KoGiBow Bakery

Guess I’m in the minority, but I’m actually not all that impressed by their boba tea. I hear the fruit-​flavored ones are pretty good, but the taro, thai tea, and milk tea are barely tolerable. For good boba tea, you’re better off heading down the street to Spoon.
Their cakes, however, are splendid! As another reviewer mentioned, they’re Asian-​style (the owners are Chinese-​Vietnamese), meaning they’re light, not too sweet, and taste just as delicious on Days 2, 3, and 4.
The limited flavors are somewhat disappointing; they have vanilla, chocolate, tres leches, and maybe one more. But what they lack in variety of flavors, they certainly make up for in choice of designs. For you Captain America fans, check out my son’s birthday cake, as well as the Avengers design that didn’t make the cut for a joint, mixed-​gender birthday party, for obvious reasons. Bön appetit!
BTW, the «Gi» in KoGiBow is a soft G, as in giraffe.

I got the black milk tea boba, and it was horrible. The tapioca tasted old, the drink was frothy, and it was overloaded with sugar. I may be a little snooty about my boba since I’m from Southern California, but this place didn’t even deliver on a minimum standard. Avoid.

This bakery supposedly sells great cake for all occasions but I have never personally ordered any cakes from here BUT I am a big fan of their bubble tea. It’s really hard to find good bubble tea in Adams Morgan (besides spoon which is fairly new) so this place is the best bet for you. It’s relatively cheaper compared to spoon and the flavor variations are awesome. My personal favorites are the lychee and mango because I am more of a tropical fruit person but they have other awesome flavor a like black tea, green tea etc.

I was craving boba and this place stood out to me on Unilocal because people mentioned the fresh fruit smoothies. It’s a simple, tiny little bakery specializing in wedding cakes that also happens to sell boba drinks. I was actually tempted to order the black milk tea, but realized that I should order a fruit drink since that was the whole point in choosing this place.
I ordered the mango smoothie with boba. It was excellent and had great fresh mango flavor. While it is true that the boba are not coated with honey as some other Unilocalers have commented on, this did not bother me because I don’t mind it being a little less sweet. Plus, the consistency of the boba was perfect: extra chewy (or «Q» as we like to say in Taiwan), just the way I like it!
Still can’t compare to boba places back in California (or in Taiwan for that matter, where boba originated), but not bad at all! The drink menu is somewhat limited though.

Unilocal has let me down. This place was a bust. If you like real bubble tea, avoid at all costs. The green milk tea was not actual tea but grossly-​flavored artificial tasting matcha. The cantaloupe drink I got was better because it was fresh fruit but it still was pretty gross. The boba balls were the worst. They weren’t sweet at all and they tasted horrible. If you’re craving the real thing, go to Rockville. Avoid getting anything here.

Really good black milk tea with tapioca. It’s actually made with real tea. $ 3.30 for 16 oz. I think it is better than Poppabox and the nearby Spoon. The man working there is very friendly as well. The pearls are a good texture but I think they could be sweeter.

The best cake I had in my life! And usually I don’t even care for cake. Mr. Manh delivered my 3 tier wedding cake punctually and it was simply superb. Extraordinarily light, abundant creamy tres leches filling, decorated artistically with lots of super fresh colorful fruit and toasted slivered almonds.

This review is based solely on the bubble tea. The smoothie itself is delicious. I can really taste the avocado — like all the other reviews said about using real fruit. However, docking a couple stars because the boba itself is not sweet at all. It’s missing the honey syrup coating.

Sorry, I don’t get this place. I had a cake from here at a party once and it was delicious, so I was anxious to check it out. This place is called a «bakery,» yet on a Sunday afternoon, they didn’t have a SINGLE baked good for sale in the entire store! Huh??? What bakery is open for business and has completely empty cases on a Sunday afternoon? From the Unilocal reviews, it looks like most people come here for bubble tea… I love boba, but then call yourself a boba shop, not a bakery if you aren’t going to have anything baked for sale!

As others have said, they use real ingredients here unlike most places in town. I had a sweet potato bubble tea — it was delicious!

Awesome bubble tea. Got both the mango and the coconut. You can tell right away it’s made with real mango and real coconut. The flavor was amazing. I had the coconut and it was exactly what I wanted not too sweet either and the bobbas were the perfect consistency (and I am very picky about my bobbas). The mango was a bit sweet for me but I don’t like my bobba tea very sweet however my friend who got it loved it. Definitely worth going. Can’t wait I go back. The place is a little hole in the wall and doesn’t look very tidy, etc however don’t judge it by that. Also purchased a few slices of cake to go. Have yet to try them. But will let you Unilocalers know. :)

2.75 stars
Not sure how it should taste like as I have never been to Taiwan and they don’t have this in China, at least the places in China I went to… but a friend from Taiwan said this was solid… Tasted so so to me. The bubbles are just these cheap tasting chewy little candies that go through the straw. They do not use real fruit either.

I came here for a bubble tea, but didn’t get one. The place looks dirty and they have a $ 15 cc minimum. Who doesn’t take cc in 2014? Both of the shop attendants were indifferent and didn’t even try to get my business. Luckily, I found a great new froyo and bubble tea shop, Spoon, down the street. I took my business there.

Alas… a super hole in awhile Asian bakery… it feels like the west coast/​Hawaii dropped smack in the middle of Adams Morgan. I had NO idea that this shop was here next to Southern Hospitality. It was my bday and needed a cake last minute and since we were in the neighborhood and just had brunch at Perry’s, we found this place on the Unilocal app and lo and behold it was exactly what I was looking for… it isn’t Goldilocks or Golden Coin but for DC, this is definitely an Asian bakery that delivers. They had some cakes available in their fridges but the lady behind the counter said she could make one up for us with tres leches cream that can feed 8 – 10 in 20 minutes or so… we said sure, went across the street to Starbucks for a tall soy no whip pumpkin spice latte (hooray for pumpkin spice being back!), came back and walah, a cake was done and good to go and it was only around twenty something bucks. The cake was obviously in its cheesy flowery generic style but I loved it! That evening, my friends thought the cake was delish… so yeah if you need a last minute cake, KoGiBow rocks.

I’ve been going to this place for a year now but just for the bubble tea. As such, this review is solely based on the their bubble tea and not their cakes.
For what it’s worth, this is the BEST BUBBLE TEA in DC simply because they use real fruit instead of powder or syrup. You can take the chunks of fresh fruit in your drink. SO DELICIOUS!

This was one of the worst visits I’ve had in the city. Stay away from this fraudulent place! This review is in regards to the «bubble tea» that they serve. I asked if it would be ok to have an orange/​mango mix, as they don’t have lychee, and the lady said it was fine. She disappears. I hear nothing for ten minutes… not a blender, no sounds of fruits being placed anywhere, nothing. Another lady finally comes out and says $ 4.50. I didn’t think the price was right, and she said that she charged extra for combining flavors. I asked why I wasn’t told about this beforehand, and she just repeated that she is charging for the mix. I then taste it, and it was literally the worst bubble tea I’ve ever had. I know she didn’t mix any real fruit in. I didn’t hear anything going on. She basically went in back, opened up some mango nectar or pulp (which you can find for next to nothing at the market) and stirred in some orange juice. I don’t even know if she really mixed any orange flavor in because I didn’t taste any of it. I told her that I’d write a review about how ridiculously overpriced and misrepresented the product was. She didn’t care.
Seriously, had I wanted a mango lassi, I would have went to the Indian grocery store to get it for a dollar. I should have walked out when I didn’t hear the blender or any chopping. Why trust a place that doesn’t show you what they’re doing to your drink… Some hipsters might like this place because it has a watery organic feel to it, but if you are craving a real Bubble Tea, don’t come here! The cakes they had also looked disgusting…

I’ve had and ordered 2 birthday cakes from here. Maybe more expensive than other Asian bakery cakes but those are really far out from DC. These were just as good actually BETTER because they are that light fluffy sponge cake with not too sweet of icing on top and lots of fruits. Support local businesses!

Still best bubble beverage (tea and smoothie) place in DC area. They don’t use powder or syrup which are loaded with artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives.
This establishment actually uses fruit!

Probably the best bubble tea I could find in the city of DC itself. I had the black tea while my boyfriend had the green tea. Both were equally good. The boba wasn’t too hard or too soft, but they were really small. I prefer the larger ones but it wasn’t enough to deter me. Correct me if I’m wrong but I feel as if they made the boba on the spot specifically for our drinks.
I don’t know how the cakes taste but they seemed to have a large selection. Typical asian bakery cakes.
The exterior/​interior need a bit of love, though. Pretty small and not the most visually appealing place in the world.

Ko Gi Bow made the bday cake we got for my friend and we were even able to have her face printed on it!
Just to let you know, asian bakeries make cake sort of different. It’s lighter and spongier with less sugar. It’s worth trying and if you’re from california or nyc you’re probably used to it. The folks at ko gi bow make the style of cake pretty well so if you have a hankering go on down