NYC Boba/Bubble Tea
Boba. Bubble tea. No matter what you call it, it’s extremely popular right now. Especially at NYU, where there are so many tea places around. Yet, it took me until the end of my sophomore year to even try any. When I decided to start this blog, I made it a goal to try the three biggest places around NYU: Vivi’s Bubble Tea, Kung Fu Tea, and Boba Guys. I was told that milk tea is the classic drink, but being that I limit dairy I decided to try an almond milk tea at each place.
Vivi’s Bubble Tea
The first thing to note is the size of the drink at Vivi’s Bubble Tea. Vivi’s only has medium and large sizes—and even the medium is huge. The almond milk tea is very sweet, but I didn’t request a specific level of sweetness so it was probably 100%. There was also a slight caramel flavor, though I’m not sure why. This was the first time I had boba, or tapioca bubbles, and they were slimy and chewy but didn’t have much flavor. I found them fun and enjoyable, but I understand why some people wouldn’t like them.
Kung Fu Tea
Kung Fu Tea’s almond milk tea is very similar to Vivi’s. It is very sweet with a touch of caramel. The boba bubbles have a slight vanilla flavor. Personally, I would prefer to go back to Kung Fu Tea rather than Vivi’s, simply just because Kung Fu Tea has more reasonable sizes.
Boba Guys
Boba Guys has a much simpler menu, with more make-your-own options than the other two places. I finally requested a sweetness level here, and went with 25%. The drink was obviously much less sweet, but it also lacked the caramel flavor. The decreased sweetness allowed me to actually taste the flavor of the tea, which I enjoyed.
Other Places
Being in the city gives me access to many smaller tea cafes with lots of boba and other tea options. Some of my favorites include:
SpiriTea (I’ve tried a few cloud teas, the pineapple is my favorite)
Space194 Coffee & Tea (I tried the Watermelon Lime)
Avalon New York (I had the fruit tea)
Argo Tea’s bubble teas (blog post coming soon)
Be sure to follow me on Instagram to see any other tea places that I try.
All three of these boba/bubble tea places, as well as the other cafes, have many more teas on their menu which I am interested in trying. I would love to know what your orders are at these places, and which place is your favorite.
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