Bubble milk tea is a staple, especially in East Asian countries. It is no different for Hong Kong as an increasing number of people are traveling, working, or living here. Pictures of it taken and shared across websites and loved by Facebook groups who worship this drink. Instagram and Snapchat alike are filled with posts of these sugary drinks. Most notably, this trend of brown sugar bubble milk tea seems to be overtaking the industry by storm.
The brown sugar bubble milk tea was popularized in Taiwan as this trend proceeds, popular milk tea chains are taking advantage and displaying the wondrous taste and beauty of these to go drinks. As a New York resident, only a small handful of stores have these for purchase. Those lucky enough to line up early for the newly opened Tiger Sugar in Flushing, NY have been blessed to grace their newsfeed with the store’s signature drink. The Alley, another bubble milk tea chain who specializes in brown sugar drinks, is set to open up in the NoHo area of Manhattan, NY in July 2019. Luckily for me, I did not have to wait, or rather, do not have to wait as I was preparing for my trip to Hong Kong in May 2019. As I knew I was heading to Hong Kong, I’ve decided to test out and see which popular chain deserved to be the best.
To test out the chain that comes out on top, I am only allowed to purchase brown sugar milk tea but will not restrict myself to purchase a milk foam top or cheese top if possible. The reason behind this is because locals in Hong Kong have explained to me that the additional cheese or milk foam brings out the flavor of the drink. I did try both variations for two of the chain and must agree that the cheese/milk foam counterpart truly brings out the flavors. The salty and savory flavor from the additional dairy product goes well with the sweet tea. I will also try to list the price of the drinks at the time of the writing.
I will critique the taste, appearance, and likeliness to go back. Each criterion will be rated out of 5, with 5 being the best and 1 being the worse. For likelihood of returning, I will give my thoughts of whether I recommend or not and may or may not include reasoning.
Please be advised that what I prefer and which I like may differ from you as many factors contribute to which I think is better. Keep in mind as all the chains were purchased and tested on different days too.
Tiger Sugar (老虎堂)
First up is the widely popular Tiger Sugar. This chain is popular in Hong Kong as you can find four stores in Hong Kong alone. The drink that I’ve gone with is called “Brown sugar pearl milk with cream mousse (珍珠厚鮮奶)”. This drink has a nice taste for both tea and cheese. Although, because it was a cream mousse, it wasn’t thick and mixed quite easily with tea. I wanted to enjoy the cheese and tea separately, but I won’t complain too much as it was really good! The appearance of this drink was also really “instagrammable” and was worth to share with my friends on SnapChat and Instagram. Their tapioca balls were small and easy to chew too. You can get this at the Causeway Bay location for HKD $30 (approximately USD $3.84).
Taste: 4/5
Appearance: 4/5
Recommend: Highly Recommended
The Alley (鹿角巷)
The Alley is the store that I went to try. This chain does not get as much hype as Tiger Sugar does, but in my personal opinion, it is my favorite one. This place only has two locations in all of Hong Kong. You can purchase a drink from either store at Tsim Sha Tsui or Mong Kok. The drink I went with was called “Brown Sugar Deerioca Milk (黑糖鹿丸鮮奶)”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the milk top for this drink as they had already sold out way before I got there. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this drink a lot. Appearance wise it was my favorite appearance as the deer logo is nice for pics. Taste, however, was a bit subtle for my taste. But their tapioca balls were chewier and delicious. You can get this drink at the Mong Kok location for HKD $28 (approximately USD $3.59)
Taste: 3.5/5
Appearance: 4/5
Recommend: Recommended
Xing Fu Tang (幸福堂)
Next up is Xing Fu Tang, but to be honest I actually did not know much about this place. It was not until I arrived in Hong Kong that I heard quite a lot about this chain and I knew I had to come to give it a try. This chain has three locations in Hong Kong, all in prime areas where there are quite an amount of tourists. The lines are no joke for this chain too so prepared to wait under the sun for a bit. For this drink, I went with the “Brown Sugar Boba Milk”. What sets this place apart from the previous two was that they sprinkle some sort of chocolate powder on top of the milk and then slightly burn it with a torch. I didn’t mix the foam top completely to ensure I could give both milk foam and tea a try separately. To my surprise, this had the best milk top as it was salty and creamy. The tea was also super refreshing as it was extremely hot that day I went to purchase. The appearance was quite lackluster but definitely compensated with taste. I was a bit disappointed that this one had A LOT of ice within the drink. You can get this at the Mong Kok location for HKD 30 (approximately USD $3.84).
Taste: 4.75/5
Appearance: 3/5
Recommend: Recommended
Honorable Mention: Cha Long (茶狼)
This place was a random surprise for me. I never even heard of this place nor know anything about this place at all, but has as many locations as Tiger Sugar. To ensure I am testing out quality I made sure I tried only the brown sugar milk tea, but my girlfriend got the “Roasted Oolong Milk Cap Cha” and it was spectacular! I do apologize for my ignorance of this chain but this place deserved to be known. Both the logo is picture worthy and the cheese top goes super well with the tea. However, the brown sugar drink I got was very, very subtle and basically tasted like… a pinch of brown sugar. So it tasted like natural tea with a creamy cheese top. Nevertheless, both drinks were good on a hot day, but my girlfriend’s drink was very, very good.
Taste (Mine): 2.5/5
Taste( Her’s): 4.5/5
Appearance: 4.5/5
Recommend: Highly Recommended
