Category Archives: Bubble Tea

Chatime in Richmond

So after being invited to Chatime by @ChineseBites on Broadway, I became a fan of Chatime. Every time I needed to go to a bubble tea place in Richmond, I suggested going to Chatime to my friends.

I’ve been to the Richmond location twice, both times around 11pm – and both times with a long line up out the door. This location is larger with more seats to chill on. It’s always super busy on the other side of the counter and the customers are lively even late at night.

I always ordered the Pearl Milk Tea, so this time, I decided to get the popular Chocolate Mousse (regular) $4.80. It was frothy and I had to mix the white cream with the chocolate at the bottom to get the right mixed taste. But even then, it reminded me of some chocolate protein shake.

The second time we went there, we took our friends from Germany there and the guy was really happy with the place. He also mentioned that he liked how you could customize your drink. I agree. They ordered the QQ Taiwan Mango $4.50 and a Mango Yoghurt $4.30.

Chatime allowed me to earn points for the friend’s drink too, so I’m up to 6 points. 4 more to go until I get a free drink!

You can sign up to their free membership, so that you can redeem one free regular drink with one complimentary topping for 10 points. You redeem 1 point per drink, so essentially, after 10 drinks, you get a free drink. You also receive a free drink on your birthday! They will send you a text message about the offer 7 days prior to your birthday. You also get the benefit of trying out their feature Chatime Tea of the Month™ drink that is selected by their Tearistas at an exclusive price.
If you become an Chatime Elite (after accumulating 100 points!), you can redeem 10 points for one free large sized drink with any toppings and one free food item of your choice (under $3.00 before applicable taxes)
In addition to all regular Reward member benefits, you also get:
•   Your very own personalized Chatime Elite Rewards card when you reach Elite status!
•   The chance to win lower-bowl sporting tickets every season, courtesy of our partner, Vicinity!
•   More exclusive access to promotions, offers, and store events!

Taste: Price for Value:

Atmosphere: Service:
Location:

Joy G Cafe

1 Reply

I hope I never return! I don’t usually start off so negative, but this place was terrible.
After our friend’s official party, some of us went to have dessert (after eating a ton of food already, lol). He took us to Leisure, but since it was packed with a bit of waiting time (close to midnight!), we headed off to Joy G instead.
The interior was ok, and the mahjong tables were interesting. There are lots of board games to play with but things seemed unorganized.

The server took forever to come take our orders, as some stood around doing nothing, or joining in at one of the tables of mahjong. One friend became really impatient, and wanted to complain (with attitude), but another stopped her from doing so. I ordered the Passion Peach Tea (around $4) which came in a big glass mug. It was soooooooo sweet that I couldn’t drink it, leaving 90% to go to waste. Sheepie tried a bit, but even for him, he found it overly sweet. Blah…I would not be surprised becoming diabetic from a place like this!

Sheepie’s Mango slush came in a huge pitcher, which again was very sweet. I only could take a sip.
There were six of us, and 5 had beverages with a guy ordering a bowl of ramen. Instant noodles with egg and ham! It looked like a bowl from a poor student mean (sorry students! – yes, I’ve been there too…several times…lol). Anyways, it was $8.50! Outrageous! You can get an authentic, tasteful real ramen for that price. Not this garbage!
To play the boardgames, it’s $3.50/hour PER person! What a rip-off! We were there for about 1.5 hours, and just playing the GAMES came out to $31.50… $32 for playing a simple game of Tier aus Tier (kind of like Jenga). We could have bought several of the games! With 5 drinks and an instant noodle, our total came to a whopping $60+.
This cafe could have been a cool cafe. But everything is so expensive and for super poor quality, this place gets two big thumbs down!!!

Taste: none Price for Value: none

Atmosphere: Service:
Location:

ChaTime on Broadway

1 Reply

As part of their grand opening event, I was invited as a blogger by ChineseBites.com. I’m super glad I was!

When I became health-conscious several years ago, I stopped drinking bubble tea because of its high sugar content and all the artificial flavours and chemicals. So it had been a long time since I had bubble tea.

Unfortunately, I came a little late in the day and so Sheepie and I were the last of the bloggers to arrive, and we didn’t get to meet any other bloggers. Boo…

Still, there were fruits and cakes left. Sheepie kept eating the brownie mini muffins. I don’t think these are offered on a daily basis , just for the party. The interior was clean and modern. It had a ‘Asian’ feel that was more upscale than most bubble places in town.

We both chose on from the Top 10 list. I went with the normal Pearl Milk Tea. Yes, I know, it may be boring to others, but for me, I just find that the plain one is always so good, so I went with the traditional. I was delighted to find out that I could customize my drink in terms of ice and sugar. I asked for regular ice and 30% sugar.

The little label with what’s inside makes it easier to distinguish between drinks if you have a group of people that order drinks.

Sheepie ordered the Brown Rice Green Milk Tea. It had the slight brown rice flavour, but with the regular sugar amount, it was too sweet for me. But the flavour tasted good – and healthy.

Despite being #1 bubble tea brand in the world, it was my first time knowing about ChaTime. But with over 1200 locations worldwide and over 100 million cups of Chatime bubble tea sold each year, I wonder if I’ve been living under a rock. But they are just venturing into the Vancouver world, hence the grand opening.

Founded in Taiwan, with 30 years of tea manufacturing experience, their tea is brewed fresh in store, using tea leaves and other high quality natural ingredients, (including Chatime’s own tea farm!) and relying on natural flavours without the use of preservatives, pre-made tea or tea powders. This was really good news for me.

They have certifications to ensure the quality and safety of their drinks, including throwing away the pearls after a few hours to make sure that pearls being served are always fresh.

More and more people are becoming health conscious (or just plain picky ) so this is a great place to chill out with friends without getting too much of a sugar crash afterwards. Prices are fair, and for good quality and service, I give ChaTime thumbs up. The portion is smaller than most other places, but for me, this is just perfect. I can’t drink a lot in the first place, so the size is great.

An extensive menu to choose from.

I am really curious about the Mousse drinks…Mmmmmmmmm

*This event was hosted by ChineseBites.com which invited food bloggers from across town. Each blogger had complimentary bubble tea.

Taste: Price for Value:

Atmosphere: Service:
Location:

DRINKS
Top 10:
1. Pearl Milk Tea
2. Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea
3. Taro Pudding Milk Tea
4. Brown Rice Green Milk Tea
5. Taiwan Mango QQ
6. Matcha Red Bean Milk Tea
7. Mango Smoothie
8. Red Bean Pearl Milk Tea
9. Matcha Tea Latte
10. Chocolate Mousse

Customize your drink:

Toppings: 8 available – pearls, grass jelly, coconut jelly, red bean, coffee jelly, aloe vera, rainbow jelly, pudding.
Ice level: regular, less, no ice
Sugar level: extra, regular, less, half, slight, no sugar

Locations:

DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER
1274 Robson Street, Downtown, Vancouver, BC
Opened April 2015

VANCOUVER
1545 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC
Opened April 2015

RICHMOND
450-9100 Blundell Road, Richmond, BC
Opened April 2015

WEB | SOCIAL MEDIA
www.chatimeca.com
Instagram: @chatimebc
Facebook: Chatime Vancouver
Twitter: @chatimebc