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.
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%.
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" ...
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| Taro Milk Tea, 30% Sweet, Medium, Hot. With pudding, milk foam. $6. |
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?
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| Milk Foam + matcha? |
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.
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.
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| Egg Pudding. |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Lychee Yogurt Smoothie, 30% Sweet. With Herbal Jelly + Rainbow Jelly + Macha Milk Foam. $7.50.
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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