I am very into Pearl Milk Tea having spent time in Taiwan so will be doing a series of critiques on the quality of PMT in HK.

I have been here on three occassions for PMT and have to say all three times I was disappointed.

All three times I ordered the PMT, twice they were out of pearls. No, not that I need to wait 15minutes for pearls to cook, they were OUT of pearls. Sigh, I would not run out of flour if I was running a bakery. First time it happened, embarassing but you know sometimes its a really great day and you run out. It happened again the week after, so I think they need to get their stock ordering system enhanced.

So the first time I had my PMT, tea flavour was stronger but not great tasting. Strong does not equate to good. Tea is meant to be delicate. QQ were ok but not super chewy nor sweet. It basically had no flavour. I would rate this on par with Share Tea by the Sheung Wan station unless you want food with your tea. Second time I ordered the PMT, they were out of pearls so I just had the tea. This confirmed my first visit, an average tea flavour (but still better than powder tea houses) that much I will give them. Third time I ordered a PMT, they were out of pearls again so I gave up and didn't get anything. Nor did I ever go back again.

Let me reiterate my 3 must for a true Taiwanese PMT:
- Very good tea as a base = so good tea only comes from making proper tea from tea leaves and not powder mix (which 90% of places do)
- Good quality milk = peronsally I prefer fresh milk because I want to taste the true flavour of the tea with a hint of milk. but I believe HK taste buds due to long term climitisation of HK style milk tea with condense milk or milk powder prefer the stronger milky flavour. this is a personal thing, but I find majority of PMT places use powder or condense for cost purposes.
- Tasty PEARLS = what constitues tasty pearls vs bland and nasty pearls? True Taiwanese Pearls are chewy and QQ in flavour, not hard and undercooked with dry powdery bits in the middle, but also not overcooked where they are too sticky and soggy. In Taiwan, the pearls when cooked, are cooked with honey water so the natural sweetness is infused into the pearls.

So how do you put those three components together?
Tea should be strong, with true tea flavours that come out of the drink. Milk should be to enhance the flavour of the tea, not used to cover it. And the pearls should be the only naturally sweet part of the drink.

Personal preference see that you can select the sweetness of the tea, but I prefer only a little bit of sugar as the true Taiwanese way is for the pearls to be sweet already.

I walk past this place nearly everyday, but have never gone back. Its decent if you're craving PMT and serves up an average drink, but for the price, I dont think its worth it.

Bubble tea is a very common drink in Asia popularized by the Taiwanese. It is those kind of drink that where there is Chinese, there is Bubble tea.

When I was living in Causeway Bay (hip young trendy crowd), there were Bubble tea specialty shops around every corner, keyword - specialty. SO to have a bubble tea shop in Sheung Wan is like .. whoooaaa .. Go Sheung Wan! We're not only good for dried seafood.

This new shop is strategically located, and literally, a corner shop. Exterior looks modern and sleek, you'd think that it was a nightclub entrance! It was still open when I went there at 10pm on a weeknight, so kudos to you guys for the hard work.

I ordered my favorite Jasmine Milk Tea with Pearls, and then it happened! The guy asked if I wanted big pearls or small pearls. ALAS! They finally reached Hong Kong! SMALL PLEASE!

I ordered a regular, but when it came out it looked large, and it was dead cheap, HKD$20!

I liked it very much due to the fact:

1. Small Pearls
2. Not Sweet
3. Huge
4. Not too milky

I could however do without half of the ice that was in the drink.

Wanted to try their famous "Piggy bun" (toasted bun with butter and condensed milk) but was sold out (naturally as it was already 10pm), so will definitely make another trip.

Hope you guys make it work around this area!