The Big Straw

Not Bad. Good Bubble tea without having to go to the waterfront area of JC. A little more expensive than other places but I will try them again.

Place is nicely decorated. Needs to have much livelier music so it can invite more people. I went in there and felt like going to sleep. Secondly, I wanted a frozen bubble tea and it was $ 1 extra just for him to put some ice and blend it. I tried it because I was there but I paid almost $ 6 for a 16oz bubble tea which is almost double the price. I don’t live in the area but I thought just to give them a try. I’ll go back to other bubble tea places I’ve been to that taste way better like Mitsuwa, Babo and some other ones.

I have been here a handful of times, and I now stick with just the tea. I ordered food during my first visit, and it was just OK — I think maybe microwaved, but I’m not 100% sure. Anyway, my bubble tea is always perfect and delicious, and I enjoy a relaxing minute to myself inside.

So glad I have a bubble tea place so close to me! Excellent– I mean excellent customer
Service by the owner. He’s extremely friendly and very helpful in answering any questions you may have for first time tryers. I got the classic taro slushy bubble tea, it was it’s perfect. I’ve had the best bubbles at this authentic Asian market so nothing comes close to that. Overall the experience, and taste was well worth it! I’m excited to go and try other flavors.

Waited here while our table took an eternity to prepare at the spot next door. Good bubble tea with a big range of flavor options

Saw them at the Downtown Farmers market, ordered a bubble tea. Turns out they were out of tapioca pearls and were trying to charge me full price for the tea! Really?! Why are you advertising and selling Bubble tea with no bubble? Never again. Two stars cuz I’m in a giving mood. And yes, this review is a very late review from my experience with this vendor many months ago.

I don’t even live in Jersey and I love this place so whenever I am in Jersey… I have to visit this shop. Best Bubble tea outside of Taiwan. There are truly few places I feel this strongly about but I love my bubbles and milk tea. I love their original creations as well… can’t get them anywhere else.

Before I continue, I need to get one thing off my chest. I don’t like tapioca balls. There, I said it. Phew. I don’t want anything in my tea besides tea. Just liquid, no solids. Please and thank you.
Because of that, I don’t usually frequent bubble tea shops (or babo shops as they call it on the west coast) but I was craving something sweet and refreshing that wasn’t Starbs and decided to take the leap. After all, you don’t have to order the tea with the bubbles!
The Big Straw is about a 10 minute walk from my place, and after scoping out the flavor selection online I decided to head over. I’m really glad that I did! The shop itself is a small and brightly lit room, and at 3 pm on a Monday there was a pretty good vibe. People were hanging out and chatting while sipping on their tea. They’ve got a large menu board up with all of the different drink and food options. I wouldn’t come for food as there wasn’t really much space to sit… but there were a few menu items including ramen and dumplings. On the tea front, well, there was pretty much any flavor that you could want. For an extra 50 cents you can add bubbles to any milk tea. I thought about being adventurous… I really did. But then I decided against it. Maybe next time. I went with a small thai flavored tea and it really hit the spot. And ya know what? I felt a whole lot better spending 4 dollars on a drink here then I do at Starbs. Next time I’m craving a cold iced drink it’s nice to know that there is more in the neighborhood then chain coffee shops.

If you want a delicious tea, and and a relaxing time, here’s is the place.
It’s a quiet place, neat, and upscale.
Perfect for a date, studying, or just to chill.

I love bubble tea. Here they always accommodate my detailed requests for decaf and dairy free, but I still get a fabulous iced bubble tea. It’s quite relaxing in the shop, with places to sit, and some indie music playing in the background. They also have some gluten free baked goods available (never tried but I support the effort.) In summary, check it out.

With Jersey City growing as much as it has in the past few years, I am surprised that it took this long for a bubble tea shop to pop up. Before the store front opened The Big Straw made appearances during the weekly farmers markets as well as street fairs and such, slowly building a loyal fan base.
As far as bubble tea, The Big Straw quenches my cravings. They have a small selection of flavors and combinations of add ons for the choosing as well as the option of making any of their flavors a smoothie. Their drinks come in two sizes and they give you an option of sugar levels.
In addition to the drinks they also have small bites, baked goods (all gluten free!) and various snacks and small bites for sale in their store. For those of you who are sensitive to dairy, their drinks are made with non dairy creamer so feel free to indulge. My favorite is the almond milk tea with the pudding and pearls.
A few words of caution, during the summer months it can get quite stuffy and warm inside. All in all, it’s ok. Not blown away by their bubble tea, its just ok but being on this side of the water I have no complaints.

I have nothing but LOVE for this place! They make good bubble teas. Hands down. I love to order their taro smoothie with tapioca & mango jelly with 50% sugar.
I could say that this is the best bubble tea place in JC. It’s small but the place is nice & well maintained. The ambiance is inviting & relaxing. Also good for studying. The staff are amazing! I’ve never encountered a problem with this place. The tapioca & jellies are always on point.

I love that they give you so many choices and you can really customize your drinks (including organic ingredients). They have a really great ginger tea thats made with fresh ginger and organic honey which is my new favorite.
They also have different jellies and tapioca flavors including mango & strawberry. Can’t wait to try them all since I’m a jelly junkie ;)

Amazing
You can mix and match flavors!
I recommend taro with almond and tapioca bubbles.
Very fresh foods, I recommend dumplings and the leaf box!
Hidden gem with great service, stop on by when you get a chance.

For some odd reason, I was really craving iced bubble tea on this cold, snowy day. I decided to pop in and give this new joint a try. Upon the owner’s recommendation (for my taste), I ordered a small iced lavender matcha bubble tea — unsweetened. It was delicious! Perfectly sweet enough without any extra sweetener. I also ordered boiled dumplings — half pork/​half chicken. They were surprisingly tasty.
Solid 4 stars.

I am a known bubble tea addict around my friends and coworkers. I live right across the street from The Big Straw and when they were renovating, I was soooooo excited and couldn’t wait for them to open. Now I am going to explain why today is the first and last day I came here months after their opening.
Before their location opened, I tried them out (more like a necessary fix to my addiction) when they were at the JC fair by Grove Sq. For those 3 times, I ordered small size Passionfruit /​Mango GT and honestly, the teas were not too bad. However, I found that they have a habit of filling the cup about 80% full, all three times. Therefore I stopped going there even when their tea shop finally opened. Because I got a feeling of being ripped off.
Today, I felt strong crave for bubble tea in this single digit degree weather and going to Chinatown is almost impossible, so I thought I would give Big Straw one last chance. And guess what, I ordered a large size and I got a large cup with 70% content. Check out the pic I upload and I will let you be the judge. I am never going back. I would rather go to Babo or even just to make a trip to Chinatown to get my tea from ViVi /​Kungfu.
It’s so sad this didn’t work out… If this hadn’t been the case, I would be going there so often that my husband would consider moving away.

My 2 daughters are severely addicted to bubble tea. Everywhere we go they have to Unilocal a bubble tea place. The favorite is Kung Fu Bubble Tea in downtown NYC, but this is the go to place if we’re not heading into the city.
They’re pretty happy with it and glad this one opened and they don’t have to go to BaBo to satisfy the craving.
Good addition to the ‘Hood.

I really like the bubble tea here. I also like that they have a large variety of flavors like lavender match which is very tasty. It’s nice that they have drinks like hot chocolate if bubble tea is not your thing.
There are some snacks available but nothing really tasty like at bubble tea places in the city. We want snacks that are good for sharing. While fried chicken tenders are always a favorite amongst most bubble tea goers it would be awesome to have some non fried options like simple yaki tori or the rice balls or onigiri that they make at the Japanese place down the street. So minus one start for lack of snax.
Otherwise the ambiance is clean and cozy. Not many seating options but it wasn’t very busy when I went on a Saturday evening. Also I like that I can pick the amount of sugar that goes in my drink. I’ll be back for more bubble tea soon.

Finally another bubble tea spot in downtown JC other than Babo! Stopped by for hot boba, which was so necessary on this snowy day. Was welcome by the sweet employee (possible owner?) and asked which flavor should I get (my two favorites are almond and taro). Her response: why not both?! I signed off on her mixing both flavors and it was awesome. Very tasty and at a good price. Wish it was a tad hotter, but it was so good. They have a large table inside for a big group and free wi-​fi. Didn’t get a chance to try any of their food (they’ve got ramen and dumplings) but will definitely come back for a try. Really liked the vibe of the place. The employee was just so sweet and inviting – so different from the snobby service you get over at Babo (such a turnoff). So happy The Big Straw is just down the street!

I was excited to hear about this place opening in Jersey City. I long wondered how there aren’t really any bubble tea places in the this area (at least until until Tea Nj opened). I’ve been here a couple of times this week alone and here are my thoughts–
First of all, I definitely like the space. It’s small but the seating is nicely arranged so there are about 11 or 12 seats. I found the seats to be comfortable and there are several outlets as well as free wi-​if. I spent a bit of time there doing work and would definitely go back for that. I’ve been to most of the coffee/​tea places around here and I think I would say this is actually one of the better places if you’re planning on using your laptop. Parking was pretty easy to find too and you could also walk to their store from the Grove Street PATH station.
On to the tea. I think there is a lot of room for improvement. I ordered the almond tea and lavender matcha tea. I felt both lacked flavor, both from the almond and lavender/​matcha and from the tea itself. I ordered the almond tea 50% sweet and it was VERY sweet. Like sweeter than a lot of milk tea I’ve had with normal sweetening. So when I went back, I got the lavender matcha without sweetner. It was better in terms of the sweetness (still had a little bit from the flavor) but once again I thought it lacked flavor. Without the excessive sugariness, it was even kind of watery. Their boba/​bubbles are pretty good. Nice texture and chewiness. I’m also not a fan of their limited milk selection. Drinks come standard with non-​dairy creamer. You can opt for soy or 2% milk for an additional cost.
They have a very small food menu with chia pudding, ramen, and dumplings. They also have espresso shots (and I assume regular coffee though I didn’t check) and some other drink options. Also have a punch card so if you buy a certain number (10?) of drinks, you get one free. Everyone who worked there was really nice.
My overall thoughts are that I like the space and the idea, but think the actual drinks need improvement. They definitely seem open to feedback so I’m hoping they continue to grow and evolve.