With over 2,000 stores worldwide, CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice is one of the largest bubble tea franchises in the world. In fact, they claim to make 100 cups of bubble tea every second. Coco Fresh Tea & Juice made their debut into the Vancouver market several months ago with the opening of a store in Renfrew-Collingwood. This week, CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice opened their very first Downtown Vancouver location at 609 West Pender. I found out about their grand opening through an Instagram post and they currently have a buy one get one promotion until May 30. This location is open daily from 11:30 am to 11 pm.
Coco Menu
CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice serves authentic Taiwanese bubble tea, milk tea, latte, smoothies and juice. They have two sizes available: regular and large. Drinks are mostly priced between $4 – $5. You can also customize sweetness, ice amount, Here is a scanned image of their menu:
According to a press release, they work to ensure the freshest drinks to customers. For example, tea is brewed and kept for up to 3 hours. Tapioca is made and stored up to 4 hours. Ingredients and equipment are shipped directly from Taiwan.
The three recommended signature drinks are:
- 3 Guys (milk tea with tapioca, pudding, grass jelly)
- Bubble GaGa (passion fruit tea with coconut)
- Sago Taro Milk Tea (taro milk tea served with sago bubble)
Buy One Get One Deal
They currently have grand opening special of buy one get one free. If you purchase any of of the top 10 beverages, you get a regular size classic milk milk tea for free.
West Pender Location
The West Pender store is very small. There are just three seats along the windows. It is pretty much catered towards takeout.
What We Tried
We ordered the 3 Guys (large, $5.80) and the Red Bean Matcha Milk Tea (large, $5.10) along with the two free Classic Milk Teas (regular, $4.30). We went with the standard options for sweetness and ice.
Interestingly enough, I found a Q&A on Quora how to evaluate bubble tea so I’m going to apply it to comment on what I tried. The drinks from Coco Fresh Tea & Juice were pretty good overall. They had a decent tea flavour and aroma – refreshing but not overpowering. I do think, however, that Chatime‘s tea flavour is stronger than Coco. Sweetness levels were about right. Ice and tapioca pearl levels seemed reasonable (recommended proportions are less than 20% for ice and 25-30% for tapioca pearls). The tapioca pearls were good: smooth and slightly soft on the outside, but chewy through to the middle with a slightly increasing level of firmness. However, I would have to go with Chatime for some really delicious soft and chewy tapioca pearls. The drinks were also properly sealed with the plastic wrap.
Overall Impression of CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice
In terms of tea flavour and boba quality, I would still go with Chatime. However, the drinks from Coco Fresh Tea & Juice were still good overall. Rating: 3.5/5
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cocofreshvan
Website: http://en.coco-tea.com/