I first tried Gong Cha by Happy Tree House BBQ on Kingsway Street a year ago, but forgot to take pictures for a review, boo! 

Before our first Japanese lesson, I noticed that there was a Gong Cha nearby! Since then, we have been getting a drink for our lessons so this post contains a couple visits. 

This Gong Cha is usually quite busy, which is not surprising considering the location. Unfortunately, it is also quite hot and stuffy in here. They would benefit from some A/C, especially now that summer is here! 

Wintermelon juice: I was disappointed to hear that the sweetness level is not adjustable here as well. Nonetheless, I did not find it super sweet. Even with the addition of pearls, the sweetness was at a good level for me. 

The wintermelon juice was refreshing, light, and helped quench my thirst.

Milk tea with pearls: On our second week of lessons, the boyfriend went with the regular milk tea. He found it overwhelmingly sweet, to the point where it tasted just like syrup. 

The tea was fragrant, but he would definitely get this half sweet next time! 

Wintermelon with pearls and grass jelly: I never order a combination of pearls and grass jelly, but I was feeling a bit hungry before our lesson so I added the grass jelly to curb my hunger LOL!

I was quite shocked at how generous they were with the grass jelly! My drink almost looks black with how much grass jelly there was! The grass jelly was sweet and enjoyable. 

Coupled with the pearls, it was a nice textural mix. I would get this combination again if I was feeling hungry! It’s a tiny snack and drink in one, muahaha.

This location is convenient for us to grab a drink before Japanese lessons, so we will probably be back! 

Another Taiwanese bubble tea place checked off my list! YiFang is one of the many bubble tea companies from Taiwan to show up in Vancouver in the past year. I remember when they opened their first shop in downtown 1 year ago? Now, they have 5 locations in Metro Vancouver – with more to come probably!

Cola and I went to the location on Cambie Street after having lunch at TonTon Sushi next door, just across from King Ed Station.

One thing I really appreciated about YiFang was their descriptive menu. Under each drink, there was a full description of what was inside.

For someone who has dietary restrictions and digestive issues, it’s really important that I know what exactly is in the food or drink before having it. So, I really appreciated this detail!

Black tea latte: Cola has had this before, and found it to be alright. Nothing too special, nothing bad about it either.

Wintermelon juice: Unlike Sharetea, I wasn’t able to customize the sweetness level because it comes as a pre-made juice here. That was a bit disappointing, but luckily I didn’t find it overly sweet.

Even with the pearls added, the sweetness level was still tolerable although I would have liked it a bit less sweet for the wintermelon flavour to shine.

Brown sugar soft pearl latte: After hanging out with Cola, I came back a few hours later to get the boyfriend a drink to-go before heading home. We usually try new bubble tea places together and I didn’t want him to miss out!

Unfortunately, he didn’t find the black tea to be fragrant or strong enough. The black tea was quite faint.

Jinfeng roselle lemon slice juice: I also ordered this to have at night. Sadly, I forgot to order pearls! But after drinking it, I’m glad I didn’t because the drink was already very sweet.

I would describe this as a blackcurrant juice, just like Ribena, with a hint of lemon. You also aren’t able to customize the sweetness for this either. I ordered this with 30% ice, which was not a good idea because the juice was veryyyy concentrated and sweet.

I’d recommend ordering it with full ice level, otherwise it is like drinking syrup!

I’m glad I tried YiFang, but I wish customers were able to customize the sweetness level for their juices. I wouldn’t mind going back to YiFang if I happened to come across one and was wanting bubble tea though.

The drinks that Cola, the boyfriend, and I tried all weren’t the fruit teas which is what they’re known for… so we will definitely have to come back and try those!

After trying out RedBeef Noodle Kitchen, the boyfriend and I noticed a Sharetea location which was on the same block. We decided to go in and try this location, but sadly, left disappointed with our drinks.

Although, I would be willing to give them another chance in a few months because this location is only a month old.

When we first walked by, their open sign was off (you can see in the pic above) and it looked like no one was inside. However, I really wanted Sharetea so I decided to try opening the door and sure enough, they were open. I guess that was our first warning sign, haha!

There was one other customer waiting for his drink when we came in. The staff member seemed quite stressed when we walked in and asked us to wait a bit, which we didn’t mind since we were satisfied from our lunch.

After about 5 minutes, another staff member came out to took our order. This staff member did not seem as stressed, more confused and probably new as well. He asked about our toppings, sweetness level, and ice level twice.

Our drinks took about 10-15 minutes to make, which was not surprising since they both seemed new. I don’t want to imagine how long the wait would be if there were other customers in there! I’m glad we were the only ones waiting.

Wintermelon lemon tea: I’ve been on a wintermelon craze recently, but decided to try it with lemon this time. For comparison, I usually get the plain wintermelon 1/2 sweet.

I was expecting the lemon to be similar to a sweetened lemon juice? But it was sour and tart, and took away from the wintermelon flavour.

The most disappointing part was that they forgot to sweeten the pearls. While the pearls had a nice, chewy consistency, they lacked any taste/sweetness at all. I usually get the drink 1/2 sweet because the sweetness from the pearls make up for it. Coupled with the sour lemon juice, this just tasted like a plain, unsweetened lemon juice with tasteless pearls.

Don’t get me wrong – I do love my lemon water and drink it everyday, but I was expecting a wintermelon lemon tea that day!

Hokkaido milk tea: The boyfriend stuck with his current favourite, the Hokkaido milk tea. The tea was fragrant and tasted exactly like his usual ones which was a relief.

However, he was also disappointed at how they forgot to sweeten the pearls too.

I’m willing to give this Sharetea location the benefit of the doubt, because they are quite new. Often times, I don’t like trying restaurants right when they open because they have some kinks to work out… However, we didn’t know that they were newly opened (I looked it up when writing this review).

For now, I’ll stick with the Kingsway location and perhaps come back to this one in a few months if I’m in the area.

Bubble tea is taking over, and I’m not mad about it at all! Share Tea is the another place that the boyfriend and I tried with Maki and Nigiri one evening. We ordered delivery, so I can not comment on the restaurant experience!

The location we ordered delivery from was on Kingsway Street in Vancouver. Their store is located across the street from Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea, which is another really popular bubble tea place on my list. How do they compete with each other?! I guess Vancouverites really love their bubble tea.

Oolong milk tea: Maki and Nigiri shared the oolong milk tea. They’ve been to Share Tea a few times, and have enjoyed it. They had no complaints about their drink.

Hokkaido milk tea: The boyfriend has been enjoying his Hokkaido milk teas recently, ever since discovering it at Ding Tea. The Hokkaido milk tea at Share Tea was delicious as well! After reading up on it, the difference between a Hokkaido milk tea and a regular milk tea is that the Hokkaido milk tea uses a richer milk. This results in a richer and creamier flavour.

Wintermelon tea: For myself, I ordered the caffeine free wintermelon tea! I have been curious about wintermelon for a long time, so I finally ordered it.

Wintermelon has a mildly sweet taste, which would mix well with other fruits or tea. I ordered the 100% sweet with pearls, which I found too sweet. I would recommend getting it at 50% sweet, especially if you have toppings already.

On a second delivery order, I tried this half sweet which was a lot better! You can really taste the wintermelon. I’ve also tried the 30% sweet which I like too.

Fresh milk boba: The boyfriend decided to try the fresh milk boba the second time. It was caffeine free, basically composed of milk and pearls. He would order this again if he wanted something caffeine free.