I was invited to a media event at Chatime robson by Chinesebites the other weekend and it was quite the experience! I mean I don’t think I have ever had so much bubble tea in my life let alone see so many cups of it sitting around in one place!
I’ve passed by the Chatime robson on numerous occasions while it was being built but had yet to visit it since it’s opening and this was the perfect opportunity to do so!
Customize your drinks
Unlike most bubble tea cafes out there, Chatime focuses on customization where they let you choose your topping (pearls, grass jelly, coconut jelly, coffee jelly, red bean, aloe vera, rainbow konnayku jelly, pudding), ice level and sugar level of your drink. I don’t think I have seen a location that offered so many varieties of toppings in Vancouver (I’ve only seen this in Asia) let alone customize sugar levels!
They also pride themselves in using only the freshest ingredients. They don’t use any artificial flavors or powders in their drinks! Plus, they remake their pearls every couple of hours to make sure that they are the highest of quality and freshness!
Top 10 drinks
These are the top 10 drinks at Chatime . Each one of us were given the challenge of trying each and every one of them! Talk about intense!
I didn’t end up drinking 10 full cups of bubble tea. But, I did get a chance to try all the flavors.
Chatime drink review
- Pearl milk tea: strong black tea flavor and had good milk/cream ratio for balance
- Grass jelly roasted milk tea: Similar to hojicha tea in flavor, and as someone who doesn’t like grass jelly…I didn’t mind it in this drink
- Taro pudding milk tea: Tasted a little gritty/grainy? Perhaps the taro flavoring wasn’t mixed in properly but it left a strange aftertaste. But the pudding was so smooth and silky that it distracted me from it
- Brown rice green milk tea: Tasted like #2 but with a splash of matcha and I preferred this one more
- Taiwan mango QQ: My first QQ drink! What’s QQ? Well, it’s a mix of pearls and coconut jelly. The term “QQ” basically refers to anything that’s chewy in texture.
- Matcha red bean milk tea: Reminded me of a iced green tea latte but with red bean
- Mango smoothie: Really fruity, mango-y and creamy. I’m not sure what they added to it to make it a “smoothie.” I liked this one a whole lot more than the Taiwan mango QQ
- Red bean pearl milk tea: I didn’t try this one because it was pretty much just #1 with red bean and pearls in it
- Matcha tea latte: Concentrated matcha flavor. I tried this one with 50% sweetness and it was too sweet for me but otherwise, great matcha latte
- Chocolate mousse: I tried the matcha mousse instead. I’m not sure what makes a “mousse” drink a mousse drink but the only difference I noticed was that it was topped with whip. I found it more watery than the other matcha drinks
Thoughts on the drinks
There were a few drinks that I didn’t enjoy as much because I felt as though they were really watered down. I’m not sure if it was because they were rushing drinks out like no tomorrow. Or if the drinks were supposed to be prepared this way but either way, there were a few hits and misses along the way.
But overall I had a good experience at Chatime. I like the fact that they can customize the drinks to your liking. I like knowing that I was getting my drink exactly the way I wanted it. And so if I’m ever craving bubble tea downtown, I definitely know where to go!
(Disclaimer: All drinks reviewed in this post were provided free of charge to me by Chatime through the media event. All opinions in this post are honest, my own and not influenced by the companies involved to make this happen.)
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