Tried the black milk pearl tea here. The tea was too watery for me, but the pearls were nice.

Seems inconsistent, it tastes different each time I order here. I usually stick to a milk tea with regular sugar but during my most recent visit it tasted sugarless and too milky. read more

The drink had way to much sugar and wasn't made to how we requested. The boba places right around the area are much better

Never thought you would go down star count in my book. I have been a bi-weekly customer since my last review. Since then, I have experienced bad customer service. Some workers talking to colleagues while I am waiting at the counter for someone to take my order. Multiple times. One time when I showed up at 9.45pm, I was received by a "we're closed" while I had called ahead of time to ask if you were still open (hate that, if you say you are open until 10, you SERVE until 10). I have experience dire lack of product. I am coming at PK for several things: the tea jellies, the portion size, the taste. You are always out of something now. I can't remember the last time I was able to order a lemon tea cuz you are always out. For the past three weeks, you've been out of green and amber tea jellies. Three weeks !!!! When do you plan on ordering more ??? I mean, there is a BUSINESS problem here. After coming several times to the store (I actually drive to come to you) and you were out, today I decided to call before heading for another disappointment. You are still out and after asking when do you think you will have them again, the worker on the phone mumbled and hung up on me !!! I am afraid that this will end up like the slushie affair, you know, when you were out the entire year ! So ... as much as I loved you, if you are going to care that little about your customers (not even knowing when you will have your product again...) then I guess I will have to take my boba love elsewhere. Sharetea and Tea Fever have great flavor too and since you won't refill your products, I think that's where I am headed. It's really a shame that you care so little. read more

The lady behind the counter is so enthusiastic and sweet (: even during this rush, she is still very calm and

I came here with some friends to see what the hype was all about. Unfortunately, this place is way over-hyped. I love drinking boba, and I have still yet to find a place in Cali that does boba best like Drive Thru Boba in Bellevue, WA. Also, service was horrible. It took 3 tries to get my order correct and I all asked for was b1 regular green milk tea with boba and egg pudding with 50% sweetness. The drink was watery and I was so disappointed. I was even thinking about getting 2 drinks because I wanted to try the matcha green tea also but I decided not to. I would not recommend this place at all. read more

I had a mango QQ tea it was alright. A bit sweet for my tastes, but I would go back again.

I don't know what's the hype about this place. I went here cus I have been seeing a lot of my friends on fb or IG posting pictures of these purple kow drink. I had better milk tea boba. The area is in a good location because it's near the UC Berkeley. Literally walking distance. Lots of little resto..Cafe nearby which I like. I order B2..I think its the roasted oolong with boba. And my husband got the D4 which we don't know what it is but it had grass jelly and boba. Between the 2 I like mine more because my husband's drink was very creamy and sweet. They do ask if u want less sugar but since it's our first time there we just stick to reg sugar. The cup/container is pretty cute. More like a bowl if u ask me. The bobas are tiny and very sweet. The cashier at the front is not that helpful. It was our first time there and she didn't really give us info when we ask her about the drinks. She just said told us to look at the pictures and pick. The drinks came and we had no idea which one is which. They do not mark it and the only reason I found out which one was my husband's drink is because I saw the grass jelly. They never called our number too or name so our drink was sitting there for a while and when my husband came to look and compare the receipts..the cashier said..yeah that's yours. Well....gee...thanks. read more

Purple Kow - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

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I really like the matcha tea crema with tapioca. This purple kow branch is brand new, so the store is very nice looking, clean, and there is an upstair seating area. The workers are very friendly and put a lot of effort in making the customers happy. From my two experiences here, the drinks are also great. You can also customize the sweetness of the drinks - that's always a plus in my book! read more

Came here around 5pm on a Monday and encountered no line. I ordered a mango green tea with 25% sugar and added jelly. It tasted delicious, but I could probably go for 0% sugar next time, since the jelly added in some sweetness. I love this place for their different flavors (esp. for their add ons), large cups and good prices. read more

The Kow. If you are looking for a different type of Boba come here. This is a top 3 boba spot in the entire Bay Area. They also have a location in San Francisco. I recommend getting any of the drinks that are on the D section of the menu. My favorite flavor here is caramel. Be aware the drinks here are super sweet but you can order a decreased sweetness level. The line here is usually 10 minutes and then another 5 minutes to get your boba, The line at the San Francisco location is much longer. read more

I need to start off this review by admitting that I was one of those people who was incredibly excited by the prospect of Purple Kow coming to Berkeley. In my opinion the other Berkeley boba shops (save for the newer Sharetea) lacked the quality and taste I had grown accustom to in my time across the bay. Imagine my disappointment then when I'm consistently served drinks that are ill-prepared and consistently sweeter than I ask. The drinks: the only thing I ever order (after some trial and error) is the matcha green milk tea. The matcha powder helps cut down the overwhelming sweetness, so I find it's the only thing I can stomach. I understand that I'm coming across as someone who can't stomach sugar, this isn't true. I just can't handle a drink that, even when I order 10% sweetness, still tastes like they dumped half of the store's sugar supply into my drink. The food: I actually do have to hand it to purple kow, some of their snacks have become a part of my guilty pleasures. I work in a building across the street from here so I often find myself braving the long, and slowly processed lines, for a bite to eat. That being said when there are competitors who offer more affordable and tasty options almost next door (top dog, sliver) it's sometimes hard to convince myself to come here. If you don't mind experiencing non-existent parking, bad service, and incredibly sweet drinks, then this is the place for you. Luckily, Berkeley contains many other options, and until Purple Kow listens to their customers I suggest you visit those places. Til next time, keep learning keep eating (the student foodie) read more

By far the best boba place in the Bay Area! The wait is worth it. Drinks are delicious and the boba is just the right consistency. I commute a long way just to get this boba! read more

Havent come to this location in so long and I think I'll keep it that way only because the girl at the register is so rude. Worst customer service I've ever received from here and I cannot tolerate it. Have her removed if she's not happy with her job... It makes all the customers feel uncomfortable. She would constantly ask if we were ready, with the biggest attitude like she had other things to do (but she didnt because shes at work & her only job was the register) and she was highly rude to the non-English speaking ones... I'm at lost for more words. EXTREMELY RUDE! read more

the teas here are just "ok" for the area. I don't like their boba's texture. Try Ucha's instead.

wow, the matcha fresh milk tea actually tastes like matcha...something that's hard to come by (thankfully there's also asha teahouse). i was happy with how much lighter this tasted than normal milk teas - it was very matcha-y, sweet but not too sweet. I probably would have gone there a bazillion more times by now had it not been for the limited hours, long line, and waiting time. read more

The one in sf is way better. Honestly each time I come here it gets worse. I always get the d3 and Every time I get it I feel there is more foam instead of milk. Aside from that the boba used to be better, now I feel they are just rushing to get it out so the boba comes out very soggy. The only reason I go here is because it's very close to my house. Overall I would say go to sf for a real taste purple kow. read more

D3 half sugar! perfect dessert. go with a friend order a large size and ask to split into two smaller cups. drinks are on the sweet side but you have the option to adjust the amount of sugar in your order. read more

First time trying it out and the wife and I are very pleased. Really tasty food for our money. We will definitely come back again.

First time being here and I tried the mint chocolate drink. It was off the hook. Definitely better than any milk tea place I've gone to. Will come back again read more

Lousy cashier, didn't ask if I wanted a bag when I ordered chicken nuggets and garlic fries. When I asked her to charge for a bag , she said she can't, so I asked her to reverse transaction and charge again and she didn't do. If I'm paying $10 for just snacks the least she could do was charge for a bag. Not spending my money here again. Better training to cashiers in future would help keep small business running. read more

To describe in one word: sickening. To describe in two words: sickening and ridiculous. I seriously think this place is a good research object for psychology, sociology, and business. I come in because of I am curious of why there are so many people standing in line all the time. I think this is a psychological phenomenon, but I forgot about the name. Anyways, so there I am lured. I order D3 with half the sugar, waited forever in the line, then waited forever to get my drink. I got the fat cup then went upstairs for a seat. Now I understand why its so empty upstairs while the line is so long. It is summer and it is hotter than outside! Why? You sell all those cheap sugar and you don't even afford to pay for some air-conditioning? Anyway, I am tired so I sat anyways. The drink? Loaded with sugar and gave me a sick feeling from the first sip. But a cheap person I am, I decide to finish it so I feel better for my wallet. But guess what? Just before the victorious moment of about to finish it, I am so sick that I feel like throwing up. I do not know if it is the lack of air circulation in the room, or the drink itself, or the combination of both...I ended up throw up in the restroom. And I walked out, enjoying the good feeling that comes with having no trash in my stomach and the summer breeze. read more

Love their D drinks which are the ice milk ones! I go for either D3 or D7 depending on if I want chocolate or caramel. They also let you exchange toppings, so I swapped out the boba for their aloe. Delicious! Their chicken nuggets are exactly as they say they are: made with salt and pepper, not basil, and more nugget-like than popcorn chicken. Still yummy though! read more

Purple Kow definitely makes some great boba drinks and I wouldn't hesitate to rank it as one of my favorites in Berkeley or even the Bay Area. The prices are slightly higher than other places but if you think about it, you really are paying the same amount considering their portions are huge and many of their drinks come with multiple toppings. My favorites are the ice milk with grass jelly and boba, twins qq, and any of the fresh fruit teas. You should be warned though, that the drinks are EXTRA sweet especially the ice milk drinks which they describe as being more of a dessert drink. For ice milk drinks I get 0% sugar (keeping in mind that the toppings themselves are also made in sugar). For fruit teas and milk teas, I get 50% and it is plenty sweet for me. Of course these are just my personal preferences but I think I can confidently say that you definitely want to get at most 75% sweetness. The environment is also very fun and modern, very fitting for the product that they sell and the crowd that they are aimed towards. The place can be quite slow however and if there is a line, expect to wait at least 10 minutes for your drink. If there's no line, expect to wait about 5 minutes. This slow turnover rate loses them half a star. The other half comes from the fact that I have had to come several times and try the drinks at varying levels of sweetness to discover what I liked because the drinks are just so damn sweet by default. Not a huge problem now that I've come and figured everything out! read more

After dinner with some friends, went to check out Purple Kow few doors down. Let me tell you what a disappointment it was. I ordered a C2, which looks good on their poster board, Mango slush looking drink. So we got a seat, the tables were dirty and hadnt been wiped. Well, when I got my drink it was watery like a tea, so I went up to the register to ask them if this drink was suppose to be slushy. The cashier said no, mind you, I'm pretty tolerable to ppl, but the cashier there was rude and brushed me off quickly. The drink barely had any mangoes and the mangoes they did have inside weren't even riped. The boba stuck together and we're kinda hard as if it was old or came out of the fridge not too long ago. Then to top it off, my friend went to use their restroom, it was nasty, dirty, and stinks like hell. This Purple Kow location needs to clean up this store including their employees and their drinks. read more

Purple Kow - The poster C2 as a slushy drink w/mangos, my drink on the right w/tapioca, barely had mangos & it looks like a tea. - Desserts Near Me - Berkeley, California

really wanted to like this place but was disappointed. I ordered three drinks and all were average. the third drink, which was supposed to be mango was not the right drink. it was very bitter and had little flowers in it! it also had no sweetener when I asked for regular sweetness. spent a days worth of my tip money on it so pretty butthurt at how lame it was lol read more

I was in the area and starbucks was packed so I came here to study today which sadly they don't have any wifi =/ besides that the drinks tasted great and i'm looking forward to trying other flavors in the future read more

They give big cups but the almond milk tea was bad and I ended up throwing most of it away. Tasted very artificial and non tea like

I've been craving a Tai Iced Tea with Boba for like seriously freaking ever. I finally figured out where all the awesome giant cups with bubble teas were coming from and I said "HELL YES!" While the wait was a little long, and it was a little steep for what I got (around $4) it was well worth it. I got my boba on and it felt so right. My boyfriend was not too keen on the idea, but i made the mistake of letting him try some of mine and now he's sold on it too. Purple Kow is likely going to end up replacing Starbucks for me, and that's totally cool. This place is amazing. I'm a little apprehensive about trying all the other crazy and exotic looking drinks they have there, so if anyone can make any recommendations, I would sincerely appreciate it. read more

This place ok... The milk tea was way milky, and I did not tasted any tea. The boba and fried chicken were average. If they are gonna serve a large amount of milk tea in a chubby cup, they should add more tea instead of more milk. Just wayyy too milky to my taste. read more

The customer service sucks !!!!!.. She took my order wrong and when it show up on the screen I corrected her... She said she couldn't change and I had to take it. I had better milk tea elsewhere,nothing spectacular. It's just at a convenient location. read more

I was the first person in line to try this raved about boba place.. Purple kow opened and the lady took my order It took 25 minutes to make a simple milk tea drink... 25 MINUTES!!!!!!!! $ HOLY CRAP... read more

Their bubble tea is not bad. Better than the average out there, but not the best either. Their service could use some improving though. The cashier taking orders is the same person handing out orders, so while the cashier is taking orders, ten orders pile up behind her and causes a huge crowd of people impatiently waiting for their drinks as they watch the ice in their drinks melt. Not very efficient, IMO! read more

We asked for no sugar and they gave us a very sugary drink and wouldn't budge when we asked to remake it

Horrible Service! Came here for the first time today at around 5 and ordered a oolong milk tea w/ boba, nothing special. After 15 minutes of waiting, I went up to the cashier to ask how much longer my drink would take, she didn't give me a straight answer and said "oh they're making it now". 10 minutes later I went back up and asked if I could just get a refund and leave, but she said "we don't do refunds" and told me there was a mistake in the machine and that they were going to make it now. I waited by the cashier for 5 more minutes (this place wasn't even busy at the time!) and they finally brought out my drink. I asked for a to-go bag and the cashier said "that's 10 cents". Really now?! You're still going to charge me for a plastic bag after waiting 30 minutes for a drink?! I just turned around and left, it was almost 6 and I was already late for BART. Only after getting to the BART station did I realize there was no boba in the drink. Wow, you really hit the nail on the head there. So much for a first impression, what a waste of my time and money. read more

I've been to this purple kow a few times and I always get a regular milk tea, which is just fairly OK. This time I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and I ended up getting a high mountain oolong crema, which tasted pretty pretty bland... so of course out of disappointment I just asked if I can get another drink, which the cashier said no to. So since the cashier said no, I decided to ask if they can just simply put ice into my drink because there was no ice in the high mountain crema at all. The cashier again said no to my request again alongside the baristas reinforcement about how the drink ABSOLUTELY has to have NO ICE in it. I even asked if they can just give me ice in a separate cup and I'll even pay extra for it because of the difficulty of just getting some ICE.. After asking a couple of more times to simply get some ice, they finally gave me my ice! My issue here is the service and the lack of willingness to modify the drink to fit the customers personal taste just by ADDING ICE, which of course compelled me to write this review. All in all though I do not recommend the high mountain oolong crema, especially if you enjoy ice in your drink ;) read more

I remember bookmarking the one close to the city when I first heard of it, then was thrilled to know Berkeley was a new location for them. Despite it being in the east bay, it was still a tad out of the way for me so it took me this long to finally try it. And it was only because I was on my way somewhere and happened to walk past it. The drink menu had quite a variety of drinks to choose from, as well as the toppings. I got a passionfruit green tea (no milk) with pearls to share with my sister and it came out to be about $3.25. The drink itself was nothing unique, and the pearls seemed smaller than usual (between a normal pearl and a mini one). The store itself had upstairs seating, which was pretty cool and décor was simple, but clean and chic. I have to say I like the oversize, fat and short cups more than I enjoyed their tea. The cups totally reminded me of a boba place in Irvine. =) Well, at least I took one thing off my bookmark list. read more

You just can't go wrong with Mango Green Tea. I like how the cup is shaped as well. Pretty unique with a hipster name =]

Yooo. I love me some fruity drinks. I had this Californiafragilistic one. I think it was F3 or F2. It just had a bunch of mango jellies and lychee jellies and a bunch of other lovely fruity flavors and such. Cool spot! read more

For me, the portion is too huge. I'd rather pay less and get a smaller portion - which they had the alternative. They have seating on the 2nd floor, but it was hot. I don't think it got much air ventilation. The taste was alright, and the line got long pretty quickly. read more