coffee and tea Archives - Page 4 of 11

Good Day Good Time Tea

April 28, 2020

Good Day Good Time Tea is yet another addition to Vancouver’s rapidly growing bubble tea shops. I can barely keep up with the new shops that are opening! I found out about Good Day Good Time Tea via Maki and Nigiri, who know all the delicious bubble tea places.

This post is the combination of two delivery orders! For the first order, I decided to have a mini photoshoot for these drinks =P. I was bored and in need of some fresh air after not leaving the house for a week.

Mango pomelo sago: The mango pomelo sago is one of their new releases. This was the drink that sold me with this place, despite their mix-ups on our other drinks as you’ll read about soon.

The mango pomelo sago drink is made with coconut milk. Does it taste as good as it looks? Yes, it does! Fresh mango is used, in addition to fresh pomelo pieces.

The drink is made in layers, with the bottom layer being chopped mango, sago, then fresh mango slush with mango pulp, pomelo pieces, and topped with rich coconut milk. I am not sure how the coconut milk manages to stay on top without mixing into the drink, but it sure makes for a beautiful Instagram shot. Just make sure to mix the drink fully before you drink.

This drink was actually the reason we placed a second order the following week. I found that the drink was a bit better the first time. The pomelo pieces were not ripe enough and too sour on the second visit.

Oolong milk tea: The fiance ordered the oolong milk tea, but unfortunately they messed it up. At least, we are pretty sure they did because if this was their normal flavour, it would be awful!

The oolong milk tea was very watery and unsweetened. In addition, it was not milky at all. We ended up getting a refund for this drink from Uber because it was not drinkable.

Guava lemonade: To qualify for free delivery, we ordered another drink for later. Well, since the oolong tea was not good, the fiance ended up drinking this instead. The guava lemonade was light, simple and refreshing. Not bad and would order again!

Grapefruit yakult: Another mess up from Good Day Good Time on our second order. We had ordered a strawberry kiwi smoothie, but this was delivered to us instead.

In the end, we didn’t really mind because the grapefruit yakult ended up being very tasty. There was a delicious balance of grapefruit and yakult. It was a refreshing drink and took me back to childhood because I used to drink a lot of yakult!

Dragonfruit yakult: The fiance ordered a dragonfruit yakult this time, and they did not screw up his drink again so yay! I haven’t seen this on a menu before so I found it unique.

The drink came with dragonfruit pulp and seeds, and you could also taste the yakult. He really enjoyed this drink and it redeemed the messup of the oolong milk tea in the first order.

Good Day Good Time could improve on their consistency and organization, but I understand they have only been open for two months, and trying to operate a new shop with COVID-19 must be tough.

Both of our orders had errors, whether they messed up a drink or gave us the wrong drink. However, I am willing to overlook these issues as growing pains, because the mango pomelo sago and yakult drinks were delicious and great quality! We will still be ordering from them and I have trust they will improve.

Dive In Dessert Bar

April 22, 2020

Disclaimer: In light of COVID-19, I just wanted to say that I am doing my part and social distancing. This is a review based on contact-less delivery.

I know that you may want to go out and have fun, but it is crucial that we distance ourselves to slow the spread of the virus and flatten the curve before it gets worse. Yes, you may feel fine but you could be passing on the virus to someone who is immunocompromised or elderly that may not survive this virus.

A long time has passed since I have had bubble tea! I would like to say at least two months. We have been trying to save money and spend less on eating/drinking out. Since I’m always blogging about food, it probably doesn’t seem like we have cut down but I must say, it has been very successful as proven by our dramatically lower credit card bills!

But the bubble tea craving hit over the weekend, and we decided to try Dive In Dessert Bar since they were offering free delivery on Uber! Dive In Dessert Bar is located on Commercial Drive and opened a year ago. I believe they are Korean-run as a lot of their menu focused on bingsu aka shaved ice.

After doing a quick Google search, older menu photos didn’t feature bubble tea options so it seems like this is a newer addition!

Our order arrived in a timely manner and was packaged with care. Our drinks had cling wrap in addition to a lid, so that there was less risk of spillage.

In addition, they left a sweet note on our cup holder!

Brown sugar bubble tea with soy milk: Not many bubble tea places have non-dairy replacements for brown sugar drinks! I was quite happy to see that they offered soy and almond milk options (for an additional 0.50 cents).

My drink was delicious! There was a sweet caramel taste due to the brown sugar. The pearls were chewy and tender, due to being gently cooked again in the brown sugar. I really enjoyed this drink and would order it again, without a doubt!

Classic milk tea: The fiance went with a classic milk tea! There was a strong milk tea flavour and was the perfect amount of richness and sweetness. He would also get this again.

The size was also bigger than most places, as you can tell with my hand for scale.

Basque burnt cheesecake: To qualify for free delivery, we also added a cheesecake! I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and prefer savoury food items, but this was one of the few times that I was craving something sweet.

The cheesecake was absolutely heavenly. It was light yet creamy, and was not dense. The burnt top added an extra element of flavour to it.

Dive In Dessert Cafe was delicious, and I would definitely “dive in” again! I’m already looking forward to the next order we place. Another great find during social distancing!

Also, if you know of any other places other than Chunyang, Ding Tea, ZenQ, and The Alley that have brown sugar drinks with non-dairy options, please let me know!

Trafiq Bakery

January 15, 2020

I am slowly catching up on reviews from the holidays! I’ve been eyeing Trafiq for awhile because I’ve heard great things about their cakes.

Since my birthday was coming up, I wanted to try a cake from Trafiq and fell in love with the Pretty in Pink cake from the website.

While trying to order the cake online a few days prior to my birthday, the website kept saying out of stock and they don’t answer their phones.

I figured I might as well check out this place for lunch and have a slice of the cake before placing the order! Cola accompanied me for lunch, and I enjoyed it so much here that I came back a week later for lunch!

Trafiq is always bustling, busy, and loud. You place your order at the till, which can be a bit of a wait because of how busy it is. I found their ordering system not very efficient. They could benefit from having two cash registers because there is always a line.

Seating is also not very comfortable, with the tables a few inches from each other. If you’re looking for a quiet place, this is not the cafe to go to. Tables are usually occupied but turnover is quick, just keep an eye out and have one person sit at the table while the other places the order.

DIY sandwich: I ordered a custom sandwich. At the beginning of the line up, there is a piece of paper where you circle the choice of bread, meat, sauce, cheese, and toppings. I chose focaccia bread, chicken breast, pesto, guacamole (at no extra cost!), Swiss cheese, sprouts, and arugula.

The sandwich was delicious! Thick focaccia bread slices, flavourful grilled chicken breast, and fresh veggies inside. I have no complaints about the sandwich.

DIY croissant sandwich: Cola ordered a custom sandwich as well. I don’t remember what exactly she got, but she also enjoyed her sandwich a lot.

Pretty in pink slice: The Pretty in Pink cake is their version of a strawberries and cream cake. This was sooo good. It came with layers of vanilla cake with airy strawberry mouse. Vanilla sour cream was also added, which sounds a bit weird but went well with the vanilla cake and strawberry mousse.

The cake was light with the perfect amount of sweetness. The cake was finished in a pink, white chocolate glaze which gave it the cute pink colour!

Needless to say, I placed my cake order that day. I added my own touch to it with some star candles from Michael’s, and LINE Friends characters, Brown and Cony.

DIY sandwich: I came back the following week for lunch, where it was equally as chaotic. I ordered a similar sandwich to my first visit, except I switched the bread from foccacia bread to cranberry pecan bread.

The sandwich was equally as tasty this time. The cranberry pecan bread was delicious too!

All in all, Trafiq is a delicious choice for cakes and sandwiches. The only negative is how chaotic and busy it is in there all the time! They are also too busy to answer their phones so don’t even bother trying to call to place a cake order like I did.

Xing Fu Tang

January 11, 2020

A Xing Fu Tang recently opened up in North Burnaby! Replacing 820 Sweets, Xing Fu Tang is located across from Gilmore Station.

One thing I do not like about Xing Fu Tang is how small and limited the menu is. I also found their drinks to be on the expensive side, and smaller than other bubble tea places.

Brown sugar pearl milk: This is probably their most popular drink. They are known for their brown sugar pearls, which you can see behind the glass pane.

The drink was delicious! The brown sugar pearls gave it a bit of caramel flavour. It was really smooth and easy to drink.

Bunny jelly mango smoothie: My options were quite limited because I didn’t want to have a milk drink to myself, and it was also too late for caffeine. I settled on this drink but it was quite disappointing.

The main reason was because I didn’t feel this drink was worth $7! It was just a blended mango smoothie and I don’t think it was even made with real mango.

The bunny jelly was a cute touch but still didn’t make it worth the price. It had a light, evaporated milk flavour to it, similar to those Chinese goldfish jello desserts during Chinese New Year.

Strawberry pearl milk: I found this to be overpriced and meh for what it was. Their pink pearls were no where as good as the brown sugar ones.

Grapefruit green tea: I didn’t try this, but it was a better value than the mango smoothie and strawberry pearl milk. We saw the staff freshly squeezing the grapefruit, and it came with some fresh grapefruit slices.

All in all, I would only recommend this place for their brown sugar pearl drinks. The other drinks did not seem worth the price and were meh. The cup sizes here are also smaller.

It would also be nice to have some soy milk option because there are a great number of Asians who are lactose intolerant! I’m glad to see other places are starting to have soy or almond milk options, and I hope Xing Fu Tang will follow soon.

Grounds for Coffee

January 7, 2020

After a satisfying dinner at Jamjar Canteen, Brie and I walked along Commercial to digest and chat more. We came across Grounds for Coffee and decided to head in for some tea and dessert.

They are right beside my current favourite ice cream shop, Elephant Garden Creamery! I haven’t noticed them before because I make a bee line immediately to Elephant Garden, whoops!

Anyways, Grounds for Coffee is a fairly new cafe, and is the second location. The original location is located by UBC. The cafe was spacious and warm, with wooden hues. It would be a good place to study or to catch up with a friend.

Since we came about a hour before closing, their pastry shelf was on the emptier side.

Rooibos tea: We both ordered a rooibos tea that night. The rooibos tea was warm and comforting. There was a hint of vanilla to it as well.

Chocolate chip cookie: We also decided to split a chocolate chip cookie! The cookie was delicious and tasted homemade. There was a lot of chocolate chunks inside too!

Grounds for Coffee would be a good place to get some work done or meet with a friend. Compared to other coffee shops in Vancouver, Grounds for Coffee wasn’t as crowded (could also be that we came later in the night) so I appreciated that too!