  Also, the $6.85 price really does seem kinda high for powder and ice thrown into a blender. ***.

Warm Fresh Taro Milk Tea with Red Bean. $5.00.

Next, I went for a hot beverage.  I've only had a hot beverage once before from a bubble tea place, when I got a hot taro milk tea at Chai-Yo, which wasn't very successful.

It was a cold day, and I wanted a hot drink to warm me up.  In the OrderAhead app, there was a section for "Hot Drinks".  It contained one item: fresh taro milk tea.  Since I love taro, this sounded good to me.

Side note: I later learned that many other drinks, listed in the other sections, are available warm too, that is just one of the customizations you can apply, just like sweetness level, ice level, etc.  For my selection however, I didn't have any customizations available, besides add-ins.  No way to specify sweetness, which concerned me slightly.  I did opt for an add in, and randomly went with red bean, since the others all seemed like they'd be strange in a warm drink and I was sorta trying to be responsible and add some protein instead of just sweet jellies.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure what this drink was.  It isn't actually listed anywhere on the menu at Sharetea itself, which I found very strange.  "Taro pearl milk tea" is a drink, available warm or iced, but that is the style where you specify sweetness, and, I believe is made with black tea.  "Handmade taro with fresh milk" is also an option, iced only, but it too lets you specify sweetness, and costs $1 more.

So what was this?  Was it the warm version of the "taro pearl milk tea", sans pearls, and with default sweetness?  I'm really not sure.  It did kinda taste like it had black tea in it (whoops! I didn't want caffeine!), but, I also thought that the taro milk tea used powder, not real taro, and, this sure seemed to be real taro, aka, it wasn't bright purple and had big chunks of taro in it.  More on that soon.  Was it a warm version of the  'handmade taro with fresh milk", just, cheaper and without letting me say how sweet?  Maybe?

My drink came in a opaque paper cup, unlike the cold beverages that come in clear plastic, revealing their color and mix-ins.  And since the top was sealed like a bubble tea, I had no idea what was inside, which added to the mystery of what on earth I was getting.  It was also interesting in temperature.  The cup was sorta hot on top, but, cold on bottom?

Taro and red beans!

So, how was my mystery creation?

A mixed bag.

I think that the milk was warmed up, but, the mix-ins were cold, which cooled the whole thing down.  So, it was lukewarm from the moment I got it, and it got colder quickly, given that the base was cold to the touch.  Doh.  I wanted a hot beverage to warm me up!

Still, it was fascinating, particularly since I couldn't see inside, and I wasn't sure what I had ordered.  I put in a bubble tea straw, and took a big suck.  Up my straw came ... chunks of taro!  Yes!  It wasn't just powder.  And then ... whole little red beans.  The taro was kinda mashed, and was a bit strange to suck up through my straw.

The flavor of the milk itself was sorta taro-y and not too sweet.  Once I opened it up, I could see the color was more brownish-purple than bright purple like drinks made with powder, so, I do think it really was just taro steeped milk.  But, I'm confused why this was $1 less than the "Handmade Taro with Fresh Milk", and, why that one isn't available warm.  And why it sorta tasted like tea.  Hmm.  Again, I still have no idea what I had.  It wasn't too creamy, so, I think it used regular milk, not something heavier.

I also poured off the milk so I could see what else was in there.  As you can see here, little red beans, and, mashed up taro. 

Overall, it was ... ok.  The real issue was the lukewarm/cold nature of it.  **+.

The "warm fresh taro milk tea" is $4.50, I added red bean for $0.50 more, making this a $5 fascination.

Drinks - 2019

My next encounter was at an event, rather than direct at the store.

Matcha Fresh Milk Tea / Less Sweet / Tapioca Pearls. $6.75.

At the event, given my limited selections, I opted for the matcha fresh milk tea, with pearls (eh), and made less sweet.

It was a fairly standard matcha milk.  Creamy from generic milk, decent matcha flavor.  The pearls were made nicely enough, not clumped together, not too soft, not too hard, but, as expected, I wasn't quite into them.  This is easily fixed though - just use a standard straw, and sip from higher up.

I enjoyed it, but this isn't what I'd order, and the $6.75 regular price seems really high for what is just a cup of milk mixed with matcha powder and boba.  ***.

Classic Milk Tea / Black Tea / Normal Sweet / Tapioca Pearls. $6.00.

The event ended with piles of unclaimed, packaged milk teas, so I grabbed a classic milk tea for the next morning.  This one sadly also had tapioca pearls AND was normal sweet, so I was less excited for it, but, hey, can't waste!

It was a pretty standard milk tea.  Strong black tea flavor, sweet and creamy, same decent enough tapioca balls, if you like them.

Not what I'd get myself, since black milk tea is a bit boring to me, and sweeter than I go for, but, it was absolutely fine. ***.

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Taro Milk Tea from R & B Cafe

Do you remember when I went through a taro milk tea phase a while ago?  You may recall a slew of reviews, all of fairly mediocre bubble tea, concluding with me deciding that basic Quickly is about the best I can find.  Well, the craving for bubble tea hit me again, and I was delighted to discover that R & B Cafe, located just a few blocks from my office, has bubble tea, and incredibly customizable bubble tea at that!

R & B Cafe offers online ordering via eat24, including through the mobile PayPal app, which I did as I headed out the door, hoping my order would be ready as I walked in.

As an aside, the PayPal app is much more stable now, it no longer crashes like when I ordered a taro milk tea from Chai Yo (spoiler: Chai Yo's version is better than R & B), although my experience wasn't as seamless as when I used it for taro milk tea from Cocoa Cafe (spoiler: Cocoa Cafe MUCH better than R & B).

As I said, I placed my order as I left the office, but unlike my pickup experience at Cocoa Cafe, my order was not ready when I arrived.  Nor was it even started.  Why?  Because they were out of the taro that I asked to have as my "topping", rather than boba (one of the many choices).  So I asked for the red bean as my next choice.  And ... they were out of that.  The only options were regular tapioca, or, popping boba in a few flavors.   Boo.  A lot of the reason I picked R & B Cafe as my source of bubble tea, besides convenient location, was the topping choices!

Anyway, service was friendly enough, and they made my drink quickly once consulting with me on adding regular boba instead, but I won't be going back.

Taro Bubble Milk Tea, Green Tea, Lightly Sweet, Honey Boba. $2.95.

R & B offers incredibly customizable milk teas.

To start, you pick a base of black or green tea.  Since I didn't want tons of caffeine, I went for green.  I can't say I tasted a difference, and many places don't even use tea in their milk teas anyway.

Next, you pick the flavor.  12 different fruity flavors were offered, but, I only wanted taro.  Like most places, a powder was used for the taro flavor.  Unfortunately, even though it was a vibrant purple color, there was somehow no taro flavor to it.  I honestly wouldn't have known it was taro.  Very disappointing.

Next, toppings.  As I mentioned, I was excited to have additional taro in my taro tea, but alas, they didn't have any.  Nor did they have red bean.  I didn't want fruity popping boba, so I went for the classic boba instead.

The tapioca were fairly awful.  Really soft and mushy, just like the horrible tapioca I had in my taro milk tea from Little Garden.  Luckily for me I guess, there really wasn't much tapioca added, which I originally thought was lame when I saw the small quantity in my large drink, but ended up appreciating this since I didn't want the tapioca.

And finally, sweetness.  I appreciated that this was an decision you had to make when you order, rather than needing to specify it separately.  "Light", "Normal", or "Very" were my options, and I wisely went for "light" remembering numerous too sweet experiences in the past.  I think I made the right choice.  It was certainly sweet enough, but not overwhelming.  Perhaps the only element of this milk tea that I actually liked.

Clearly, this was not a winner, and I won't be getting another.

The price of $2.95 was right in the middle of the range of others around town.  Interestingly, a single topping is included in the base price, rather than a $0.50 add-in like most others.  Obviously, the $1.99 Quickly version is the best deal in town, but R & B was more reasonable than $4.40 charged by Little Garden, or $3.50 from Cocoa Cafe or Chai Yo.

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Home Plate Boba, AT&T Park

Update Review, September 2016

Last time I attended a ball game at AT&T Park, I discovered Home Plate Boba, and I was pretty excited.  I like bubble tea, but it is a treat I rarely splurge on (and, maybe TMI, but, my body doesn't always, uh, agree with non-dairy creamer commonly used).  On that visit, I didn't actually get a bubble tea.  It was hot and sunny, so I opted for a taro smoothie instead (and I grabbed a fruity tea to take home with me).

Both were ok, but, on this visit, I decided to mix things up a bit.

Menu / Ordering Area.

The menu at Home Plate Boba looks relatively unchanged, still featuring hot and cod milk teas, fresh fruit teas, and smoothies (I'm still confused why the hot taro milk tea has caffeine, and the cold one does not).  Options for flavors aren't extensive, and toppings only include boba, passion fruit popping boba, mango stars, and lychee jelly.  They still include one topping in the base price for every drink but drink prices have gone up $1-2 since last year.

Oreo Smoothie with Boba. $8.

Since it was a remarkably hot, sunny day, I picked a smoothie.  Last time I had a taro smoothie, and although I thought it was well made, but I made a note to get another kind next time, since the taro powder used wasn't very flavorful.  My options were strawberry banana (meh), honeydew (allergic), matcha green tea (which I'd love but I didn't want caffeine), or Oreo.

So, Oreo it was.  I'm not generally a fan of Oreo.  At least, just not the cookies.  Which I know makes my dad sad, as he loves them, and my house was always stocked with them growing up.  But, "cookies and cream" or other Oreo products I do like.  So, Oreo flavor good, form factor bad, as I just don't like cookies in general.

The Oreo flavor in this was good, and I saw bags of Oreos back in the preparation area, so I'm pretty sure they really do throw in real Oreos.  The ice was nicely blended too.  It was creamy and nicely flavored, and I liked the bits of texture from the ice and cookie.

Since I had one included topping, I wanted to add something fun, but, really, I just wanted it to be like a milkshake and have whipped cream on top.  I didn't like the boba last time, so I wanted something different.  Passionfruit popping boba seemed like it would totally not work with Oreo, and mango stars also seemed crazy, so I ordered it with lychee jellies, but the guy taking my order acted like that was crazy.  "With Oreo?", he questioned.  He talked me out of it and told me to get boba.  So I did.

The boba was not a success.  Just like last time, they were mushy and poorly cooked.  And they added tons of them.  And you just can't avoid boba once it is in a drink, they come up the straw no matter how hard you try to avoid them.

Overall, this was great, except, ruined by boba.  I'd gladly get it again and just leave the boba out entirely, sacrificing my "free" topping.

The $8 price is more than it was last year, but still seems pretty reasonable for a huge smoothie, with topping, at a ballpark.

Taro Milk Tea, No Ice, Lychee Jelly. $6.50.

As last time, I decided to grab a second drink to bring home with me, since I had a bunch of credit on my ticket.  The fruity tea last time was fine, but not particularly exciting.  I obviously couldn't bring home a hot drink or smoothie, so, regular milk tea it was.  I opted for no ice since I was bringing it home, which they questioned multiple times when I ordered.

For milk tea, I had 5 choices of flavors, but only one wasn't caffeinated (coffee, thai tea, black tea, and chai were the others).  Since I love taro anyway, that is what I would have picked, but, since I knew they use powder like in the smoothies, I wasn't super excited for it.

For a topping, I put in the lychee jellies, since enjoyed them last time, clearly didn't want boba, and lychee seemed to go better with taro than mango.

It was a very standard, made from powder, taro milk tea.  Creamy, way too sweet (they do not allow you to specify sweetness), and vaguely taro flavored.  I liked it well enough, but, it wasn't anything special.

The lychee jellies were good, ridiculously sweet, lychee flavored, and had a nice chew.  They went well with the taro, except for the fact that it was all really quite sweet.  They seemed to have made up for my lack of ice with adding even more jellies, there really were quite a few of them, but, I liked them, so I didn't mind.

I added ice and some regular milk to mellow it out when I got home and enjoyed it a bit more than way.

I'd get this again, although it was really not particularly remarkable.  I think my next version should be a taro smoothie, with lychee jellies?

Original Review, October 2015

AT&T Park has been known for having far better food options than your standard ballpark for a long time.  Several years ago, I visited for my first time, and reveled in the amazing crab salad at Crazy Crab'z.  Yes, amazing crab, at a ballpark.  I also tried many of the fan favorites, like the Chicago dog and the Gilroy garlic fries, although those didn't impress quite as much.  And of course, I had my share of margaritas from Lefty O'Doul's and wine from the slightly upscale Vintage 58 Wine Bar.

But on my visit this year, I had my sights set on something else.  Bubble tea.  Yes, bubble tea.  At a ballpark.  OMG.  You know how obsessed I get with bubble tea ...

The Space

The Stand.

It took me a while to find Home Plate Boba amongst all the concessions, but once I turned the corner and saw the sign, it was clear I had found the right place.  Bright, colorful, whimsical.  It didn't quite fit in.

Menu.

The menu includes basically everything you'd expect from a bubble tea shop.

For an all-too-typical San Francisco chilly day, they have hot drinks of coffee, tea, milk tea, and hot cocoa, all $6.

Next are classic milk teas (black, green, or jasmine tea based), plus flavored milk teas (almond, mint, taro, thai, coffee).  These all use nondairy milk.  I appreciated that they clearly marked which ones were caffeinated or not.  These are also $6.

Next come fruit based teas, all with caffeine.  They must use black tea as a base?  Or green?  No option was given, but when I asked, I was told they all definitely have caffeine.  Fruit teas are made with syrups, plus some cubes of fruit, available in lychee, mango, passion, peach, and strawberry, all $6.50.

Tempting sounding smoothies round out the drink options, available in coconut, honeydew, matcha green tea, mint oreo, oreo, strawberry banana, and taro.

All drinks included a topping for free, with a choice of standard boba, lychee jelly, or flavored popping boba.

Finally, they also offer up a few desserts: ice cream sandwiches (which one co-worker had and said was great), macaron ice cream sandwiches, and just ice cream with boba on top.

Straws.

Once you make the hard decision of choosing your drink, anther decision awaits.  The choice of straw.  Orange and black for the home team, assorted colors for visitors.  What if I just wanted a purple straw, because it matched my drink?  I didn't want to be judged for rooting for the away team, but I really would prefer a non-black or orange straw ...

Life is hard.

The Drinks

Taro Smoothie, with Boba. $7.50.

I adore taro, so my choice was fairly simple.  I wanted a taro based drink.  As for a milk tea or smoothie, that was dictated by the weather.  It was sunny and warm, thus, a more chilly smoothie seemed in order.

It was very well blended, no chunks of ice.  It had a decent light purple hue.  Not tons of taro flavor, but, what do you expect from powder?

The boba was nicely prepared, soft, not clumpy.  Clearly sweetened with honey.  For some reason, I didn't actually like the boba in my drink, and choose to drink it like a milkshake, and purposely kept my straw closed too tight to suck up boba.  But once the smoothie was gone, I gladly slurped up all the boba, like pudding.  The boba was sweet and tender, quite enjoyable.

I liked this well enough, particularly once I separated it into two parts: taro icy dessert and boba dessert.  I'd get another, but would actually likely try something different, like the mint oreo smoothie.

The $7.50 price was reasonable compared to other prices in the ballpark, but is higher than your average Quickly.  Speaking of Quickly, it reminded me a lot of the taro slush I had there once.

Mango Fruit Tea, with Lychee Jelly. $6.50.

I still had some money left on my ticket near the end of the game, so I grabbed a fruit tea to go.  With the sealed top, I could throw it in my purse, stick it in the fridge when I got home, and just add ice the next day, and enjoy it in the sun.  I'm always planning ahead.

There were 5 fruit tea choices, all of which sounded good: lychee, mango, passionfruit, peach, or strawberry.  I would have been happy with any, but decided mango sounded the best.  I haven't had much fruit tea, but way back in the day I used to enjoy the mango iced tea at Pizzeria Uno, so it inspired me.  I added lychee instead of boba, as it seemed more appropriate with the fruit based drink.

I asked for no ice, since I wasn't drinking it right away, and didn't want to dilute it.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw chunks of mango in the drink.  I expected it to just be made with a syrup (which, I'm sure it was), but the additional fruit was most welcome.

It was sweet, fruity, with a not too bitter tea based finish.  Perfectly refreshing on a hot day.  The mango wasn't the freshest, ripest, or most flavorful, but I still give them points for putting bits of mango in it in the first place.

I really did like the lychee jelly, sweet, slimy, and easy to suck up with my big straw.  I think jellies might be my new favorite bubble tea add-in.

The $6.50 price was $1 less than a smoothie, but $0.50 more than a milk tea.  It seemed perfectly reasonable for the large size and ball park location.

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