Introduction
I have been a bubble tea enjoyer for a couple of years by now. While I enjoy patronizing businesses, especially local businesses, sometimes I just want to save the trip and the money and make it in my house. After I found this bubble tea kit, I felt inspired to thoroughly review it for all my fellow bubble tea lovers out there. This is not a sponsored post, I just wanted to help anyone out who isn’t sure yet about this product and wasn’t satisfied enough by adding the word “Reddit” to their search for a proper review. Included in this article will be where to get this product, what you need for it, and my personal opinion of the product’s taste and texture.
Where to find it
I personally found it at a Costco, but you can use the store locator on the J Way Foods website to look for some of their products, or order directly from their website, though this particular variety pack is not online at the time of writing. The store locator seems to show Walmarts and Targets mainly, so your best bet is to look there if you don’t have a Costco nearby. This is a product that can sit out on a shelf or in a pantry, so you would likely find it with other non-refrigerated items.
What is included? What is needed to prepare this product?
All of the tea flavors are in powder form. There are 4 packets of classic milk tea, 2 packets of taro milk tea, 2 packets of creme brulee milk tea, and 2 packets of passion fruit tea. There are 8 packets of brown sugar boba pearls for all the milk tea flavors, and 2 packets of fruity boba pearls (fruit flavor unspecified) for the passion fruit flavor. Every flavor except for taro is caffeinated. Straws are provided, but cups are not.
To make this, you need a way to get hot water (I use an electric kettle) for the tea, and a heat-resistant cup to mix the powder with the hot water. I like to stir the powder in with a spoon, make sure it’s fully dissolved, and then stir it some more with a long stick of ice from an ice cube tray to start cooling it off. I heat up a little bit more water than the instructions call for to make sure the powder gets full coverage and gets stirred in properly. I have a separate drinking glass to pop the boba into so I can pour the liquid on top, rather than awkwardly splashing it into the drink.
A microwave is the easiest way to prepare the boba, only requiring you to cut or tear a small notch in the packet and microwave it for 20 seconds (or 18 for the fruity boba). If you find your microwave routinely nukes things like mine does, 20 seconds should do perfectly fine for you. If you often have to heat things longer than instructions say, the box advises you to add 5 seconds at a time until it’s hot enough and at the texture you want. Otherwise, you will need to put the sealed packet in boiling water on a stovetop for 3 minutes.
When the boba is done, you need a decent drinking glass to put it in once it has cooled a bit, topped off with plenty of ice. Carefully pour the tea into the glass (pour with careful precision and authority if you’re pouring from something that doesn’t have a spout or a curled lip fit for pouring, such as a mug) and top it off with milk for the milk tea or water for the fruit tea. I usually pour enough to fill up the glass. Choose smaller glasses if you want stronger flavors and larger glasses if you don’t mind trading some flavor for more volume added by the milk or water.
The instructions are very easy to follow. If you already put the box away and realize you forgot what to do next, the instructions are also helpfully printed on the packets themselves.
Taste Review
Disclaimer: The product is entirely powder drinks, which some people dislike. I honestly have never noticed any powdery feeling with this drink, it just dissolves right in and I would be none the wiser if I didn’t see it being prepared. If you have a very refined palette for milk tea you may notice a difference in quality, but I was impressed with the product overall.
Classic Milk Tea: 8/10
It’s called classic for a reason. It’s the typical safety flavor you can get at basically any place that sells milk tea. You can never go wrong with just your basic milk tea. It gets an 8/10 because it’s pretty decent, but since it’s so basic it doesn’t receive a full 10. If you’re really into that basic milk tea flavor, you’ll definitely enjoy this. This would also be the go-to flavor to offer someone if you’re trying to be hospitable and want to make a treat for the both of you.
Taro Milk Tea: 10/10
This one surprised me. I usually am not a big fan of taro, it often has a strange creamy texture and reminds me a bit too much of sweet potato (another root vegetable, which I have disliked for a long time) in flavor. In this pack however, it was unbelievably good. It was almost like a mild maple syrup-y taste, the texture wasn’t too thick like taro often is, it was smooth and delicious. I give it a 10/10 for being such a pleasant surprise and a great experience.
Creme Brulee Milk Tea: 5/10
This one didn’t do it so much for me. The flavor was definitely too overwhelming for me. I am not a huge fan of creme brulee itself either, to be fair. If you do have an affinity for creme brulee, I can say it tastes almost exactly like it, right down to the burnt taste. I could best describe it as being so sweet and caramelly that it was nearly like drinking soap. I still give it a 5/10 because it’s still doable if it’s watered down (or milked down…?) enough, and still goes well enough with the brown sugar boba it comes with.
Passion Fruit Tea: 6.5/10
Half a point is knocked off because this one is the highest in sugar content and therefore gave me a slight stomachache after drinking it. If you regularly eat hearty protein-filled meals, or are used to more sugary treats, you will likely not encounter this issue. I was worried before trying it that it might be bland or less fun to drink since it’s a normal everyday fruit tea rather than a milk tea, but it was actually pretty refreshing and pleasant. You may also note that all the other packets are labeled as “milk tea” and their instructions say to add either water or milk to it, while this one is only labeled as a basic tea and only says to add water. I am personally not really into fruit milk teas since they give me the same uneasy creamy texture feeling that taro often does, so I will not be trying this with milk.
Brown Sugar Boba: 10/10
Really simple and easy to prepare, and the taste and texture are perfect. It’s a very tough balance trying to make boba that is easy to prepare and eat quickly without the texture being spoiled, and this product found that balance. It’s also a decent portion of boba, there’s enough to last while you’re still drinking the tea, but not so much that my stomach started hurting from all the tapioca.
Fruity Boba: 9/10
Usually when there is a fruit-flavored boba option at a shop, it’s popping boba. This is actually a rare instance of boba that is still tapioca, but with a flavor other than the typical brown sugar. I do definitely prefer the standard brown sugar boba, but the novelty of it and the aesthetic appearance of it in the passion fruit tea give it some extra points. It seems to be just a generic unidentified mixed fruit flavor.
Conclusion
This product as a whole is worthwhile to buy, and I will be buying more in the future. What really inspired this was a personal annoyance of mine. Every time I hear about a bubble tea kit I’ve never tried, I always find it impossible to find any solid trustworthy reviews on it. I hope this review has provided the utility I’ve always craved!
