Chatime

So convenient for us but really poor quality bbt. They use syrups and powders for every flavour and watch out for the sweetness factor. Way too sweet! Their teas are ok but are concentrate they mix with water.
To be sure, the store is pretty shiny, service is pretty friendly, bubbles are fresh but there are better bbt places in Vancouver for better prices that use better ingredients.

I enjoy the milk teas here, and customization of sweetness and ice is good but otherwise this location is WAY TOO LOUD! I’m no geezer but this location plays their music far too loud for staff to be able to hear my order, or for it to be a comfortable place to stay and hang out. Most other good bubble tea places in the city don’t have room for tables so it’s a real shame that this one makes it so jarring and unwelcoming to stay.
TL;DR: Go elsewhere if you plan to stay and enjoy the tea, it’s too loud!

I’m a huge advocate of just regular milk tea and I’ve had it at about every bubble tea place their is and Chatime is legit one of the best ones I’ve had, including places in Asia!
Not only is their milk tea made from purer ingredients than many other places that use straight powder, Chatime has percentile options for the amount of sugar and tea that you want, allowing you to adjust to your perfect combo. Mine is slight sugar (30%) and less ice (70% drink).
Chatime is open late and delivers. They also have an insane amount of flavours, they even make the regular milk tea with jasmine or oolong options. I usually just get bbt to go but the ambiance is nice enough for you to have a drink their and catch up with a friend.

Your taro tastes like shit. Blend your taro powder better. You said it’s suppose to be powdery but it isn’t you dumbasses.

Best milk tea in Vancouver (Milk & Sugar on Kingsway has a slight edge for boba fruit slushies).
Oolong milk tea and roasted milk tea with grass jelly are both excellent.
Get everything «30% sugar» to avoid diabetes and a sugar high reminiscent of the day after Halloween when you were in grade school.
Decent amount of seating and OK place to sit and have a conversation for a bubble tea shop. You would feel a bit weird if you’re trying to get some work done or read a book but it might be doable.

Nothing special. Too much milk in Matcha Latte so couldn’t taste the tea flavor. The white rice tea was bland and the pearls are so-​so.

I used to be a really big fan of the brown rice green milk tea, until one day I ordered an unsweetened version of it and realized that it is literally genmaicha with milk. It’s quite expensive, as the «regular» cups are about the size of a grande Starbucks drink. The wait time is also longer than average.

Got around to trying their signature roasted milk tea with grass jelly. In fact, made a special trip for it because I wanted a change from the options I always get in Kerrisdale.
I ordered my drink with 30% sugar and no ice and still found the drink too sweet. My colleague got the same drink with full sugar and unsurprisingly found it overpoweringly sweet. Mine was barely drinkable so can’t imagine what throat shivers the full sugar version must surely induce. Yikes! I also got an artificial taste, but perhaps my palate is too bougie for this bubble tea :-P — not sure what kind of tea is used for this particular drink — what *is* roasted milk tea? Should have asked — but I’ve been too spoiled by drinking such good fresh-​brewed loose leaf teas unadulterated, or at least blended with fresh cream, elsewhere that I really can’t stomach anything artificial or plastic-​tasting when it comes to tea. And someone please tell me what is the big whoop about the grass jelly? I clearly must be missing something… :-/

Solid place for bubble tea with good options for customizing the amount of sugar/​ice you want in your drink. It’s not very busy so you won’t have to wait.
Service is bad though, unfriendly and nonchalant. Not a customer-​oriented place by any means. Plus they blare the music really loudly. Good for take out but not great to sit in.

I like their ability to customize sweetness and ice when ordering and not just telling them approximately «less sweet and less ice». Lots more consistency for my drink to be made the same everytime and not falling into the judgement of the person making my drink.
I had the Taro Pudding Milktea. Pudding slightly over powered by the drink but overall super yummy!
Looking forward to trying out more flavors soon!

I like their taro milk tea because it (seems to) have real taro bits in it, as opposed to being purely made from a powder mix. I also like that you can choose how icy/​sugary you want your drink to be.
It does seem that if you go very low-​sugar in your options, the roasted green tea may taste very weak, or maybe they were just running low on the tea by that point in the evening (around 10 pm).
The café itself is very cute and clean, and the teas come out very quickly. The menu is also prominently displayed and they have a sort of «greatest hits» list if you want to go with the crowd favourite options.

Finally tried this place out, after hearing rave reviews about it from my friends back East.
I only tried their signature Roasted Milk Tea with Grass Jelly and it was really good; not sure what ‘roasted’ milk was supposed to tastes like but it was tasty nonetheless! I especially like how you can choose the level of sweetness/sugar:ice ratio. For those new to the bubble tea sport, this may take a few visits to form an educated opinion as to what ratio works best for you. :) But for me, l go for 30% sugar:70% ice and find this still keeps the flavor.
I will be going back for more!

[The Purple Straw]
Despite the sheer number of quality bubble tea shops in the city, Chatime is easily my favorite. Their signature Roasted Milk Tea is pupil-​dilatingly delicious! The tapioca pearls were nice and soft and stayed that way while I nursed my beverage over the next half hour. I took a sip of a friend’s Thai Tea and that too was mind-​boggling.
The beauty of Chatime is customization. There are a variety of tapioca variants that can be added — anything from rainbow jelly to grass jelly to pudding all with visual samples so you don’t end up with something random. Sugar and ice levels can be adjusted to plus or minus 20% though I question their accuracy. To make sure it’s exactly the way you want it, your order and all the add-​ons show up on a little LED screen on the register.
The café itself is nicely decorated with seating room for 20 at most. The cashiers are friendly and do speak English. Best of all, Visa and MasterCard are accepted. Just note that fresh fruit beverages are not available here.

I love their roasted milk tea with grass jelly. This is like the only drink that keeps me coming back. So good. I can’t find this kind of drink else where. It’s awesome I live and work close by.

I appreciate the visual aids when it came time to order. I might not have known what QQ meant, but at least I knew what the drink would look like, how sweet it would be, and what type of pearls I was getting. (Mango QQ was delish!)
I enjoyed my bubble tea and will be back to try something new, and more adventurous next time. I don’t know what roasted milk is but I’ll try it.

Delicious Grass Jelly Roasted Milk Tea for the win!!! I always ask for less sugar and ice so I can get more tea flavors!!! My go-​to bbtea spot now.

A bit on the pricey side and the staff are often confused with your order if you want to add toppings. I do like their Roasted Grass Jelly Milk Tea, Mango Smoothie, and Taro slush.
What is QQ anyway? :)

This place is probably good for regular tea, powder drinks, and things like pudding, chocolate, taro– but in terms of fresh fruit– doesn’t have it.
I know fresh fruit isn’t traditionally Taiwanese. But come on! A lot of places have fresh fruit and why wouldn’t you improve on a traditional recipe? Powdered flavour isn’t exactly the gold standard.
Go to King Ed and Oak to Dragonball– this is the best bbt in Vancouver
(Peanuts is the best in Richmond).
Bubbles are good here– but I expect this to be standard and won’t give them extra points for doing them properly.
The prices here are pretty expensive– reaching 6 $ for a regular sized bbt.
But they also have a café area where you can sit down, wifi and take credit card.
In short, go here only if you’re going to have non-​fruit flavours and you want a place to loiter for a long time. Or don’t have cash on you.
Otherwise, there are other places to go for good bbt.
(Location is pretty good too– West side of Vancouver is an asian food desert).

My go-to’s at this place are the Roasted Grass Jelly Milk Tea and the QQ Milk Tea (a regular milk tea with pearls and coconut jelly).
Their milk tea is one of the best bubble milk tea I’ve had in this city. I like how you have the option of ordering a smaller size. I also like how it’s the norm to be able to specify how sweet and how much ice you want in your drink. When I came here with a group of friends, their drinks were prepared with efficiency, as well.

My girlfriend bought me a regular milk tea with pearls as a surprise at the end of a hot day. I’m Taiwanese so I’m pretty picky about my bubble tea and this one just sucked.
1. The price is outrageous. For over $ 4 for a small, that’s highway robbery. You can get a large at any other bubble tea house for around that same price.
2. If you have the ingredients required to make a custom drink, it comes down to pure laziness or inability to mix drinks that aren’t on the menu. I’m telling you that you can get a honey milk green tea with pearls anywhere in Taiwan. If you have honey, milk and green tea, you’re ready to go. So the fact they said they simply couldn’t make it was mind boggling. You have milk green tea but you can’t add honey (which you also have)?
3. The pearls were undercooked. Overcooked pearls are awful and everyone tries to avoid that but taste your pearls before you stop cooking them. Also, the pearls lacked any flavor. Most places cook their pearls with some brown sugar to give it a hint of sweetness. All I could taste was nothing. I felt like I was chewing air because the pearls lacked flavor.
I’m honestly surprised this is even a chain. I’m more surprised that people give it such high ratings. There is much better bubble tea out there and for less. I’m still so pissed my girlfriend spent that much for such subpar bubble tea. This chain wouldn’t survive in Taiwan because no one would stand for such lackluster bubble tea at such an outrageous price and small servings.