SunTea is the newest bubble tea chain to come to Vancouver. They offer a variety of fresh fruit teas 鲜果茶, fruit tea slushes 鲜果冰沙, frappes 雪顶, milk teas 奶茶 and Japanese dorayaki 日式轻烘培! SunTea Burnaby location is located in Kensington Plaza and will soon open another cafe along Kingsway. I visit during their soft opening to see what they have to offer!
SunTea Burnaby opened at 2pm and we arrived inside the store at 3:30pm. I was looking forward to try some of their dorayaki, Japanese baby pancakes, but they didn’t have any left! Being that this was Day 2 of their soft opening and 1.5 hours into their opening hours, I was not very impressed. They did have their mini soft pork floss buns though. They were about $9 for a box of 6.
Menu
Since they didn’t have Dorayaki, we diverted our attention to their drink menu. Suntea offers a variety of Fresh Fruit Tea drinks, slushes, frappes, milk teas and more! They have their full menu posted at the cafe but they are only offering their Top 10 drinks at the moment.
Top 10 drinks
Even though they only offered these drink options at their soft opening it was more than enough for us to choose from.
- Fleshy mango tea slush (option to add cheese foam)
- Fleshy grape tea slush (option to add cheese foam)
- Purple Sticky Rice & Taro Jelly Milk Tea
- Brulee Boba Milk Tea
- Taro Milk Tea
- Pink Peach Frappe
- Strawberry Frappe
- Grapefruit Slush
- Orange Tea
Suntea toppings
If you’re a fan of customizing your drinks, you can choose between 0%, 50% and 100% sugar levels. Suntea also has lots of toppings to choose from for your bubble tea drinks! They offer cheese cream, frappe, boba, tofu pudding, agar, purple sticky rice, taro, red bean, oats, jelly, oreo crumbs, and ovaltine crunch!
Fleshy grape tea slush 多肉葡萄
Since it was a hot day, we each decided to get one of their fruit slushes. This grape tea slush had the most gorgeous purple colour! There were pieces of skinless grapes, agar and clear jelly inside which gave the drink a pretty aesthetic. I liked how the grapes were skinless so you didn’t have to bother with the peel and it added to the texture to the drink. The jelly was flavourless and soft. I’ve never had agar in a bubble tea drink before so it was interesting. It has a similar texture to tapioca pearls but not as chewy.
There was a grape flavour to the drink but it was very subtle and reminded me of Japanese grape candy! I usually get my drinks unsweetened but I recommend you stick with the regular sweetness with this one to fully enjoy it. The tea should have come with slush but for some reason there wasn’t any in mine so that was a bit disappointing. Otherwise, it was worth the 30 minute wait to get it.
Fleshy mango tea slush 多肉芒芒
I thought the grape tea slush was tasty but once I tried the mango version, the grape one was a distant memory. The mango flavour was so bright and vibrant that it tasted like fresh mango or mango pudding! Similarly to the grape, the mango tea slush had pieces of fresh mango, agar and clear jelly in it. Some pieces of the mango weren’t as ripe so they were a little tart but the sweetness of the drink helped make it less noticeable. Grayson liked how there were many different textures in the drink because every sip was a different experience. This was the PERFECT refreshing drink to have on a hot summer day. We don’t say this very often, but we’d happily pay another $6 for this drink!
Final thoughts
The Good
- Quality Ingredients
- Fresh Fruit slushes
- Unique drink options
- Instagram worthy drinks
- Lots of toppings to choose from
- Dorayaki and Pork Floss buns
- Interesting milk tea options
The Bad
- Slow service because they are still training employees
- Ran out of dorayaki early on into opening
- Spelling mistakes on the menu
- Long wait times when busy
There may have been a few downs but we can’t wait to be back to Suntea Burnaby!
