So I found a weird cardboard looking thing in my grapefruit green tea drink and asked the workers what it was. They looked and said it was a grapefruit seed and did not offer to make me a new drink. This is not a grapefruit seed! Disgusted and disappointed because it was my favorite boba tea place. read more

Purple Kow - Weird things found in my drink. - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

This place is fire. If you got time stay and grab some food with a drink, but if you're a little shorter on time just get a drink! The place always has a line and wait time can usually vary from 5-15 minutes. There is no big menu to stare at so grab a menu at the front of the line to figure out what you want unless you want to do a stress drink (picking a drink under the pressure of holding up the line haha). I usually get the F1 and some chicken wings! Always a fan of this place. read more

Purple Kow - F1 and a D4 - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

I found a fly in my milk tea when I was half way done with it! I almost didn't see the fly in the black boba. It is so disgusting and I will never buy from them again. Their milk tea doesn't taste good anyway (strong artificial flavor). read more

Purple Kow - A fly in my milk tea - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

I really love this place. The boba is delicious and there are so many choices on their huge menu. I have been there 3 times and the service is great and I have always enjoyed my boba drinks. I like that you can choose how much sugar goes into your drink as well. I think I would have to go every day for like three months just to try every thing they have. Great place to go with my family. My daughters and I enjoy our trips to Purple Kow. Can't wait to go back. Yum! read more

Purple Kow - Huge menu. Lot's of great choices. - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

See all

I really like the oolong tea! Especially with pudding. The store has some seats at the second floor, and the decoration is pretty. I also love their small fat tea cup:) read more

Purple Kow - The shop - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

This is the first Boba place I've been to in the Bay and I gotta say that it lived up to the hype! Large selection (I have to try other flavors, hehe) and friendly ambiance. The boba is particularly sweet (compared to other places I've been to), so be sure to request less sugar if you don't have that super sweet tooth :) I give it 4 stars and not 5, simply because I like Pekoe (in East San Jose) better. read more

My friends raved about Purple Kow but when I went there with two other friends, none of us liked what we got. The boba was standard, nothing special and more on the mushy side. Tea tasted stale. I think it's dependent on what you get but in my opinion a good boba shop should have every drink be a winner down pat. read more

the guy who was taking orders didn't even know what drinks they had on the menu. Sucky customer service compared to the one in the city. He didn't know they served chocolate milk iced tea. Why work here if you don't know anything read more

The food is pretty good, though expensive. The milk teas are average and very expensive. Side note: they over-package everything in plastic. So much unnecessary waste. I'll avoid this place read more

I've been getting boba for years but when I walked into this place I felt a little confused. There was no one behind me in line so I thought I could take my time but I was rushed. I felt annoyed so I just decided to go with Almond Milk Tea because that's a very simple drink I figured nothing could go wrong. I don't remember if I ended getting half or micro sugar but I know I didn't get the full amount. Anyways it just wasn't good, it seemed like they used way too much of the almond flavoring. It cost me more than $4 which seems overpriced but to be fair the cup was extremely large. Then again I didn't care to have so much considering I genuinely did not like what I got lol. Customer service wasn't great at all but they weren't really rude. I don't plan on coming back but it's not because of the staff, just because I was let down by the drink! In the end that is kind of what matters the most, I wish I could say they were rude but at least the drink was good haha. My friend is in love with this place's Lychee Boba so if I do ever go back I'll try it, because really you can't go wrong with Lychee (in my opinion)!! read more

I love bubble tea, so I set a high bar for this kind of stuff. I find Purple Cow (or Kow or something) has good quality drinks at reasonable prices. The reason that I cannot give them 5 stars is because you can catch them on an off day sometimes where they won't make the highest quality, but apart from that, they are really great in the 'taste' department. I wish that they would turn their stamp card system digital, but to each their own. Overall, I would recommend this alternative restaurant to anyone who wants a hangout, or wants to visit a part of Berkeley's culture. read more

Purple Kow - Awesome bubble tea - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

This place has a super cool upstairs that is perfect for studying or hanging out. The serving sizes are also huge, so you better be thirsty! They're also pretty sugary so 80% sugar is more than plenty usually I got a black milk tea with boba and lychee. It was super good. The Lychee was really fun and made the otherwise pretty simple drink exciting. It was overall really good The rest of the group got Thai teas with boba, which they enjoyed. They also have stamp cards, and then you get ten you get a free drink, which you can supersize and put lots of toppings on for free! I like this place. It's good for a big sugary drink, but don't eat it before working out-it lingers for hours read more

During busy times, their process is very inefficient. They have one person doing cashier, straw refiller, answering phones, and giving out toilet keys. As a result, there is a heap of finished milk tea and fried chicken that hasn't been given out and a whole lot of people waiting while the cashier is taking more orders. Other than service, D4 (ice milk) is pretty good. I definitely do not recommend C2 (fresh mango green tea). 3 stars for service, wait time, and the horrible C2. read more

Purple Kow - Suppose to be mango green tea (C2)? I could make this better with just water and syrup. - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

I used to like their iced milk drinks, which were okay because few other places had them at the time, but the quality level has really fallen in the last 3 years. Their popcorn chicken is meh. They were made of breast meat which was really dry, compared to the usual delicious thigh/dark meat. I still get their roasted oolong milk tea regularly because the location is close to my home, but only about half the time is it up to par. The other times, it's too milky and watery, and barely has any tea flavor. Their boba is a really odd size so I never get them. In the middle of small boba and regular, large boba. Like, I can't swallow them straight but they're also hard to chew. Most of the time there's also a longer wait line than other boba places. I'm not very impatient, but it's not as worth it for the drink quality. read more

Back in the day, the line for PK in San Francisco would be 10-20 people out the door. I remember I once waited 1 hour for a drink at PK. I think part of it too was that they took their sweet time making the drinks; also the menu was really small and customers didn't know what they wanted until they got to the front of the line so it just took literally forever. Was in Berkeley for a basketball tournament and yelping this location, I of course decided to come and try it out. The place is pretty cute; it has good lighting and there is seating in the front and also upstairs. It connects to the food place next door. Overall it seems like a good place to come. However the tea is not as good as their SF location. I remember the first time I got a peach green tea at PK in San Francisco; it had little bits of fruit in this refreshing, but not bitter green tea drink. At this location, it tasted differently, mostly like bland tea and fruit flavoring or syrup. It was ok; on the level of a normal boba place. My wife got a milk tea. The milk tea was also just bland, yet sweet at the same time. Does that even make sense? Good milk tea should have good tea flavor without bitterness; sweet but not too sweet. It was alright I guess, but if you knew PK like I knew PK, it was a letdown. I know there's lots of choices for boba in Berkeley so if you are nearby, maybe you can try it out. But I wouldn't want to circle the block looking for parking just to visit. read more

We placed our order. Was informed they could not make that item. Err, it's on the menu? Person from kitchen came to confirm---indeed. Waited. Was informed, sorry, you can not order a split (2 teas) for that item. OK, fine, can they cancel our order? Sure, but you'll have to wait in line again. Seriously? The tea is OK here, but pricy compared to U Cha or Happy Lemon just down the road, where we will buy from now on. read more

Had my go to strawberry green tea, lightly sweet with a quarter ice. They did a solid job and so far my favorite over the usual suspects of Itea and Sharetea. Like their choice of container over a normal boba cup. read more

So I hear a lot of people talking about Purple Kow in Sf or Berkeley and I wanted to see for myself what was so popular about it. I came in and ask what is the most popular drink and they said it would be the original purple kow... which is just your regular milk tea. I decided to skip that and ordered the roasted oolong milk tea, normal sweet, and with aloe Vera. After I took my first sip, I was very disappointed, I ask for normal sweet but it was more "light sweet" and you can barely taste the roasted ooIong. I definitely recommend other boba places in other cities besides Berkeley. It is just not worth it. They do not compare to boba places in SJ at all. T4 makes roasted oolong milk tea 5 times better than this place . This place would be a last minute resort if no other options were available. Sorry but I won't be coming back. I can see why they only have a 3.5 star now. I gave it 2 stars since the worker there was nice and answered my questions regarding the certain toppings they have and offered me recommendations. read more

Huge bobaholic here (who isn't in the bay area?!), but Purple Kow is overrated in my books. Not originally from the bay area, but have heard about this place near and far (pretty good branding I must say). Generally, they have a really diverse menu with lots of options for different tastes, and I appreciated the clearly defined "sugar levels" that you can add to your drink (i.e. regular, less sugar, etc.). Very thoughtful. Speaking of the drinks themselves, I have a scientific method when it comes to comparing boba places. Whenever I go to a new boba cafe, I usually get the standard milk tea with tapioca pearls so I can have a "control group" to compare between the others I've tried. They didn't have a "regular" but the black milk tea was the closest alternative. The tapioca pearls at Purple Kow are probably the best I've tried among the rest in the Berkeley area (Quickly's, Sweetheart's, Sheng Kee, Tea Fever, Asha Tea House... remind me again that I'm an addict). They're soft, chewy, and a bit sweet themselves--not bland like some other ones. The smaller sizes was also a refreshing difference! But if somebody switched my drink for the milk tea at another one of these tea houses, I wouldn't even notice the difference. With the exception of a stronger black tea aftertaste, it isn't anything too special. Is there even a smaller drink size option? If so, I didn't see it on the menu and the cashier didn't ask. But logically, I'm not going to pay $4 for a drink when I can get an identical one for less somewhere else. I also care a lot about customer service and am very observant of overall store layout. No comments today about the customer service, because it is one of those Starbucks-style cafes where you go in to grab your drink and get out as fast as you can. Overall store layout, however, can be improved--there might have been seats upstairs but it wasn't obvious, and there was only one table for two downstairs, with a bunch of people crowding around the door when they didn't need to. Probably won't be raving about this place or rushing to grab this ubiquitous drink anytime soon. Just look at that price tag. read more

One can have too much bubble tea. I learned that after coming here. The tea comes in a huge, squat and fat cup and I felt sick after downing it. But it was still good bubble tea. You can customize your sweetness level. 25% sugar tastes a bit watered down. Half the sugar is on the mark. It takes some time to get your order (once as long as 20 minutes) and its a little pricey. They have a stamp card where you get one free drink after 10 stamps. Which is equivalent to spending ~$40 to get a free drink -___- read more

My husband and I LOVE Purple Kow! We discovered them after Share Tea, and I found that I like Purple Kow's drinks a lot more because you get a much bigger amount per drink. I have tried one of their crema drinks, and it was good. The crema is like a thick whipping cream, smooth and not salty. I LOVE their milk teas with boba. We always like getting the hazelnut flavored or other fun flavors. I have not gotten a drink I did not love. 50% sweetener seems just right for all of the drinks I've gotten. Also, I really enjoy the cool decorations in the shop--very modern and fun. read more

Tbh it's pretty okay. It's kind of gone down in quality since I went here last year. Plus they don't fill their drinks to the top, which while not a necessity, makes you feel cheated compared to the other boba places. But they're really nice about modifications so that's pretty cool read more

Overpriced boba drinks. The popcorn chicken should be called chicken jerky nuggets instead.

Service was ok, but I don't know what the big deal is. Tea tasted watered down and left me wanting more...Not in a good way. Won't be back again. read more

I just don't like this place for their tea. I wanted my usual taro milk tea but they don't even serve it. I got something else like a chocolate milk tea, it was ok but I don't see myself coming back. read more

So I don't usually like boba balls, but the one time I forgot to order my Iced Milk Drink (with caramel & pudding) without the the usually offensive balls, I ended up enjoying them! Warm, small, sweet, & soft-chewy... I guess I've had some bad experiences with hard-chewy, flavorless boba before, but Purple Kow proves that not all boba are created equal. Love this desserty drink! The only time I deviate from it is to order a Passionfruit Green Tea with no sugar when I'm watching my daily calorie intake, but still want a lil' sumfin-sumfin. read more

Do not deal with these people. There are so many better places to go buy your milk tea. These people are rude. This place was one of my go to places for a milk tea for almost a year. These people turned out to be so racist and treat their customers like crap. If you don't read anything else, just hear me out for a second. The cashier of this place told a worker to literally IGNORE me. To STOP talking to me. That itself should give you a reason to stop going to this racist place. Let me explain myself 5/3 around 4:50pm I still cannot believe what happened to me yesterday in this place. As I walked in there was nobody in line except for me, and this one lady named Sephora was working at the register. As soon as I looked at her face I remembered that she was the one who took my order wrong last time, which was the same drink that I was trying to get yesterday. I ordered D3 from her and told her that I wanted that drink without pudding but more boba instead, which is NOT a hard substitute order, and mentioned that TWICE since she got me the wrong drink last time. Then, after I got a receipt from her, I realized that she got my order wrong again. So I went up to the register immediately to make sure if she got my order right, asking her if she could fix it, and then she looked like she would be checking on my order, but then my drink already came out. She said we already made your drink, so I was like I told you that twice. One of the ladies working who probably made my drink came out looking pissed because of the mistake Sephora made, but Sephora defended herself saying "It wasn't my mistake" as if it was my mistake. Then two ladies came out, Wendy who leered at me multiple times and Cindy who made me the corrected drink and said "You should have told us before we made your drink." And then I was like "I told her already like TWICE." Cindy kept sneering at me the whole time I was there talking to them. Cindy was like "Okay, she APOLOGIZED you, and I MADE your drink so you would better leave the place." WHAT THE HELL? She literally was kicking me out of the store. And she did not apologize! When I said "she didn't apologize me." and Sephora, Cindy, and Wendy started giving me attitude, almost yelling at my face, that pissed me off. Would you be able to enjoy their drink if you would be treated like crap from them? How would I know if there would be spit in the drink? And also I just didn't want to spend even single penny on their business, and I thought I would be happier if I could spend the money on a homeless instead of spending it on their business. So I asked Cindy if I could get refund, and then she was like sneering at me and saying "We do not give customers refund. This is our policy and there is no such thing as refund in our policy." I didn't like her sneering at me the whole time so I asked her "why are you laughing?" she was like "What? I cannot smile? hey( calling one of her coworkers) she said I shouldn't smile hahaha." This almost sounded like this lady was like intentionally messing with me. They were like they could do this shit to me since I am not a fluent English speaker (but I do understand pretty much everything. I just cannot speak it as much as I understand) I wanted to talk to their manager so I asked for her name and Cindy said "Why would you need my name?" and said to the other two ladies "Do not answer her." Excuse me? Are you out of mind? Or is this just how you treat your customers, ignore them? How dare you humiliate people like that? Are you sick in your head? Or just a racist person? Obviously she was hesitated to give her name to me because she was guilty. Cindy is the rudest and meanest person I've ever met in my entire life. No one deserves to be treated like this. I have just ONE simple question for each of you two Sephora and Cindy how are you working there if you cannot properly input a customer's order, Sephora? Cindy, how do you feel after you humiliate people like that? Feel awesome huh? Feeling like you are superior? Go educate yourself how to treat people. Even little kids would know how to treat people way better. You would have probably been treated like crap from someone else all the time so you don't know how to do this shit. Poor you and shame on you. So neither did I take a single sip nor getting refund but had to leave this place because the three of them literally kicked me out of the store. I never hate anyone but I feel so ashamed of living my life on the same planet with this kind of uncivilized people. Try this place if you would like to enjoy to be humiliated by these people. Otherwise, avoid this place. read more

Such a great selection of different drinks. I come here with my sister all the time. She was the one who got me into boba in the first place. We both agree this is the best place around. The drinks are large and I like how you can choose the level of sweetness. The tapioca balls are a nice size and consistency and their drinks are always cold. The upstairs seating is a nice addition but when it's crowded the shape of the store makes it awkward while waiting for your drinks. read more

Purple Kow is definitely one of my favourite places to get boba. I usually order a chocolate milk tea ($3.99 plus tax) with added tapioca ($0.50). The price does come to a little more than some other boba places I've visited, but it's worth it because the regular size is pretty big (I have to hold it with two hands). If you're looking for boba with a variety of options for flavours and toppings, Purple Kow is the place for you. read more

This place used to decent when it first opened, but recent past visits have all been unsatisfactory. Everything tasted super watered down, and the flavors of the teas are nonexistent. The cashier was very nice, patient, and polite, but it really gets overshadowed by the below mediocre level drinks. I honestly believe I can get better drinks at randomass Quickly's. I been to Purple Kows in SF and SJ, and this one is definitely the worst, drink quality wise. I really advise not wasting your time here. Go to sharetea or other random milk tea places. Make your own at home. read more

Good boba found in the east bay! I was getting a bit worried that Mr. Green Bubble was the best thing near Oakland... Boba here is actually soft, chewy & most importantly, enjoyable. What's up with all these boba joints selling hard, under/overcooked tapioca?! Ridiculousness. My jaw is too tired for that kind of intense chewing. This place is doing boba RIGHT. Also, I love that you can adjust the level of sweetness (80%, 50%, 25%). The quarter-level increments are perfect. Price is reasonable and comparable to others. I ordered the black milk tea, and loved it! You can taste the flavors of the black tea, too. When you take a sip, it is actually credible that this is milk TEA, not just sweetener, creamer and ice cubes. I have decided that this place is great. The best boba in berk, so far, in my book. read more

Came here after dinner for boba and tempted myself into some popcorn chicken too...it was sooo sooo good, probably the best I've had. I just got back from T4 in Oakland and was so disappointed from their popcorn chicken, I came on yelp to review this place to remind myself of how good their popcorn chicken is for next time! read more

Ok really. if you say you're gonna close at a certain time then close. No point in staying open, you just end up pissing your remaining customers off. Sure we can respect your closing hours, but if you're still open and serving after then we expect the same service! If I can't expect to get the drink I want, I would much rather go elsewhere since theres plenty of boba places nearby. My order was changed twice, and another customer was forced to change her order three times even though she had ordered 10 minutes before. If you're out of something, tell it to me while i'm ordering and not after i've placed my order and am eager to get my drink. read more

I've been coming to this boba place for a year now, and up until recently, have been having a pleasant experience. My past couple visits, however, have not been so great, as they have been unable to properly fulfill my orders. For example, this past week, I ordered a peach oolong tea with 50% sweetness and a boba topping. Instead, I was given a peach green tea with an absurdly high, intolerable sweetness level, and grass jelly. It tasted as though I were drinking a tub of liquid sugar with a handful of grass. I honestly hope these past sub par experiences have been due to an incompetence among their summer staff. I sincerely hope they get their act together again, but for now, I'm sticking to other boba spots around town and I suggest others do too. read more

My favorite things about purple kow: -D4 chococolate milk tea with chocolate pudding. Never had pudding in boba till I tried I here. So good!! -grapefruit green tea. Not sure if they still have it because it's been sold out the past few times but I hope they bring it back for summer! They use real grapefruit so it has the pulp -stamp cards! I think it's by 10 and get 1 free - just found out you can do split cup (getting 2 smaller cups instead of 1 big one) which is great because sometimes I feel like I can't drink a whole one to myself. - I'm not a soy milk fan but I tried it recently because the cups here are so big and sometimes it feels like too much milk, and the soy milk tasted just as good as the regular milk! read more

As a SoCal native, I was really excited when I found out Purple Kow was opening in berkeley. There weren't many places in Berkeley where I could get good quality boba. One of the things I like most is that you have the option to adjust the amount of sugar in your drinks (and they have a huge menu selection of flavors that you can't get anywhere else). But I was really disappointed this time because even when I requested for only 50%, it still tasted sweeter than usual and I couldn't even finish it. Not sure if their drink recipes have changed but it sucks knowing that coming here is a gamble, rather than a guaranteed way to get my boba fix. Also, there have been a couple of other places that have opened up in the area (sharetea and ucha) that arrest cheaper. read more

This place is overhyped. I got the almond milk tea and it was loaded with way too much almond syrup/flavoring. I am super disappointed. I also made an effort to try the honey black tea and it was also loaded with sugar and syrup. No longer interested.. read more

I drink a lot of boba tea so I can say that purple kow's boba tea was very watered down. The tea wasn't fully iced and the tea was super bitter. My friend also ordered one and hers was the same. I'm not sure if it was an off day for the staff or something but I didn't enjoy my tea. I'll probably give it one more chance but if it's the same, then I most likely will not be coming here again. read more

I'm not HUGE on boba teas...but i've heard so much hype about this place that when i happened to be walking in the neighborhood, I had to give it a shot. I tried the mango with boba and it tasted pretty good. The thing that I do like about this place is that it gives you the option to tell them how sweet you'd like your drink. For instance, you could specify 50% sweetness so you can cut down on the sugar...which for me was a good thing since I don't have a huge sweet tooth. The sweetness was just right at 50% for me. I know the fat cups they come in are part of their identity that sets them apart from any other regular tea joint, but I found that later when I tried to fit the cups into the cup holder of our stroller, it didn't fit so I had to hold it the whole time...so if you're needing to transport that thing in a car with only fixed sized cup holders, I could see that being inconvenient. This is just something I noticed and I know has no effect on the quality of the drink, itself which was good. While the drink/price/quality was good, I don't think it's worth it for me to drive all the way to this hood, find/pay for parking and pick one of these drinks up. If you're already here, or if the location is easily walkable/bikeable for you, then go for it..it's a nice little treat. read more

I usually frequent the SF location but I was out this way having lunch with my brother whose never been to Purple Kow. The decor here is similar to their original store. It's a bit more crowded though since they share a wall with Top Dog. The line wasn't bad when we arrived at 3. The service was quick and the girls working behind the register were sweet. I ordered the Purple Kow Tea Crema with Grass Jelly and my brother got the Fresh Milk with Boba and Pudding. They ran out of boba so we had to wait an additional 20 mins. I wouldn't have minded the wait but when we finally did get our drinks, I felt like it lacked flavor. read more