There are so many new bubble tea places that it is hard to keep track of. I certainly don’t keep track of bubble tea places because it seems like there is one popping up every day. I usually rely on word of mouth or social media (although I was seeing Sun Tea very hyped up on social media but it turned out to be so bad), which is how I heard of Milksha.

There are currently two Milksha locations, and I won’t be surprised if more pop up. The original location is in downtown, and the second one is in Richmond.

This review is on the Richmond location, located inside Tian Shi Fu restaurant so they share the same entrance. Milksha is located in the waiting area before the restaurant. This small space used to be a Sharetea because I saw some old signs posted outside the restaurant.

Barley tea: Barley tea is something I haven’t seen on bubble tea menus before, only in Korean restaurants! I was excited to try it because I love my barley tea, and it is caffeine free. The barley tea was refreshing and delicious. It was my first time trying barley tea sweetened. This would be a perfect drink to cool off with on a hot day.

In addition, I loved the white honey pearls. They were perfectly fresh and chewy, and had a honey taste to them.

Barley tea latte: I was so excited to order that I accidently placed ordered the milk version on the UberEats app. I asked if I could switch to the non-milk version but it was already made so they said no. So we ended up with 3 drinks that visit and the fiance was happy to drink the tea latte later on.

The barley tea latte was just as good as the non-dairy version. Milksha uses 3.25% organic milk so the quality is quite good.

Izumo matcha fresh milk: The fiance decided to try their matcha drink. It was more on the sweet side and the matcha was not that strong or earthy. I prefer my matcha to be stronger but he enjoyed it. If you like stronger matcha, I’d recommend getting this with less sugar.

Ice Shavings of Orange Juice: On the second visit, I ordered another barley tea so I won’t include that again. This drink sounded interesting and the fiance didn’t want any caffeine, so he went with this. However, the drink name was misleading because it actually did contain tea. It tasted like an orange jasmine tea with some crushed ice on top.

This is an bad photo, but I wanted to show what the drink looked like since the cup was opaque. A strange and misleading name for a drink, but it was good as well although the orange had a slightly artificial taste to it.

We ended up trying the Milksha in downtown too, but ordered the same drinks as reviewed above so I don’t plan on writing another post. With all the bubble tea places popping up, Milksha is a decent choice and their honey pearls are delicious.

I have heard the buzz surrounding SunTea for awhile now. SunTea is located in Kensington Plaza in Burnaby. We were in the area and since I saw so many good things about SunTea, we decided to try it out.

However, we were disappointed with our visit and it left much to be desired.

It was dark when we went, and originally had some trouble looking for the shop inside the plaza. They are located close to the Kensington Ave entrance on the side, by the Shoppers. Lots of free plaza parking was available.

Due to the pandemic, the cafe was closed for dine in and they offered pick up only. They don’t even let customers order at the counter – you have to download their app and place your order there. There is a number sign on the window letting you know when your order is ready.

Brown sugar milk: The fiance ordered the oreo brown sugar milk and thought it was disappointing. I had a few sips and agreed as well. There are way better brown sugar drinks out there.

The drink didn’t have much flavour and you can already tell just by looking at the drink how plain it was. Usually you can see the brown sugar coated on the cup.

The drink also advertised oreo chunks but there were none to be found.

Coconut pudding mango coconut milk: This sounded amazing but this was not drinkable. I ended up throwing it away after a few sips because of how bad it was.

The coconut milk was very watery and not rich. There was a small amount of mango inside (unlike the advertised photo), and what mango there was, was sour and hard.

Now that I’m looking up the menu for the review, it also says that the drink included coconut pudding but there wasn’t any in the drink??? This was an extremely disappointing drink.

Taro with oat milk: The taro with oat milk was the only decent drink, but even then it was a fail. Why? Because the drink was also supposed to come with oats, but they were sold out. They ended giving us extra pearls to make up for it, but it was still disappointing because the drink was supposed to have oats.

It has been awhile since we had bubble tea THAT bad…. I don’t remember the last time we had such disappointing bubble tea.

At least one topping was missing from every drink – the oreos in the brown sugar milk, coconut pudding in the mango coconut drink, and oats in the taro oat milk drink. 2/3 drinks were also watery and not good.

With so many bubble tea shops everywhere these days, SunTea is at the bottom of my list and I do not want to come back.

I have heard about Baroness Bubble Tea for awhile now when they first opened in late 2019. They are known for using oat milk, which is great for me because I can’t drink milk! Unfortunately, the store was far for me and I am rarely in that area.

When we went to pick up Raisu for my birthday, I noticed Baroness was nearby so we stopped here too. It ended up being one of our new favourite places and we went back here again a couple weeks later.

The cafe is quite small and parking is hard to find since they are located at a busy intersection, West Broadway and Macdonald. Due to COVID, they have closed off their seating area so it is take out only.

Purple yam with oat milk: The purple yam drink here was delicious and did not disappoint. The yam did not taste artificial and had a smooth, nutty flavour.

In addition, the oat milk was creamy and delicious. The pearls were very chewy and fresh. Everything about this drink was delicious and I ended up ordering it again on our second visit.

Brown sugar milk: The fiance ordered the standard brown sugar milk. His drink was also very enjoyable, with the perfect amount of sweetness and chewy, soft pearls.

Wintermelon oat milk: Wintermelon tea is delicious and caffeine free. I haven’t seen a wintermelon oat milk drink before, but this was also delicious.

I find that wintermelon has a very subtle and light taste, and is easily overpowered by other ingredients. However, the wintermelon taste was still evident with the creamy oat milk.

Chestnut oat milk smoothie: Another drink that I haven’t seen around in other bubble tea shops. I didn’t see them making this drink so I am not 100% sure if they use real chestnut, but it sure tasted like it. It didn’t taste artificial.

Baroness has quickly risen to the top of my bubble tea list, and I would highly recommend trying their drinks. One thing to note is that their hours are limited compared to other shops. They are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and open only from 2pm-7pm on the other days.

Although Baroness is out of the way for me, I would gladly make the drive there if I was free that day because their drinks are high quality and delicious. I am looking forward to my next visit.