We, as the SAS community, are bound together by many things. But not many can top our utmost devotion for bubble tea. If anything, drinking boba is SAS students’ second nature. On takeout Fridays, even our non-native speaking friends can chant their orders out perfectly to the Yidiandian worker on the phone. At 12:45, drinks in hand, we watch the Yidiandian delivery boy fumble for exact change while trying to find the perfect angle to squeeze five cups of milk tea through the slits of the gate. What can we say? There’s just something about Boba.
But why Yidiandian? There are so many other boba stores out there that, for all we know, might just prove to be our new obsession. For this reason, I decided to conduct a bubble tea taste test.
With help from a friend, we decided to visit and rate a few Shanghai’s most beloved bubble tea stores. For the purposes of our taste test, I picked three bubble tea shops that are most frequented by SAS students - Yidiandian, Happy Lemon, and Gongcha.
For each store, we would order a cup of their bubble milk tea and rate it based on three criteria: the texture of the boba, the taste of the milk tea, and our experience of their services.
There will also have a quantitative score out of 10 for each of the criterion and an overall score out of 10 for each of the stores. Bear in mind that all this is subjective - by no means am I putting down any stores.
The first store we went to was Gongcha. As our first drink of the day, it would set a benchmark for the other bubble teas. The only question remaining was whether it had potential to catapult itself upon the pedestal of boba godliness upon which we hold Yidiandian. Without further ado, we ordered a cup of bubble milk tea (standard sugar level, 14RMB)
GONGCHA
Service:
Average - drink delivered within two minutes. Workers weren’t particularly welcoming.
Boba:
Very chewy - stays intact. Bland taste because milk tea’s flavor doesn’t seep into the boba. Texture is slightly bumpy. Quantity of boba is such that there was quite a lot left after tea is finished.
Milk tea:
Tasted like sugary milk. Almost no hint of tea flavor. Very strong milk aftertaste.
Overall Ratings:
Service
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Boba
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Milk Tea
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Overall
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
At our next store, Yidiandian, we ordered a boba milk tea (standard sugar levels, 12 RMB)
YIDIANDIAN
Service:
Workers greeted us as we arrived and our order was taken promptly. Store had significantly more people than Gongcha and Happy Lemon. Speed was slow - wait was about 10 mins. There were others who ordered after us and got their drinks before we did.
Boba:
Soft outer coating on each boba, which absorbs the flavor of the milk tea. Boba itself has a distinct sweet flavor. Was chewy to an extent, but not as much as Gongcha’s boba - kind of disintegrates in your mouth instead of staying intact. Quantity is less than Gongcha’s. Tea was finished at the same time as the boba.
Milk tea:
Has distinct tea flavor along with milky taste. Taste is more dynamic - sweet first, then slightly bitter. I liked the tea because the slight bitter taste balanced the sweet taste of the milk, and the drink wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet.
Overall Ratings:
Service
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Boba
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Milk Tea
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Overall
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Our last store is Happy Lemon. It’s definitely not as popular as the other chain stores, but we thought it’d be worth a try. Once again, our order was a bubble milk tea (standard sugar levels, 11 RMB).
HAPPY LEMON
Service:
Great service - the guy who served us was particularly enthusiastic. Our drink was delivered in a minute or so.
Boba:
Chewiness was middle ground between Gongcha and Yidiandian - didn’t have soft outer coating like Yidiandian, but less “rigid” than Gongcha. Boba itself is also sweetened. Lots left over when milk was finished.
Milk tea:
Not mixed well - dark sugar syrup at the bottom. A slightly darker hue than Yidiandian and Gongcha’s bubble teas. Milkiness and tea taste are indistinct and not as concentrated. Watered down?
Overall Ratings:
Service
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Boba
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Milk Tea
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Overall
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Although Happy Lemon’s milk tea was a bit lacking, the service was pretty top-notch. The boba was also done commendably. And so our bubble tea investigations concluded on a happy note.
Some conclusions we made:
The best tasting drink?
Either Yidiandian or Happy Lemon. I preferred Yidiandian, but others’ personal preferences might prevail.
The best service?
Definitely Happy Lemon’s. Its service was speedy, and the worker enthusiastic.
The most “worth it”?
Comparing our ratings of the bubble teas to their prices, we thought that Gongcha’s Boba (14 RMB, standard cup), though the most expensive, wasn’t quite worth the money. Given our ratings, we concluded that Yidiandian’s bubble tea was worth every cent of the 12 RMB. Happy Lemon was one RMB cheaper, but its milk tea tasted a bit diluted.
Part of the joy in food sampling is being able to slow down and closely evaluate something; in an increasingly fast-paced world, I think that ability makes food sampling meditative. Throughout this trip, we had consumed an almost sickening amount of bubble tea, but this experience kind of rebooted our instinctive, machine-like consumption of it.
So often in movies and films do we witness food critics with wire rimmed glasses hunch over their plates, eyelashes a few inches away from some morsel of food, as they prod and sniff at it almost obsessively. I think SAS could use a bit of that energy. The next time you get bubble tea, use it as an opportunity to press pause. Like when food critic Anton Ego’s utensils clatter to the ground in a moment of absolute, delicious bliss, have your own Ratatouille moment. As to which store you get the bubble tea from, I hope my review acts as your compass.
Qinyi Ma (with help from Heidi Cao)
But why Yidiandian? There are so many other boba stores out there that, for all we know, might just prove to be our new obsession. For this reason, I decided to conduct a bubble tea taste test.
With help from a friend, we decided to visit and rate a few Shanghai’s most beloved bubble tea stores. For the purposes of our taste test, I picked three bubble tea shops that are most frequented by SAS students - Yidiandian, Happy Lemon, and Gongcha.
For each store, we would order a cup of their bubble milk tea and rate it based on three criteria: the texture of the boba, the taste of the milk tea, and our experience of their services.
There will also have a quantitative score out of 10 for each of the criterion and an overall score out of 10 for each of the stores. Bear in mind that all this is subjective - by no means am I putting down any stores.
The first store we went to was Gongcha. As our first drink of the day, it would set a benchmark for the other bubble teas. The only question remaining was whether it had potential to catapult itself upon the pedestal of boba godliness upon which we hold Yidiandian. Without further ado, we ordered a cup of bubble milk tea (standard sugar level, 14RMB)
GONGCHA
 |
| via Vulcan Post |
Service:
Average - drink delivered within two minutes. Workers weren’t particularly welcoming.
Boba:
Very chewy - stays intact. Bland taste because milk tea’s flavor doesn’t seep into the boba. Texture is slightly bumpy. Quantity of boba is such that there was quite a lot left after tea is finished.
Milk tea:
Tasted like sugary milk. Almost no hint of tea flavor. Very strong milk aftertaste.
Overall Ratings:
Service
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Boba
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Milk Tea
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Overall
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
At our next store, Yidiandian, we ordered a boba milk tea (standard sugar levels, 12 RMB)
YIDIANDIAN
 |
| via epm3021 |
Service:
Workers greeted us as we arrived and our order was taken promptly. Store had significantly more people than Gongcha and Happy Lemon. Speed was slow - wait was about 10 mins. There were others who ordered after us and got their drinks before we did.
Boba:
Soft outer coating on each boba, which absorbs the flavor of the milk tea. Boba itself has a distinct sweet flavor. Was chewy to an extent, but not as much as Gongcha’s boba - kind of disintegrates in your mouth instead of staying intact. Quantity is less than Gongcha’s. Tea was finished at the same time as the boba.
Milk tea:
Has distinct tea flavor along with milky taste. Taste is more dynamic - sweet first, then slightly bitter. I liked the tea because the slight bitter taste balanced the sweet taste of the milk, and the drink wasn’t overwhelmingly sweet.
Overall Ratings:
Service
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Boba
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Milk Tea
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Overall
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Our last store is Happy Lemon. It’s definitely not as popular as the other chain stores, but we thought it’d be worth a try. Once again, our order was a bubble milk tea (standard sugar levels, 11 RMB).
HAPPY LEMON
 |
| via Shubhro |
Service:
Great service - the guy who served us was particularly enthusiastic. Our drink was delivered in a minute or so.
Boba:
Chewiness was middle ground between Gongcha and Yidiandian - didn’t have soft outer coating like Yidiandian, but less “rigid” than Gongcha. Boba itself is also sweetened. Lots left over when milk was finished.
Milk tea:
Not mixed well - dark sugar syrup at the bottom. A slightly darker hue than Yidiandian and Gongcha’s bubble teas. Milkiness and tea taste are indistinct and not as concentrated. Watered down?
Overall Ratings:
Service
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Boba
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Milk Tea
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Overall
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Although Happy Lemon’s milk tea was a bit lacking, the service was pretty top-notch. The boba was also done commendably. And so our bubble tea investigations concluded on a happy note.
Some conclusions we made:
The best tasting drink?
Either Yidiandian or Happy Lemon. I preferred Yidiandian, but others’ personal preferences might prevail.
The best service?
Definitely Happy Lemon’s. Its service was speedy, and the worker enthusiastic.
The most “worth it”?
Comparing our ratings of the bubble teas to their prices, we thought that Gongcha’s Boba (14 RMB, standard cup), though the most expensive, wasn’t quite worth the money. Given our ratings, we concluded that Yidiandian’s bubble tea was worth every cent of the 12 RMB. Happy Lemon was one RMB cheaper, but its milk tea tasted a bit diluted.
Part of the joy in food sampling is being able to slow down and closely evaluate something; in an increasingly fast-paced world, I think that ability makes food sampling meditative. Throughout this trip, we had consumed an almost sickening amount of bubble tea, but this experience kind of rebooted our instinctive, machine-like consumption of it.
So often in movies and films do we witness food critics with wire rimmed glasses hunch over their plates, eyelashes a few inches away from some morsel of food, as they prod and sniff at it almost obsessively. I think SAS could use a bit of that energy. The next time you get bubble tea, use it as an opportunity to press pause. Like when food critic Anton Ego’s utensils clatter to the ground in a moment of absolute, delicious bliss, have your own Ratatouille moment. As to which store you get the bubble tea from, I hope my review acts as your compass.
Qinyi Ma (with help from Heidi Cao)
