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.
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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 ***.
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| 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.
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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. ***.
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| 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?
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| 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.
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| 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. ***.
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| 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. ***.
