Yao Yao Cha Bubble Tea Shop
A couple of weeks ago, I visited a Taiwanese bubble tea shop in Seven Dials and was introduced to bubble tea. The recently launched Yao Yao Cha bubble tea shop uses a fusion of authentic Taiwanese drinks and methods, adapted for London.
During my visit, I had the opportunity to try different flavours of bubble tea and chat with Susan Fang, Yao Yao Cha’s founder and owner, to find out more about the brand and its products.
We talked about her Taiwanese roots, and how popular bubble tea is back home – it is drunk any time of the day. She was inspired to start her own bubble tea brand by her roots and international trips.
Yao Yao Cha means ‘shake shake tea’ in Chinese, once the drink is freshly prepared, it is shaken to combine all the delicious flavours. The core menu of 24 drinks is divided into four sections: Frappés, Jasmine green teas, Matcha green teas and Black teas. There is something for everyone, whether you prefer fruity flavour such as passion fruit jasmine green tea, or more exotic flavours such as crème brulee black tea.
Ordering is simple and straightforward by choosing you base, then size (medium or large), sweetness (standard, half or minimum), and hot or cold (for the teas). You can also add extras, such as jelly cubes, available in tutti frutti, coconut and coffee, fruit pops or tapioca.
Yao Yao Cha’s tapioca pearls have been adapted to suit London customers, they are smaller and less chewy, and are added to all bubble teas as standard, while all frappes come with a portion of fruit pops. The tapioca pearls are very tasty, I was happy to eat them on their own.
Bubble tea was completely new to me, and I love the concept of having fruit pops and tapioca pearls in my drink. You can choose fruit pops from passion fruit, mango, lychee, blueberry and strawberry.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed tryin Yao Yao Cha bubble tea, the cold drinks are perfect for hot summer days. I had the chance to try different flavours during my visit, I really liked the refreshing Virgin Caipirinha, especially made for the World Cup with mint and lime.
I also loved salted caramel black tea with coffee jelly, the sweetness of the caramel was balanced by the flavour of the coffee. Another favourite was passion fruit frappe with mango fruit pops, fruity and tasty!
Yao Yao Cha bubble tea shop can be found at 24 Earlham Street in Covent Garden. Drinks can be purchased from £3.50 for medium drinks, £4.50 for large, and £4.00 for all frappes.
I was under no obligation to write this post, just wanted to share my experience. The opinions expressed in this post are honest and my own