As you know I’m a big bubble tea fan so when I was invited (by the PR Team) to come and try out Yao Yao Cha’s bubble teas and shaved ice, I thought why not, (plus I read @GroceryGems review and thought I needed to give this place a try). Do I need to explain what bubble tea??? (Nope, I don’t think I need to).

Yao Yao Cha 搖搖茶 (Canto: yiu yiu cha) literally means “shake shake tea” because before you drink bubble tea you must shake it for the tapioca bubbles and toppings to be loose. Yao Yao Cha is located in Seven Dials which is not far from Artbox Covent Garden and it is quite close to China Town – basically a small distance away from most of the competition around the area. ^^ Yao Yao Cha is owned by Susan Fang, a Taiwanese born lady who has traveled the world and has ended up in London according to their website. 

Yao Yao Cha in Earlham Street

As soon as I arrived (today) I was greeted by the friendly staff, I think they are all from Taiwan (forgot to ask) but they speak English and Mandarin (but I spoke in English as I think my Mandarin is still not good). ^_^

Inside Yao Yao Cha

Menu on a large screen

Shaved Ice Special

Like them on social networks!

There is a large selection on the menu like with all bubble tea menus, but particularly I wanted to try out the Cherry Tomato Frappé which I have never seen before in any other bubble tea stores. Unfortunately they are no longer serving this frappe (probably not popular). 😦 So my second option was the Matcha Green Tea with Red Beans. Luckily I looked at the menu online beforehand! I chose to have it medium sweet with ice and with tapioca balls… and the verdict?

It actually tastes good! The tapioca balls were very chewy. I was told by staff that they cook fresh tapioca balls every 4 hours and so that’s why it’s so tender! Wow. The red beans were crushed into smaller pieces. They weren’t soft but it tasted like bits of nuts inside the drink. All of it combined together tasted great, and I was quite pleased with my choice!

Matcha Green Tea with Red Beans

Sealed on top

Next is the shaved ice… Ah, shaved ice, I’ve wanted to try this type of dessert for a long time. I didn’t get a chance to try it in Hyper Japan the other day because I was so hungry and needed food rather than a dessert. Not sure if there are any places in London that sell shaved ice, maybe Boba Jam, but this is one place you should try out if you get stuck looking for shaved ice. I wanted to try out either the mango or the strawberry shaved ice and ended up having the mango one. I was given a choice of 3 free toppings so I chose the coffee jelly, strawberry balls and blueberries plus some added mango syrup. This was a special shaved ice on the menu (as shown in the picture menu above), so extra toppings are usually an extra £0.50 each.

Mango Shaved Ice with 3 extra toppings

Blueberries and large mango pieces

Strawberry fruit pops on the left

Coffee jelly in the front

Yummy!!

This was very different, it didn’t taste like a slushy. It was very much sliced ice with mango syrup and it wasn’t too sweet. It is very ideal for very hot weather conditions. The blueberries were different, they burst into my mouth as soon as I bit into them. Same goes with the strawberry bubbles. Nice! The coffee jelly was very good indeed. (Remember the time I had coffee jelly in Hong Kong, which was not so good…). Anyway, there is very tasty coffee taste in this jelly. Not too sweet and just right. The mango pieces were of course cold but not too sweet either. Yummy yummy o(〃＾▽＾〃)o.

Love the tiny tray!!

And guess what?! I was given another bubble tea as soon as I said the coffee jelly was good. The manager said I should try out the Crème Brûlée with the coffee jelly. This tasted very creamy, and yes the coffee jelly went well with the Crème Brûlée… I think I had too much to drink at this point. So I had to go and walk around for a bit and to find a loo!!

Crème Brûlée with coffee jelly

Coffee jelly!!! ^^

Staff working hard

Staff working very hard

Blueberry taster… not a flavour for me

Finished!!!

I said I would come back to try out one more, and I was given one more Milk Black Tea with tapioca balls for free. Oh my. I really wanted to pay at this point because they gave me so much! The manager told me that every Taiwanese that came to the store would say that this Milk Tea reminds them of home… I’m sure it does as majority of the ingredients come from Taiwan! Again this was medium sweet but without ice as I was taking this away… I’ve had this type of flavour before which contains condensed milk and of course very chewy tapioca balls. It had a rich black tea taste but not like royal milk tea which we see in most bubble tea stores. Very good.

Nice board

Milk Black Tea

With tapioca balls

Overall I was very, very satisfied. I think the price for all of this would have been £15.50. I hope they expand into China Town one day and get more customers!! Anyone in Covent Garden for the day and can’t be bothered to head towards China Town should head to Yao Yao Cha! ^__^ Will definitely go again (most likely with either Mr Bear or Mr Picky – they love sweets!).

Was asked by the staff to see which of the above was my favourite, it was the Matcha Green Tea with Red Beans. Not sure why. It didn’t taste too sweet and I think it just matched my tastebuds. ≧(´▽｀)≦

My geeky rating: 5/5

Good points: 

– Very friendly staff
– Nice range of bubble teas (it’s a shame they took off the Cherry Tomato Frappé)
– Love the different toppings which are very strong in flavours
– Nice to know where to find shaved ice!!

Bad points:
– Can’t think of any, but you just need to find a loo somewhere if you have drank and eaten a lot 😛 (don’t be like me)…

Address: 24 Earlham St, London WC2H 9LN

Telephone: 020 7836 6081

Website: http://www.yaoyaocha.com/ (menu just needs to be updated on the website)

Regular bubble tea: £3.50

Large bubble tea: £4.50

Frappés: £4.00

Shaved ice: £5.00

Extra toppings: £0.50