Top 5 Bubble Tea Joints in Mississauga
Published January 28, 2015 at 4:58 pm
There’s a growing number of bubble tea joints in Mississauga, with a few just popping up in the last couple of months. For the uninitiated, bubble tea can be confusing. Not all of us know how order a milk-based taro bubble tea with pearls at 30 per cent without hesitation.
Bubble tea restos offer a lot of selection, with options ranging from milk-based beverages to coffees to fresh teas to smoothies.
Fear not, as the staff will always help and guide you. Trust me, you are not the first customer to look like a deer caught in the headlights.
Bubble Tea Defined:
Bubble tea, also known as pearl milk tea or boba milk tea, is a Taiwanese tea-based drink invented in Taichung in the 1980s. Most bubble tea recipes contain a tea base mixed/shaken with fruit or milk, to which chewy tapioca balls and/or fruit jellies.
Once you do get that bubble tea with tapioca pearls and sit down with your friends or significant other, you might realize there’s no better drink to enjoy while chatting or playing cards.
We had taro bubble tea with pearls at each place.
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Here are the top 5 bubble tea joints in Mississauga:
If you are looking for an in-and-out bubble tea joint, Bamboo Bubble Tea (also located at Burnhamthorpe and Creditview) is a great choice. With only four seats, you know they don’t want hordes of lingering diners. The ice-based taro was one of the most flavorful on this list. This place also boasts a wide food selection, offering everything from meat skewers to pho. They also offer milk and tea-based bubble teas. The people that work here are super nice too.
Overall flavour: 17/20
Service: 14/15
Selection: 12/15
Atmosphere: 9/15
52/65
WiFi – No
Hot food – Yes
This might be the loudest one. With two locations in Mississauga, Bubble Republic Tea House is a really popular choice for both bubble tea and chilling. It’s a busy brand, with one resto located at Eglinton and HWY 10 in the Toys R Us plaza and the other at Creditview and Burnhamthrope. They boast a large variety of milk and fruit based drinks and some cool ones like oatmeal smash (as seen below). They also have a kitchen for some hot food if you want to grab some fried chicken or a rice dish.
Overall flavour: 17/20
Service: 11/15
Selection: 13/15
Atmosphere: 12/15
53/65
WiFi – Yes
Hot food – Yes
Note: Cash Only
3 – Café Bubbletease
A few months ago, I spent some time in Beijing, China. It’s a vibrant, colourful and historical city with an incredible culinary scene (don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise). It also boasted numerous cafes that served bubble teas and other unique hot drinks, and the drinks used ingredients Amurikan coffee shops would never dream of using — crushed nuts, unusual fruits, etc. The Heartland Bubbletease is one bubble tea joint that truly captures the Beijing feel. It’s spacious, authentic and creative. It’s not just about the menu (although you should try the super-sweet Hazel Matcha Latte – $4.47), it’s about the experience. The loft-style building uses deep oranges and yellows and doesn’t shy away from cutesy Asian cartoon accoutrements. The tables are also separated by modern chain curtains — a nice touch. The cafe also offers playing cards to diners, which is cool if you’re into card games (I’m not, but I’m an anomaly).
Overall flavour: 15/20
Service: 12/15
Selection: 13/15
Atmosphere: 14/15
54/65
WiFi – No
Hot food – No
2 – Chatime
Chatime is a Taiwanese bubble tea franchise that opened its first location in Taiwan in 2005. It’s a new school teahouse decked out with simple, modern decor and boasts pop music-blaring speakers throughout the restaurant. It has over 800 retail stores around the globe — eight of which are here in Canada — and Mississauga’s first opened up at Burnhamthorpe and Mavis in late 2014. The menu includes an array of tea based beverages ranging from fruit to nut flavour bases and from Signature Milk Teas to smoothies. The toppings of choice include pearl, barley, rainbow jelly, pudding, aloe vera, coffee jelly, grass jelly, red bean and coconut jelly. The menu also outlines sugar and ice content options in case you have a preference.
Overall flavour: 16/20
Service: 12/15
Selection: 14/15
Atmosphere: 13/15
55/65
WiFi – Yes
Hot food – No
1 – Green Grotto
This place is has the nicest atmosphere and the best tasting bubble tea in Mississauga. Green Grotto Tea Room is a new bubble tea spot hidden in the Grand Park Plaza along Burnhamthorpe just east of Mavis. The independent tea room prepares authentic bubble tea using traditional tea brewing methods that you can taste with your first sip. It also offers Taiwanese hot meals. Other perks include free Wi-Fi, chill tunes and a reading lounge with Asian specific magazines such as Vivi, Muse and Mina that feature anything from the arts and culture scene in Hong Kong to the fashion scene in Japan (these typically cost an arm and a leg to subscribe to). The bar staff traditionally prepares batches of loose leaf green, black and oolong teas multiple times a day for the 50+ tea drinks on the menu.
Overall flavour: 19/20
Service: 14/15
Selection: 14/15
Atmosphere: 15/15
62/65
WiFi – Yes
Hot food – Yes
- Green Grotto Tea Room
- Chatime
- Café Bubbletease – Heartland
- Bubble Republic Tea House – Creditview
- Bamboo Bubble Tea