I moved to Canberra in 2008, and to my horror discovered that there were NO bubble tea shops in the capital. Fast forward 11 years, there are now so many options that I can’t keep up.
I want to note that Easy Way was the first bubble tea shop that I knew of to open in Canberra and paved the way for the rest. I remember the day I spotted it at Westfield Woden and how exciting it was! I believe they are all closed down now though.
But with all the new bubble tea spots opening everywhere, I thought it was time to make a list. In no particular order, here are 10+ bubble tea spots around Canberra.
Machi Machi
Machi Machi is located in Garema Place in Civic. There are menu categories for matcha, cream cheese foam, freshly pressed tea, milk tea, and fresh fruit tea. The menu indicates the select drinks that come in a bottle (as per photos below). I tried their signature black milk tea with pannacotta ($9 – photo below on the right) and loved it. I was a bit hesitant about having pannacotta in a drink but it was deliciously creamy and light, the perfect balance to the black tea. In truth, it was difficult trying to suck up all the pannacotta and no spoon can fit into that bottle neck!
I was invited to the Machi Machi soft launch, and was given a few more drinks to sample. The grapefruit green tea slush with fruit jelly (photo below on the left) will be a favourite in summer. Very refreshing grapefruit, with a layer of real grapefruit, and jelly at the bottom.
Prices start from $5.50 for a medium.
85c
85c has two locations (that I know of) in Canberra Centre and the ANU campus. It’s more of a bakery and cake shop (think Bread Top) but also has cold beverages such as fruit tea. I was invited to the soft launch of the Canberra Centre store and got to try the brown sugar bubble milk tea which wasn’t too sweet and the tea not too strong if mixed altogether. The grapefruit slush has real grapefruit in it plus some jellies at the bottom. I recently went back to the Canberra Centre store for a bubble tea but was pointed to a bucket of pre-made iced teas (no toppings). So perhaps only the ANU shop has bubble tea.
The Moment
The Moment at the Canberra Centre, advertises itself as offering fusion concept tea. There’s some classics, fruit iced tea, premium fresh tea like honeydew and oolong, slushies and smoothies, yoghurt milk with rice, and a ‘sparkling series’ such as strawberry mojito.
I tried the golden bubble tea with real fresh taro ($7 for a small) with no ice and no added sugar. It’s basically a brown sugar milk tea with brown sugar pearls. It was very milky and the brown sugar too subtle, so I really had to stir everything together to get some minimal flavour. I loved the addition of fresh taro (I’ve never tried before in a bubble tea) which helped add to the flavour.
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Super Emoji
First opening in Dickson, Super Emoji also has a shop at Westfield Belconnen and a mega shop and cafe in City Walk in Civic. It’s not your traditional bubble tea shop but I guess that’s part of the ever changing world I need to keep up with. Tea slush, yoghurt slush, fruit teas, cheese foam and ice cream toppings. It’s not clear to me which drinks have pearls as I had to clarify this when ordering. The Galaxy Passionfruit Tea Slush (doesn’t come with pearls) is very sweet with a mix of fruity flavours. It’s basically a fruity slushie, great for a hot day and perhaps shared between two to share the amount of sugar to be consumed. I’ve since had a few more drinks with my favourites being the Thai mochi bubble tea, Okinawa bubble milk tea, and the taro bubble milk tea.
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Super Emoji also do cream filled choux pastries, souffles, mini cake boxes and bingsu (note each location might sell limited items – the Civic store has everything).
Summer Freshy
Located at No Name Lane in Acton, Summer Freshy offers premium milk teas, yoghurt, smoothies and fresh fruit and veggie juices
Anonymous Fruit & Bubble Tea
Anonymous Fruit & Bubble Tea is attached to 106 Hot Pot in Civic. I’ve tried the brown sugar bubble tea ($6.90 for a small), which I’m pretty happy with – chewy soft pearls (I purchased a double hit of pearls for I think an additional 70c) and full cream milk. Nice caramelised brown sugar flavour throughout after stirring.
There are also other non-bubble tea drinks like rose yakult, grape mojo with a cheese top, non-alcoholic pineapple beer, ‘drinkable cake’ in a tiramisu flavour, and even some mocktails.
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Gong Cha
I had no idea Gong Cha existed in Canberra until I drove past the now second store that opened up in Braddon/Civic. The first store is in Gungahlin. Being a chain bubble tea store, there are stores all over Australia and 1,500 stores worldwide.
There is a range of milk teas – the unique ones including ginger milk tea (hot only), toffee oolong, longan red date, cookie milk, cookie choco milk and brown sugar milk teas. Then there’s the milk foam teas, a ‘creative mix’ category like grape green tea with basil seed, smoothies and yoghurts.
For matcha lovers – there’s green tea yoghurt, matcha lattes, regular matcha and matcha red bean smoothies, and matcha milk foam.
There’s also such a large selection of toppings – from regular pearls, to cookie pieces, ai-yu jelly, and oats. The ‘3JS’ topping refers to three jellies – pearls, jelly and pudding.
I’ve tried the pearl milk tea ($6.20) with a little ice and no sugar. Mr FPJ liked it but I thought the tea flavour was too subtle and too milky. A little too boring for me. The QQ Passionfruit green tea ($6.50) with a little ice and no sugar was still SUPER sweet to me offset with an even hit of passion fruit sourness with passionfruit pulp included, as well as jelly and pearls. I can see it’s why it’s made Gong Cha’s Top 10 Bestseller list but it’s too sweet for me.
Cha Time
If the Cha Time website information is correct, it is the biggest tea house franchise in the world. There are a few Cha Time’s dotted around the place including at the ANU. There’s loyal-tea app (you get the first drink half price) where you can also pre-order. Hazelnut milky tea, coconut milky tea, frozen teas (slushies), and more. I actually don’t mind the mango green tea with pearls which tastes a lot more like the real mango and less sugary compared to Sharetea.
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Share Tea
Share Tea is another chain bubble tea store. Milk teas, fruit teas, teas with ice cream on top, cream cheese foam, etc. So much choice. The number one best selling item is the classic pearl milk tea. Share Tea is available in Civic, Tuggeranong, Dickson and the Canberra Outlet Centre.
Oritea
Oritea sells various cheese top teas, a brown sugar series (brown sugar + matcha, brown sugar + cocoa etc), yakult and various milk and fruit teas. Prices for a regular 500ml start at $5.90, and from $6.50 for 700mls. I believe there are locations in Braddon and Majura Park.
The Whale Tea
The Whale Tea on City Walk in Civic (towards the casino) offers ‘crystal’ teas which just seem to be milk teas, fresh milk teas, bubble teas, grain lattea, fruit teas, chia milk bombs, as well as freshly made souffles, dorayaki and crepes. I tried the fresh milk with fresh taro (a Whale Tea signature drink) and added pearls to it. Unfortunately there was very limited taro (you can see from the slightly tan tinge in the cup below), and although lovely and sweet when I got a few lumps of it, there wasn’t enough in comparison to all that fresh milk. It was really just like drinking straight milk with some pearls.
I also tried the mango souffle which I was told would take 10 minutes to make fresh. That was fine but it ended up taking 20 minutes. The souffle was hot, fluffy and so jiggly. The mango was clearly frozen but had thawed enough.
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Coco
Opening up at Garema Place in Civic, the Coco franchise has joined us in Canberra. I find it’s a bit more expensive compared to other places but they do have some consistently chewy pearls. My favourites are mango green tea, and the panda milk tea. Staff are always very friendly and smiley.
Shook
Located at Hobart Place in the city, Shook offers some bubble tea and beverages. I like the snow peach blossom tea which had these awesome peach jelly balls at the bottom. They have matcha, purple rice, yoghurt and also some cool beverages like dragon fruit mojito.
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Panda Crepes & Tea
Located in Westfield Belconnen, Panda Crepes and Tea is just outside Woolworths. You can purchase a reusable cup and every time you bring it in, you get a free topping.
Corner
On the corner of London Circuit and Akuna St in the city, is Corner Tea and Coffee. I haven’t had a chance to go in yet. Apart from bubble tea, they also do frappes, iced coffees, tarts and other pastries.
Costco
$2.99 bubble tea at Costco out at Majura Park is a thing! It’s all self-checkout for food and drink now.
There’s only one flavour at the moment, and it tastes like a Thai milk tea icy slushie. There’s a choice of pearls or no pearls, (but no option for double pearls).
Now to find the time to try everything! How do you bubble tea? Do you try and taste everything on the menu, or do you stick to your regular flavours and toppings?
Are there any bubble tea shops I’ve missed? Let me know!
How to order bubble tea
For any bubble tea virgins out there:
- Choose your flavour
- Choose size
- Choose toppings to go with your bubble tea – in my opinion classic black pearls go with pretty much everything, jellies are great with citrus teas, and puddings go well with the creamier drinks and teas.
- Choose ice level (either 0-100% / no ice / half ice etc)
- Choose sugar level (either 0-100% / no sugar / less sugar etc)
- Choose cold/hot (this should be labelled on the menu)
Other
I thought I should also mention the following:
- Baby Su – no bubble tea but there are boba sundaes! At the moment there is a salted caramel soft serve with pearls, or a cherry blossom soft serve with pomegranate popping pearls and mochi.
- DIY at home bubble tea kits are popping up at Woolworths. The Lipton milk bubble tea is pretty good if you don’t want to go out or get one delivered.
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