Baroness 小黑糖, a boutique bubble tea brand from Taipei specializing in brown sugar bubble tea is now open in Vancouver. This is their first location outside of Asia as the other locations are in Hong Kong and Taiwan. They are planned opening in Malaysia and Vietnam too.
With so many other bubble tea shops in Vancouver we wanted to see how they compare. They took over the previous Broadway location of InTea, which became popular for their white rabbit bubble tea.
Vancouver has gone through the brown sugar bubble tea craze and people either love it or hate it. Baroness prides themselves on quality and has done a lot of quality control to ensure they can offer their customers the best. They have a mix of ingredients imported from Taiwan as well as local items like the Earth’s Own Oat Milk Barista edition.
We got a sneak peek to see what Baroness has to offer their customers.
Interior
The interior is a decent size and has seats for 2’s. Most people will grab their drinks to go, but if you can snag a seat, that is great.
Menu
Purple Yam Fresh Milk
This is one of their signature drinks and I can see why. The purple yam they use makes the drink very vibrant. I was observing how they make this drink, it’s definitely not fresh yams and was a dehydrated purple powder.
Upon first sips, it was pretty good. I ordered 50% sweetness and it was perfect. It would pair well with their taro balls.
Thai Milk Tea
The Thai Milk Tea was very good as well. At 50% sweetness, it was just right where you can taste the tea and isn’t overwhelmed by the sugar.
I liked it with grass jelly, but you can also do the brown sugar with pearls but I felt like it was too sweet.
Uji Matcha Latte
Uji Matcha Latte was pretty good. As usual, we recommend 50% sweetness and it had a better balance between the milk and matcha. It would go well with the pudding if you’re looking for a topping.
Brown Sugar Oat Milk with Pearls
The pearls were chewy and had a good texture. I found that there was a good ratio of brown sugar and pearls with the oat milk that wasn’t too sweet. I also got this 50% sweet.
Fresh Milk with Brown Sugar and Pearls
If you want the usual fresh milk with brown sugar and pearls, it’s pretty good. Make sure to mix it up to incorporate everything in the drink. It’s pretty good actually.
Final Thoughts
It’s great that they have Oat Milk for those who are lactose intolerant. Even if you’re not lactose intolerant, oat milk tastes really good. It has a good mouthfeel and a great replacement for milk.
There are a lot of customization that you can do to the drink and the toppings tasted really good. We didn’t try the whole menu, but their specialties are the brown sugar series and oat milk series.
If you’re in the area on West Broadway or passing by to/from UBC, check out Baroness.
Address:
2790 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC
Website:
www.baronesscanada.com
