[NYC BOBA TOUR STOP #41]
*My other stops on the boba tour: https://www.yelp.com/collection/4dXTAnFqPHD1D8obaInTZw/nyc-boba-tour
Super new place right near Koreatown/right off the 33rd street 6 train stop!! It's a small shop with just enough room to order and wait for your drinks. There was only one person behind the counter, and I can only assume they were the owner. I felt so welcomed; they told me to take my time looking at the menu while making conversation asking me how I came around to finding the store (they opened 3 weeks ago!), and even gave me a free sticker with the logo on it. Immediately after I said I'd be ordering six drinks total, they pulled out their stamp card which had a deal where you could get your 5th drink for half price, and they automatically added the reward to my order which was extremely nice of them.
We ordered (rating): Creme Brulee Mochi Milk Tea (3.5/5), Taro Mochi Milk Tea (4/5), Taro Mochi Milk Tea with Boba (3.75/5), Matcha Latte with Red Bean (4/5), Rose Milk Tea with Red Bean, Creme Brulee Brown Sugar Milk Tea with Boba (4/5)
The drinks took around 10-15min to make, but I could tell that each drink was sincerely made with so much care. Even when a few more customers started coming in, they still took their time whisking the matcha up, lining cups with mochi, and making sure each drink was made correctly with all the right adjustments. When they were caramelizing the sugar for the creme brulee drinks, they invited me to watch and smell the sugar, and they made sure I knew to mix the drinks up (especially the ones with mochi and taro), and how to drink the creme brulee drinks (sip some of the topping first before mixing - a tip I've never gotten before!).
Their signature is the mochi topping, which they told me themselves that you can't get at all stores. This fact, objectively, is definitely true, but my first mochi topping experience was literally so horrific that I couldn't bring myself to get it again. BUT I ended up trying my sister's mochi and it was actually much better here than it was at the store I got it at last time. It's a super interesting topping, specifically in terms of texture - I think it's a tossup in terms of whether or not people would like it or not. It's kind of like what you get when you eat grass jelly, but the mochi is chewier with the slightest bit of sweetness. I liked that it was thin, so it wasn't overwhelming when sucked up the straw. Now that I know what it tastes like, I'd definitely get it again and would recommend it to anyone who wants to try something different!
Unfortunately the boba fell short. Size-wise, you can expect a boba that's slightly smaller than the average boba size, and they were too soft for our liking. My sister liked her boba more after it had firmed up in the fridge. I think this store should also work on its ratios. I saw them literally with a scale, measuring out exactly how much mochi and boba to put in the cup, but the ratio of topping to drink was off, specifically for the red bean. I also ran out of boba earlier, but people tell me I'm a boba vacuum so I may not be the best data point for this.
To note about the teas themselves! I ordered the creme brulee brown sugar milk tea, and I'd say it was a pretty standard milk tea. The tea reminded me a lot of Gong Cha's regular milk tea. You can't go wrong, but I love when original milk teas have a bit of something extra that's unique to that store. The taro milk/milk teas are all made with fresh taro, which was surprisingly easy to blend into the drink (usually my big thing with fresh taro is that it's insanely hard to blend), but the flavor of the taro was less strong than other fresh taros we've had. BUT overall we love a fresh taro.
I also can't let this end without talking about the price because you definitely feel this like a hole drilled into your wallet. $7+ is the kind of price I've basically gotten used to in NYC when buying boba, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. This isn't a chain, so I definitely get it, but it's just something to be aware of.
Super grateful for the hospitality and service! And we'll be back to try some of their other drinks! read more