Gong Cha

I always walk past this chain, and finally decided to go in and try something. Tried the lychee oolong tea and the roselle drink with basil seeds.
The lychee oolong actually impressed me. I didn’t expect the tea to taste so authentic. The lychee flavor was refreshing. I got it with 50% sugar and didn’t think it was too sweet.
The roselle drink was not what I expected it. I’ve tried it before at another chain, but this one tasted kind of like cranberry juice to me. The basil seeds were fun to eat though. I didn’t really like the drink much but kept sipping because I wanted to get to the basil seeds. They don’t have any flavor, just the gelatinous outside mixed with the crunchy seed inside was fun to chew on.

Drinks here are a hit or miss depending on the day.
I ordered a green tea with tapioca and free (yay!) milk foam. I requested 30% sugar but it tastes like there’s no sugar aside from random chunks on the bottom. The tapioca had that perfect QQ bite though!

Pretty standard for a good bubble tea place. This was the first place I ever tried the milk foam on top of tea. When did they become a thing because I am actually seeing this in a number of other chains! Regardless, I love the concept. I do not have an overly sweet tooth so I thought the milk foam on top of the tea is a great balance of tea, milk and sugar. Their milk foam has a little salty taste to it which elevates it to another level. Super yummy. I’ve also tried the passion green tea which is comparable to other bubble tea places. Overall, a good drink experience.

Nothing special about their seating, ambience or décor, BUT they serve SOLID bubble tea (um, though confession I do not get their bubbles cause of the empty calories… you know). I got their hot winter melon milk. Could have been a little hotter but it was perfect sweetness and taste. Gong cha has definitely entered a tight competition with Kung Fu Tea for my business for bubble tea. Will definitely come gain.

Rain rain go away come another day. On a dreary rainy Sunday early afternoon with a need to sit in a moment of peace and stillness from life’s grind, bubble tea was called upon me yet Gong Cha was a disappoint. One medium Mango Green Tea without sugar and ice at $ 3.50 was served room temperature and bland. Customers can choose their desire sugar level content. The sugar gets measured in a cup before dispensing and mixing into your drink. (Former NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg would be proud to limit the sales of sugary drinks). I specifically requested ice in my drink but there was NO ice! Servers can take orders but are incompetent in the English language to understand. Gong Cha does have a loyalty rewards card where the tenth stamp enables one free drink.
I do not find anything «royal» or unique other than their controlled sugar level for Gong Cha. Their competitors Vivi, Coco, and Kungfu all taste better and fulfill orders correctly!

Stopped by here when they first opened. New workers they gave me extra grass jelly! I love it! Whole milk was used.

With a plethora of other bubble tea shops nearby, Gong Cha puts in a strong case for the superior boba spot. Although the prices are a tad higher than their competitors, I appreciate the customizable sweetness and ice levels, the variety of different toppings, and the «fresh milk» options (which also serves to make me hyper-​aware about the «milk» in other milk teas…). I got the Brown Sugar Fresh Milk with boba, $ 4.25 for medium. Perhaps I should have explicitly asked for milk tea, but I got what I asked for — brown sugar in milk with boba. Can’t really complain, and service is friendly.

Get the Milk Foam Green Tea! I’m always craving the Green Tea with Rock Salted Cheese from Happy Lemon, but since there is only one location in New York and it’s in Flushing, I resort to the Milk Foam Green Tea at Gong Cha, which has a few locations throughout the city – it’s a lot more convenient for me. However, I would not come here if I was looking to buy a drink and have a seat to chat with friends. The place is small, there is minimal seating, and the area would be too noisy to have a nice chat with your friends.
I honestly thought Milk Foam Green Tea sounded odd at first, but after seeing so many reviews about it, I decided to give it a try. After my first try, I was hooked! I never get anything else when I go to Gong Cha. If they’re ever out of milk foam, I end up leaving empty-​handed. The milk foam is delicious and thick and balances out well with the green tea. I love the saltiness it adds to the tea, some people might think it’s overpowering, but it’s perfect for me! It is such a delightful combination. You also have the option of choosing how much sugar you want in your drink.

«Tea fit for royalty» — I don’t understand why Gong Cha chooses this slogan, but let’s be clear about 2 things:
1. It is not a tea room where it serves «royal-​tea.»
2. It is just a bubble tea shop like Coco, Vivi, and Kungfu. And all competitors taste better.
Case closed!
By the way, I don’t know whether Gong Cha has a general manager, but I think it is crucial that during business hours, employees should not bring their friends over for chatting and eating as if this was their own restaurant.

I’ve had tea drinks from Gong Cha a couple of times in Hong Kong and loved the drinks; however, for my first-​time experience in the States, I made a very, very bad mistake by ordering my hot taro milk tea in full sugar, which was cloyingly sweet *yuk!* My husband had a cup of hot salted-​cream-​foam-​covered jasmine tea in 50% sugar which was good and much much much better than mine! If you were health-​conscious, wanting to avoid dangerously high glucose levels, and last but not least, would love a delicious tea drink, your best bet would be to order half-​sugar or 1/​3-​sugar.
p. s. I had checked-​in on Unilocal and got a complimentary cream-​foam *Yay!*

Milk tea with pudding.
That’s my go-​to. I like how 50% sweetness here is not sweet and the pudding is just the right amount of sweet.
That’s the only thing I had. Looks like the milk foam is their specialty. I’d give it a shot the next time I’m in the area. Otherwise, nothing special about this place. Not busy. Quick service!

The Story: Came here after lunch since my friend kept saying HOW «GREAT THIS PLACE IS ZOMGGGGG.»
Food: The first time I got taro milk tea with white tapioca pearls. I’ve asked the cashier if they had that and they said yes. They DID NOT give me my white tapioca pearls. It’s one thing if they don’t have it but its another thing that they lied. I did not enjoy my taro drink in result of this… Second time I came back and ordered the wintermelon drink because no one can screw that up. It was good. (but thats like asking for a bottle of water)
Price: Average prices for bubble teas. around $ 4 – 5 per drink.
Décor: Not much to look at. Cramped tables and a bar area for individual seating. Kinda wish they did not already full trash bags next to their trash can. Its not a good sight…
Service: They did not know what is on their menu.
Parking & Finding the Place: In Chinatown.
Additional Thoughts: Go to Kung Fu Tea

New bubble tea place right by Golden Unicorn — very convenient as you’re waiting for your number to be called on the hour long waits for dim sum. Has as much variety as any of the other major bubble tea chains around like Vivi, Coco, and Kung Fu tea. Bubbles chewiness 4/​5, could be slightly chewier. Flavor of tea ⁵⁄₅. Overall, good deal.

Came in with friends to grab bubble tea from a brand that wasn’t Kung Fu Tea or Co Co. The location is very clean, small, and has a cute white table on the side that can sit 5 – 6 people. Had the green tea milk foam half sugar and it was insanely good. Most places use powder (kung fu tea-​my friend works at one) and while the milk teas there are all really good, the green tea does not taste «freshly» brewed. Here, the green tea actually taste like green tea and the milk foam adds an extra kick!
Still, my favorite was definitely the Winter Mellon milk foam which my friend got. It was «naturally» sweet, and was probably the best tasting milk tea I’ve had. Definitely come here if you want delicious bubble tea.
Bonus: Its also one of the cheaper bubble tea places, $ 3.5 for a regular, $ 4 for a large.

Loved the passionfruit green tea with lychee and tapioca. Definitely recommend to those who like sweet stuff.

Great bubble tea and service. I’ve tried a lot of bubble tea places but a lot of people have recommended this place to me so I decided to come here (though chatime is usually my go to). I’m glad I did because this place was awesome and will definitely become my new go to place. I got an earl grey tea with milk foam and the milk foam was SO GOOD
It’s great that you can choose the ice level and sugar level… Usually my issue is that other bubble tea places do too much of both but this place gets it right

I was a woman on a mission to have all of the bubble tea in NYC. Which involved going to Gong Cha 3 times – twice to the Chinatown location, once to Midtown. I actually preferred the Chinatown location, and am intrigued by why this Gong Cha has such a lower cumulative review – perhaps there are more options in Chinatown, and several places have Gong Cha beat.
Boba is really hit and miss most places, because there are a lot of differing variables and expectations by customers – Gong Cha’s extensive customization options help ensure every leaves happy. The boba was soft, and had that nice sugary film around it – but still firm to the tooth. The tea is as sweet as you want it to be, I ordered 30%, after asking one of the employees what the usual amount was for repeat customers. You can also specify how much ice you want, which I realized I had been doing for years with certain spots, and feeling a little guilty for being so prissy.
I love that you can give a sugar percentage. This sort of customization is more common in NYC than in Southern California, hopefully it catches on there as well.
This boba was delicious, I ordered the mango black tea with boba, and was so pleasantly surprised to have little bits of mango come through the straw.

I frequent the 2 Gong Chas in Midtown on a consistent basis (almost everyday) and being that this location recently opened up, I decided to give it a try.
Located across the street from Vivis, this Gong Cha in particular was pretty spacious for Chinatown. There was a decent amount of seating and the store was brightly lit. The staff was also efficient and friendly.
My favorite drink is the Earl Gray Milk Tea with 3 J’s large with 50% sugar and light ice. Being that I drink that on a consistent basis, I decided to try one of the newer drinks; the Matcha Drink. Matcha after all, IS the new health craze these days. The drink in my opinion, was a tad sweet but I enjoyed it. My friend however, decided to try the Earl Gray with 3 J’s. He thought the drink was decent overall but the boba was a bit of the hard side. Other than that, he enjoyed it.
Would I come back? Sure, if I’m in the area!

I ordered the wintermelon with bubbles and it taste like sugarcane. Its super sweet, its like water with brown sugar. I didn’t enjoy my drink.

This place just opened up and they had a BOGO special so I decided to try it. This place needs a lot of work because there weren’t enough workers. The guy manning the cashier was running back and forth taking orders and helping the other TWO guys make tea. I don’t know how I feel about someone making my drink and touching cash at the same time. There is definitely a high chance for cross contamination here. Yuck.
So there was one guy at the cashier that also helped to make tea. There were two guys that were making the tea. The place is fairly small, which is fine, but it was kinda dirty.
We ordered the milk foam green tea and they ran out of green tea. That’s totally fine except you would they think they would have another batch ready except they forgot to put the green tea to make another batch. I think the guys were just overwhelmed at the massive amounts of orders coming in and this place is new and they didn’t anticipate how busy the place could get. This place needs a lot of improvement.
My milk foam green tea didn’t have any sugar. I’m guessing the guy forgot because he realized that there wasn’t enough green tea to fill the cup and for our second order. I had to substitute my green tea for earl grey tea which I didn’t mind.