Gong Cha is a world renowned Bubble tea shop from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. They have been in Vancouver for a few years now and they’ve recently opened up their location across from Renfrew Skytrain Station.
We were invited to give their drinks and bubble waffles a try.
It’s a pretty good location and there aren’t too many bubble tea shops in the area. Some of the popular drinks include – Royal Milk Tea with Pearl, Milk Foam Earl Grey Tea, and Earl Grey Milk Tea with 3J.
You can also customize your drinks sugar and ice levels. They also offer 2 sizes of drinks, regular and large. During our visit, we got it 30% sweetness and regular ice. We like out bubble teas less sweet so we can taste the tea more, but thats just our personal preference.
Menu and Daily Specials
Bubble Waffle
They serve up bubble waffles at this location in various flavours like original, pearl, matcha, red bean, and chocolate. These flavours can change, so you can ask them which ones are available. When we were here, we tried the original and the one with pearls inside.
Regular Bubble Waffle
This is the classic version with a crisp exterior and a chewy interior. It tasted pretty good when you eat it fresh. Highly recommended if you want something to share among friends.
Pearl Bubble Waffle
Why not add some pearls to your bubble waffle. It’s actually very interesting as it adds a nice chew to your bubble waffle. There aren’t too many inside, which is good as it compliments it very nicely.
Rose Tin Guan Yin Tea Series
The Rose Tin Guan Yin Tea Series is new and started in early December of this year. Not sure how long it will be on the menu for, but if you do see it, there are 3 drinks offered – Honey Rose Tie Guan Yin Tea Latte, Milk Foam Rose Tie Guan Yin, and Rose Tie Guan Yin with White Pearl.
Honey Rose Tie Guan Yin Tea Latte
This is beautiful and the drink is separated into 3 different layers. The honey and syrup is on the bottom, then the milk, and then the tea on top. You’ll want to mix this up before you drink it.
The drink is milky and not too sweet at 30%. You get the taste of the tie guan yin tea with the hint of subtle rose.
Milk Foam Rose Tie Guan Yin
I wasn’t a fan of the cup used as it is typically a wide lipped lid rather than the typical bubble tea cup. When mixed up, it did taste similar to the Honey Rose Tie Guan Yin Tea Latte.
Rose Tie Guan Yin with White Pearl
You get a stronger tea taste in this drink compared to the other two. The white pearls are a nice touch to add texture to the drink.
Matcha Milk Tea
We got the matcha milk tea and it was decent. Next time, I think we would prefer to have pearls to give it more texture in the drink.
Oreo Milk Foam Black Forest
This drink has layers of milk foam, pearls, grass jelly, and oreo crumble. It’s another interesting drink that looks pretty cool with all the items inside. You get a lot of different textures from the pearls to the grass jelly. It’s not your traditional bubble tea by any means. Some love it and some hate it. It has a stronger grass jelly taste, so its not for everyone.
Royal Milk Tea with Grass Jelly
This is a classic drink which you can’t go wrong with. We even brought a reusable bubble tea cup and straw as they will make the drink to save on plastic going to the landfill. One of our favourites.
Wintermelon Oolong Tea
This is another popular drink, which is great hot or cold. Having it less sweet is our way to have it. You get the sweet hint of the wintermelon complimenting the oolong tea.
Passionfruit green tea QQ
This was a surprising drink that was pretty good. We did love the pearls and coconut jelly that were part of it. Great option if you like fruity bubble teas.
Purple Sweet Potato Milk Tea and Pearls
It has a nice deep purple colour to the drink, but the texture of the purple sweet potato was very gritty. It felt too artificial for our liking.
Brown Sugar Milk Tea with Pearls
Brown sugar milk tea has been quite the rage this year in Vancouver. You’ll want to mix this up really well before drinking or else you’ll be sipping up the brown sugar pearls at the bottom. We did like this better than the regular milk tea, but the time that we were here, the pearls were a bit hard.
Strawberry Milk Foam Smoothie with Pearls
This has the pearls on the bottom, then the smoothie and topped with milk foam. If you like strawberry beverages, you’ll enjoy this. Definitely better to get this drink less sweet so the strawberry shines through.
Peach Yogurt Smoothie with White Pearl
You’ll want to get this at 0% sweetness or 30% sweetness because at regular sweetness, it was way too sweet. It has potential to be a good drink
Strawberry Yogurt Drink with Coconut Jelly
Another drink where we would recommend 0% – 30% sweetness. I would have been very refreshing if it wasn’t so sweet.
Milk Tea with Pearls
A classic bubble tea beverage. Milk tea with pearls is decent and I wouldn’t expect less as it’s the go to beverage.
Final Thoughts
Our team tried 16 drinks and 2 bubble waffles during 2 visits to get a feel for Gong Cha’s menu at the Renfrew location. We generally prefer less sweet bubble teas, so 0% – 30% sweetness is good at Gong Cha. We wouldn’t recommend getting 100% as it is way too sweet especially for the yogurt and smoothie series.
Gong Cha has a large menu, so when you go in a group, there’s something for everyone. The Renfrew location is great as there are lots of tables to sit and hang out with friends.
A few of our favourite drinks from our team – Passionfruit green tea QQ, Peach yogurt smoothie, Strawberry milk foam smoothie, Wintermelon oolong tea, Honey Rose Tie Guan Yin Tea Latte, and Royal milk tea with grass jelly.
Address:
2887 E 12th Ave, Vancouver, BC
Website:
https://www.gongchacanada.ca/
1 Comment
Wow, thats one damn comprehensive list. Thanks for all the research! Getting Passionfruit green tea QQ next time