The 12 Bubble Tea Shops in Auckland you need to try
Tea, milk, sugar and tapioca balls, this is what constitutes a Bubble Tea, and why this Taiwanese creation is so popular specially with most East Asian and South East Asian denomination? While Kiwi’s preference is usually coffee from the multitude of cafes around New Zealand, bubble tea is coming strongly as the second. During the last five years, a lot of bubble tea shops emerged specially in Auckland and we had tried a lot of it since it started its phenomenon here, while some are just OK, others stand out and it’s not just the simple bubble tea anymore, now you can find a lot of varieties like crazy flavours and a multitude of toppings that you can choose from. Now where to get that fix? We compiled it for you, and these are the best ones we had tried so far.
MoMoTea
Albany, Newmarket, Henderson, Howick
Our review of MoMoTea
Let’s start with one of the first ones who served this in Auckland, while some have been graded really bad due to cleanliness practices, there are other branches scattered along Auckland that has a better grading. Menu is quite extensive, but we usually opt in for the milkshake series or the nata series, specifically taro milk shake and mango nata.
HuluCat
Albany, Auckland CBD, Dominion Road, New Market
Another one with and extensive selection and most of its location are quite accessible specially the one at the heart of Auckland CBD. Our go to tea here are their grass jelly milk tea, caramel pudding milk tea, mango slushy and lychee slushy. They also have special add-ons like Honey Aloe, Wheat Powder and various fruity jellies.
Cha Time
Auckland CBD, Dominion Road
How about some sparkling tea? Yes there is such a thing and they call it in Chatime as Mojitea, we always go for the Mango, Peach or Lychee Mojitea. We also love their QQ series where it is served with Pearl and Coconut jelly. But one thing these guys stand out for is their snacks, so you can enjoy things like fried chicken, popcorn chicken and fries with your delicious drinks. Finally these guys are one of the most affordable ones, it’s one of those places you can get a milk tea for as low as NZ$4.50.
One Zo
Auckland CBD
Our review of One Zo
This is one of the simplest menus you can get from a Bubble tea shop, with just 5 series with around 5-7 items on each, this is a less stressful way of choosing you milk tea. What these guys do have a lot though is their selection of handmade pearls. How about some Pokémon Bubble, Kyrie Irving, Peanut, Cactus, Buckwheat, Bamboo Charcoal or Potato Bubble? There are just some example of that selection. When here we usually opt in for the Taro Milk Tea and Yakult with Lemon, that Yakult is awesome!
Gong Cha
Many various Locations
Our review of Gong Cha
This 12 Bubble Tea Shops in Auckland you need to try list won’t be complete without this Taiwanese giant, with 13 branches just in Auckland, this is the most accessible place when you crave for one. We had been here so many times, too many we can’t count and our go to option here are their best sellers, trust me you won’t go wrong on those, and we tried all of them. The Classic Pearl Milk Tea, QQ Passionfruit Green Tea, Taro Milk Drink, Earl Grey Milk with 3J, Peach Green Tea, White Pearl and Ai-Yu Special, Milk Foam Green Tea, Lemon Winter melon Drink with Basil Seeds, Mango Yoghurt Drink, Fresh Milk with Red Bean and Pudding, Japanese Macha Milk Drink with Red Bean and Peach Yogurt Smoothie with Coconut Jelly are all thumbs up approved by us. It’s not in the best seller selection for nothing.
Cactea
Takapuna
If you are looking for the tastiest drink, then look no further, their coco with chocolate syrup is like drinking melted chocolate, their matcha is so strong, matcha lovers would rejoice, and their taro consists of pureed real taro that is so thick its nearly like Hawaiian poi in consistency. Their generosity does not stop there, even the bubbles are nearly a third of the drink. The boba pearls do not skimp in flavour too, its sweet with a bit of molasses taste. This definitely is the tastiest bubble tea in this list, not to mention they had a lot of food items to choose from, so if you want to grab some bite and drink some bubble tea, this is your place.
The Alley
Auckland CBD
If there is a beauty pageant for tea, then the ones these guys offer would win. They just don’t concentrate on the flavour of their teas; they also are conscious on its looks. Just try ordering their slush series and Aurora series and you will know what we are talking about. Our favourite here is their Brown Sugar Deerioca Creme Brulee Milk.
Tearaffe
Takapuna, New Market
Our review of Tearaffe
There are also several Bubble Tea shops in Takapuna, and this is one of them, this small shop is tucked inside the alleyways of Takapuna’s Hurstmere shops. We loved their Matcha Milk Tea, Mashed Taro Green Milk tea and their Tearaffe specials mainly the cheese teas, all their milk teas are creamier than others. And if you want to have something to munch on with their teas, try their waffles too.
Q Tea
Takapuna
Our review of Q Tea
This is one of our favourites in Takapuna area, not just because their teas are great, they are also generous with their pearls, definitely they serve more than the average serving of pearls. We have three favourites here, the Fresh Milk with Fresh Taro, Egg Pudding Milk Tea and Fresh Milk Black Tea. If you want something special them add some of their Oreo Toppings and the Bobo, which basically a popping Boba pearl.
Wucha
Takapuna, Albany, Auckland CBD
Our review of Wucha
I think this is the priciest of the bunch but there is a reason behind it. We had a chance to have a chat with the owner of Takapuna when we were there and they pride themselves of using the freshest and quality ingredients, plus they use real fruits and root crop on their drinks. They don’t skimp on it as well as we saw the process when we were there, they use lots of the real stuff with you drinks. Our favourite here is their Dirty Milk Tea with Pearl, Avocado Slushy and the lots of Fruits in Tea Series. Averaging at NZ$11.00 a pop, this is not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
Yu Tea
Henderson
Our review of Yu Tea
If you’re looking for some small sweet bites and bubble tea, and it happens that you are in Henderson then this is the place. Their Milk Teas are quite straightforward with just 20 selections, it was not hard to order. We loved their Caramel Milk Tea, Coffee Milk Tea and Taro Milk Tea. We also tried their Mixed Shaved Ice and Oreo Pots too, and it was good.
Meet Fresh
Albany, Auckland CBD
Our review of Meet Fresh
This is our favourite of the 12 Bubble Tea Shops in Auckland you need to try; we had been here so many times due to the fact that it closes late, really late, it’s one of those rare places in Auckland that closes at 12 midnight. They have a very wide selection of Asian desserts and drinks like slushies, lip cream tea, traditional tea, taro ball, herbal jelly, tofu pudding, purple rice, winter products, snowflake ice, shaved ice, waffle, Meet Fresh snacks and once in a while specials. We honestly tried them all and none has let us down. In terms of teas we love their lip cream series specially the red bean and mango, we also love their hot taro milk tea. And if you are in for a better treat try their snowflake ice and herbal jelly, as they are equally as amazing.
Bonus:
V & V Bubble Tea (Closed)
Auckland CBD
Though they are already closed as far as I know, if this is still in business it would be another contender for that beauty pageant, these guys make their teas look good as well, and to add to that if you order in advance you can ask the staff to draw a character on your cup, you will be mind blown with their artistic capabilities, just look at these Instagram posts so you know what I am talking about. While the teas are amazing specially their best sellers like Smurf Smurf and Green Apple Green Tea, the highlight here are those customised artworks on the cup.
So there you go, the 12 Bubble Tea Shops in Auckland you need to try. If you think we missed an item on the list, let us know via the comments below.
A few of those places listed are either now closed or dont have that location anymore ie momo Henderson.