Did you know? Bubble tea or Boba is an old drink. It is supposed to date back to the early 1980s in Taiwan. It is so normal in China even McDonald’s do it. When did you have your first bubble tea? So, Taiwan will know a thing or two about bubble tea. Xing Fu Tang is the number one bubble tea brand of Taiwan!
So, it is no surprise that their bubble tea is one of the most popular in London. It’s probably a showdown between them and The Alley for the number one spot for the most popular/famous. Our personal favourite is Xing Fu Tang. And for two reasons.
- The taste. The true test of a boba place is the brown sugar milk tea. The one here tasted amazing. It had a burnt butter caramel taste. Especially when they cook the tapioca pearls more. We had it once where it didn’t taste as good; we assume because the tapioca was not cooked as much. But when they do it right, wow. It had everything you want in a brown sugar milk tea drink and then some! This tasted the most authentic for sure.
- The theatre. You get to see your drink being made right in front of you from the tapioca pearl cooking to the drink formation (scroll to the end for a video). The gold leaf is just pointless let’s be honest, but again doesn’t it add to the theatre and drama. Why do you think Salt Bae can charge £600 for a steak? Because of the theatre he provides.
We also got the soda with handmade jelly, which was the perfect summer drink. But it’s just like fizzy lemonade. It’s the gold leaf brown sugar milk tea that you want from here.
They’ve also got a gold leaf ROSE milk drink. Has anyone ever got that? I’m starting to think it’s a myth. I’ve never seen it in stock nor have I ever seen anyone get it.
Getting there
Parking: Ossulston Street – free evenings and weekends – plenty of parking spaces on Sundays – about 20-30 min walk from Soho/Chinatown, but it is just outside congestion zone
Nearest Mosque: Muslim World League Goodge Street (5 min drive)
Nearest station: Leicester Square
If you don’t like bubble tea or are new to it here’s a quick bubble tea 101:
– start safe and with the classic flavours if it’s your first time.
– brown sugar milk / brown sugar milk tea is the original / classic / most popular flavour.
– if your complaint is all I can taste is milk, well then you’re ordering the wrong thing my friend. Brown Sugar Milk = you guessed it, milk. If you’re after that tea flavour, you need to order brown sugar milk TEA! Or any other drink that has the word tea in it.
– tapioca pearls are supposed to have like a burnt caramel taste to it and a unique gooey texture. When done right, delicious! And works well with any milk based drink (not the fruity ones). Xing Fu do some of the best tapioca pearls I’ve tasted!
– some don’t even try it because they claim they don’t like tea or any warm drinks. Well good news for you because typically a bubble tea drink is not warm… it is cold! And you can just opt for a flavoured milk option as opposed to tea flavour if you don’t like tea. I’d suggest the honeydew melon one.
– if iced milk tea isn’t your thing, then go for the fruity drinks. If you do, you probably shouldn’t get the tapioca pearls. Get the popping bubbles. My favourite is peach tea with lychee popping bubbles. Trust me, your mouth will thank you! Strangely, these popping bubbles were hard to find in China. I’m assuming the norm is and should be tapioca pearls.
– can the tapioca pearls kill you? A common question asked on Google. Looolz. No it cannot. Mind you, there was a case of a Chinese girl choking on them. So, do be careful. I hope I didn’t put you off there.
– if you still don’t like it, maybe it’s not your cup of tea (no pun intended) – you don’t have to like it just because half the world does.
Comment below your favourite bubble tea drink or any tips you have for the world.
