Gong Cha Tea

This Gong Cha’s products are the closest tasting to the real thing I’ve had outside of Taiwan. I’ve been to all 3 locations in Northern California and they were crap, so I was very cautious about trying out this location.
The drinks really taste authentic, albeit slightly sweeter than I’m used to. The Black Forest drink is super sweet but addictive because its all desert toppings. You really should try it at least once.
I wish this place wasn’t so expensive, because I’ve been going there everyday while I’m in town, but it keeps the wife happy so I guess its worth it. The service is random, sometimes its really slow, but as long as the drinks are consistently on point, I’m fine with it. Parking as so far been easy which is a rarity in a Chinese mall.

Been here a couple of times, came here on opening day over a year ago. The service was super slow, but understandable since everybody’s new. Over a year later… Same speed?
It’s already very quiet compared to other tea shops like chatime, presotea… Etc.
There was one person in front of me, and a lady behind me that ordered 3 drinks.
I ordered qq grapefruit tea.
One drink…
Took 20 minutes to get out of the shop. The lady behind me with 3 drinks got out before me. And to make it worse, I got my drink… Looked in and saw ¹⁄₈ of it with tapioca. No coconut jelly. Had to bring the drink back so they could open it back up, dump some of my drink out and put some coconut jelly. And even with the newly added coconut jelly, the toppings barely make up to ¼ of the cup.
I understand why it’s always empty in there now.

Dropped by again and was pleasantly surprised to find that they’ve expanded their menu extensively. They’re also now a part of the Vicinity program. So those are some positive updates.
I took a bit more time this time to try to appreciate my drink (lychee oolong tea) and was rather pleased by it. The tea they use is pretty legit and had a great flavour and aroma to it. The lychee flavour was nicely woven in.
I’d consider them to be a legitimate competitor now. There are still some better options out there (e.g. Coco) but I wouldn’t hesitate to come to Gong Cha if I was ever close to one and needed a quick BBT fix. They are better than a lot of the chains that have existed for the longest while in the GTA, and I’d say they’re pretty comparable to Chatime as well.

If you ever wondered what poison tastes like, I think I may have found it at Gongcha. Throat burning, stomach pains, and hurling my guts out. The whole damn nine yards.
I’ve heard many good things about Gongcha since they first opened, but hadn’t had a chance to try out their drinks until now. After eating at Legend Pot nearby, what better time was there?
We had the Earl Grey w/​3J (pudding, tapioca, grass jelly) and the Taro red bean milk tea.
The taro was to my bf’s liking; no complaints there. Except, it’s definitely way too sweet unless you get it adjusted.
The Earl Grey, however… Midway through my indulgence, I noticed an ACIDIC substance in my drink. As if I was taking 3 shots of vodka straight — but it was definitely no vodka.
I thought I was imagining it at first, and took another sip; INSTANT PANIC.
My throat was BURNING, chest burning, stomach queasy for an hour. Followed by throwing up my entire dinner. Oh so classy.
HOLY CRAP. WHAT WAS IN MY DRINK?!

They have a vast variety of flavours and combos. I love their wintermelon milk tea! Prices are about the same as Cha Time. Will go again if I’m in the Markham area.

I prefer this to Chatime. Their drinks are more flavourful (stronger tea taste) and refreshing. My favourite drink is the brown sugar oolong tea!

Quite disappointed. Had high expectations after I saw a lot of my friends post this place on Facebook. That being said, this is specifically for their matcha latte, and not anything having to do with foam.
I ordered their matcha latte ($ 4.99 for regular, if I’m not mistaken), sans toppings. When I received it, the cup wasn’t full. It was about an inch from the rim of the cup. It wasn’t a large cup to begin with. My matcha latte was quite lacking in the matcha department. Upon first whiff, I didn’t get any matcha scent. I got seaweed. Um… that doesn’t sound promising. Upon first sip, there really wasn’t much matcha taste either. It was quite floral, in fact. I had it 50% sweet, so I don’t think the sugar was masking the taste of the matcha. I’ve never had matcha like this, and I can definitely say I didn’t enjoy it. Matcha, to me, is something I get to sip on and slowly savor the taste. If I chugged matcha, it wouldn’t be as pleasant because it’s strong tasting. I chugged this. Yeah. Not good. I understand that matcha is expensive, but if you’re charging me $ 4.99 and you’re not filling my cup up to the brim, there had at least better be really good matcha taste. There wasn’t. I doubt I’ll want to come back.
Ah. Ailee and Got7 on TV, if anyone’s a Kpop fan. They were playing the radio though, so visuals only. o. O

They have the best Milk Foam Wintermelon Tea. It’s very addicting!
I’ve had the same in other places like Cha Time, Cha Me. Cha, ZenQ, etc… but nothing compares. There really is something unique about their Milk Foam that differentiates them from the rest.

I decided to try Gong Cha Tea, because I wanted to try another bubble tea place that wasn’t Chatime and see if Chatime really is the gold standard for bubble tea. Unfortunately, I still prefer Chatime after my experience here.
When I arrived at around 4pm, the place was empty aside from one table. There was also a shift change occurring, so our orders took a while to come. I tried the chocolate milk tea, as I wanted to compare the chocolate taste here with Chatime.
The first thing I noticed was that there is significantly less sugar in my drink compared to Chatime (I ordered regular sugar and ice). It is healthier in a way, but I prefer a bit more sugar in my drink. Also, the tapioca pearls are a lot smaller here compared to Chatime. I prefer my tapioca pearls to be a larger size, so Chatime wins again in that department. However, I will say the drink is quite good and definitely worth 3 stars.
With the battle of bubble teas in the GTA, I still think Chatime is superior to the others, including Gong Cha.

Okay my first visit at Gong Cha was a terrible experience and the manager did let me know they were pre-​opening at that time so training wasn’t fully complete yet. Taking her words, I decided to go to this place again a few more times recently and I have to say, they got things right! Their milk foam signature drink tastes so much better now and the sweetest level is accurate! It brings back the good memories I had with Gong Cha in Hong Kong. I also want to mention their Coffee are surprisingly good, that is now my go-​to drink and if they sell out of the coffee that is when I’ll drink the Milk Foam Wintermelon drink!

After hearing a lot of positive reviews about Gong Cha, I visited for the first time yesterday. I got their 3^rd most popular drink — winter melon milk tea with grass jelly. I asked for 30% sugar, and less ice. I’m sure there was a mix up because it tasted extremely sweet, probably 100%, so I didn’t enjoy my drink very much. I definitely did not taste any winter melon flavour, but it could be because of the sweetness. There wasn’t a lot of grass jelly, so if you’re looking for something to chew on, get the tapioca instead.
We also got an oolong tea with milk foam, 30% sweet, less ice. It was pretty good. I would definitely get it again.
Overall, it was a-​ok. I would definitely go back, and try other things. Just be careful with your sweetness level!

I came here again and tried their #1 popular item the wintermelon foam milk tea, and it is really something unique and interesting. It is apparently very sweet naturally, so I would suggest asking for no sugar unless you are really into that sweet stuff. I can’t really say it tasted like wintermelon… but it was unique in that it was really sweet and then had a slightly salty aftertaste to it, but was still quite good! Honestly I think I would make a trip to Gong Cha just for this drink, so it’s definitely won me over — I’m a fan!

I like the place a lot. Actually, I can say this place has the best bubble tea in town. Most of the place, their milk tea has too much milk and sugar in it. For Gong Cha tea, you can smell the tea and and it’s doesn’t sweet (for regular order compare to other place). Their grass jelly is thicker and smoother than others. In regular, I order regular milktea with grass jelly. It’s worth with $ 6
Their signature is foam milk tea which is unique. Foam is little bit salty but totally fit with the tea. Gong Cha second location at North York (Yonge and Finch) is coming soon.

5 STAR! 5 STAR! 5 STAR!!!
heck I am BLOWN AWAY by their service and drink quality here! I called them at 11:45pm last night (15 Mins prior to closing) to ask them if I could do a quick last minute pick up. The lady On the other end of the line, was not only kind enough to take our order at the end of her shift, but patient enough to recommend drinks as it was my first time trying no gong cha. She even let us know she will be there until 12:15am so we don’t have to rush there.
I asked Michelle what she recommends a few time and she kept insisting we try the winter Melon foam tea. Damn. I think I’m hooked..

After the first time I had came here I hadn’t come back after 7 months. Again, 7 months ago was when they had first opened up and they were pretty new. 7 months later I decided to give them another shot to see if anything had improved since my last visit.
After my second visit, that’s enough. No more Gong Cha. This place isn’t that awesome imo. I ordered the Royal Milk tea, and personally it didn’t taste any good. There was a weird after taste after drinking that kind of milk tea. It’s between artificial powder or some old tea they keep on re boiling… Whatever it is … or however they make their tea it doesn’t taste good…
Service is average. But I’m just not a fan of their drink nor am I a fan of this place.

A friend recommended this place for bubble tea and she said that it’s 10x better than Cha time so I had to go see it for myself.
The place is pretty small, but very cozy. Nice decorations, very playful and modern. It wasn’t so busy when we went so service was really fast. 5 seconds after we paid, we received our drink. This is really great compare to waiting long lines at Chatime.
She said to get #1 on the menu — foam watermelon. I really like the fact that you can add/​lessen sugar on the drinks. And you get a choice of what toppings you want and how much ice you want in the drink. For someone who doesn’t take sweets very well and can’t take really sweet drinks, being able to customize the sweetness of my drink is really great.
I also like the fact that it has vicinity rewards just like Chatime. You get 5 rewards each drink you buy and when you reach 50, you get a free regular drink.
The drink is really heavy because of the cream/foam…but it’s so delicious. It definitely beats Cha time. And I’ll be coming here from now on.

Not too sure but the one thing about bubble tea that I always look forward too are the bubbles and the tea.
After weeks of pressure by my friends to go and try Gong Cha because they said it was better than Chatime I had to try it. Due to the distance it was always difficult for me to push myself to come so far away from home. However since my boyfriend and I were in the area I requested that we try this Gong Cha bubble tea.
Looking at it from outside it looks really nice and clean. I love the red and black colours that grabs your attention. Surprisingly we came around 7:30PM and it was empty minus the workers. I thought this place was really busy like the Chatime Downtown.
I walked towards the counter to see what i should order. I loved the name «Mustache» teas. In the end I decided to go with a regular milk tea with tapioca to compare.
It didn’t take too long before I got the bubble tea and not too long before I quickly decided that the tapioca of Chatime’s is superior. I have to admit though the milk tea was really good. Unfortunately though I think the tapioca was too chewy and would have preferred it more soft. The tapioca at Chatime I think they soak in some sort of sugar or honey which makes their tapioca tastier and obviously more sweeter. Personally I like the idea of soaking the tapioca in sugar or honey to bring out the taste. (I know that TenRens also soaks it in some sort of corn syrup.)
But! Don’t let this one review deter you from going and trying the bubble tea. I’ve only tried the one and it could have been an off day? I will definitely come back though to try their Wintermelon tea which seems to be their #1 drink. Maybe after that I’ll be able to see if they really are better than Chatime. As of right now Chatime is the current champ and holder of the best bubble tea in the GTA.
–CL

UGHHHH THIS PLACE IS TOO GOOD!
I’ve given up bubble tea since may-​june 2014, but when I heard of this place, I definitely had to try it. Now, if you didn’t know about the hype, you’d be like «…why would this be so loved?» The sign and the interior does not look that great — nothing special, just a regular tea place.
But I decided to try the mustache series and although it’s the only thing I’ve tried there, it keeps me coming back! I still don’t drink bbt that much, and I do not like sweet drinks but the mustache foam earl grey tea with 30% sugar is simply delightful. It’s just the right amount of sweetness I need, and the foam is super. interesting. It’s a bit salty but sweet at the same time.
The cups are cute, they even give you instructions on different ways to enjoy your gong cha, and tell you the time when the tea is at it’s best.
There’s nothing I’ve tried that’s come close to it, and even though the parking lot is full of dumb shits that can’t drive and super tight parking spots, I’ll overlook it just because the tea is so fucking delicious.

It is hard not to compare Gong Cha Tea to Chatime just up the street.
Came by on a weekday afternoon when it was not busy. There were just a couple of people in front of me. So I placed my order and wait for my number to be called. It did take a long time for everyone to get their drinks. I waited and waited and waited and no one was even calling any numbers and just let our orders piled up behind the counter…
How’s the drink? I ordered something similar as Chatime: Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly. There were hardly any grass jelly, the tea was not as smooth and hardly any tea taste… FAIL
Slow and Unorganized with So So products, I doubt I would be back!

My order: milk foam green tea
Pros
— I like the savory type of bbt with salted foam and sweetened tea so it was nice that they brought a bit of Taiwan over to Canada
— B1G1 free promo going on now due to grand opening (limited to 3 flavors)
— plaza parking
Con’s
— due to the lines and the newness of the staff, you have to be very articulate. My girl messed up my order by not modifying the sweetness OR giving me the requested pearls…
— they have loooong lines (just like Chatime)