Jans Boba Milk Tea Brown Sugar

My boys and I stopped at Shanghai Wholesale on the edge of the Midway / Merriam Park neighborhood of St. Paul today, and I grabbed a bubble tea that I hadn't tried before:

Brand: Jans Boba Milk Tea Brown Sugar.

Origin: Taiwan.

Purchase Place: Shanghai Wholesale Market Place, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Review: The "brown sugar milk tea" flavor was quite good! It was milky and sweet with a nice tea flavor. If you handed this to me, you MIGHT be able to fool me that it was brewed locally (and fresh) at a boba tea store. But the "boba pearls" were small and a bit mealy. I've had worse boba in a pre-made can, but I've also had better. Higher rating for the flavor, and lower for the boba, but still overall enjoyable.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Assam Milk Tea

Last week, my family and I stopped by Shanghai Wholesale Market Place in St. Paul (across the road from Menards in the Midway neighborhood) for the first time. I found an aisle full of drinks:

Lots of fun things to try!

I went back on Sunday with both of my boys (1 boy was gone we we first stopped by) and I grabbed a drink:

A smaller can: 10.48 oz.

The non-English side of the can.

I love things lost in translation: "If sedimentation or oil slick from the milk fat agglomeration
of the case is a product characteristics, quality without fear, please drink at ease."

Brand: Assam Milk Tea.

Origin: Siehe Village, Taiwan.

Purchase Place: Shanghai Wholesale Market Place, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: unknown.

Review: I often get a "royal milk tea" from local tea shops (like Sencha and Niko Niko Boba), so I know the flavor of that... or at least what I EXPECT. This was a lot sweeter! It almost had a lavender flavor to it. I determined that it wasn't lavender, but some other "perfumy" flavor. It was good, but not as smooth as the milk teas that I knew of. The flavor was sweet and a bit unique. It was tasty!

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

p.s. I picked up some tapioca pearls at Shanghai Wholesale as well, so I made some pearls to have with my milk tea:

Rico Brown Sugar Bubble Milk Tea

I was in Hy-Vee recently and this caught my eye:

Note that it's 12.3 oz and a little taller than usual.

Brand: Rico Brown Sugar Bubble Milk Tea

Origin: Taiwan.

Purchase Place: Hy-Vee, Oakdale, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Review: The first sip was VERY pleasant. This tasted JUST like a milk tea I've gotten from my local bubble tea place. I was quite happy and surprised. But as I kept drinking, I finally got to the "bubbles," and they were... odd. They were extra chewy and more jello-like than I was used to compared to "fresh" bubbles at my local tea place:

Extra "foggy" and chewy. Very odd.

I'm sure there's an issue being able to make and keep these bubbles or pearls in can for many months, and that ruined the experience a bit. The taste of the milk tea itself was super sweet and spot on, but then the bubbles knocked this down a few points.

Score: 5.5 out of 10.

Mong Lee Shang Pearl Soybean Drink with Tapioca Ball

I was getting some groceries at Cub Foods yesterday morning, and I found myself in the ethnic foods section. I ended up leaving with this:

Oh wait, I can't read that side. Here's the english side:

Yeah, I know. A little risky. Still, it sounded like it could be good. I searched the can over for "shake well before opening" because I figured I needed to do that, but I didn't find that anywhere. I shook it well hoping it wasn't carbonated. Here it is partially poured out into a glass:

That glass had NO tapioca balls in it! I felt robbed. But then a fair amount came out in the final pour. They weren't dark like on the can (and like what I'm used to in my bubble tea), and they were tiny. Here's a spoonful of them:

Brand: Mong Lee Shang Pearl Soybean Drink with Tapioca Ball.

Origin: Taipei, Taiwan.

Purchase Place: Cub Foods St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was pretty tasty. It DID taste like soybeans! (Soybeans was the 2nd ingredient behind water, and before sugar and non-dairy cream.) I was born and raised on a farm, so I know what a soybean tastes like when popped into your mouth. It was like sweet soybeans. It was about as thick as whole milk, and pretty good. I figured this could be something I don't finish, but I downed it all pretty quick.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.