The Marine Gateway area at Cambie and South West Marine Drive has been an emerging community with shops, services, residential living, offices and access to transit. New to the area last year was CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice, one of the largest bubble tea franchises in the world. The popular Taiwanese chain has over 2,000 locations worldwide and this Marine Drive location became their third store in Vancouver with the others at Kingsway and Downtown Vancouver. A fourth store opened last month at Continental Centre in Richmond. I visited Coco at Marine Drive a few months ago. Here’s a look at this new store and what they have to offer.
Disclosure: All drinks in this review were complimentary. Opinions are my own.
Spacious Location
The interior of Coco at Marine Drive seems to be very on-brand in terms of decor and design. One nice thing about this new store is how spacious it is. It certainly beats the small Downtown Vancouver location in terms of square footage.
Coco Fresh Tea & Juice Menu
If you’re not familiar with CoCo, they serve authentic Taiwanese bubble tea, milk tea, latte, smoothies and juice. They have two sizes available: small and regular. Drinks are mostly priced between $4 – $5. You can also customize sweetness and level. To ensure the freshest drinks for customers, Coco ensures that tea is brewed and kept for up to 3 hours. Tapioca is made and stored up to 4 hours. All ingredients and equipment are shipped directly from Taiwan.
What I Tried
I’ve been a regular at other Coco locations and am familiar with the quality and taste of their drinks. On this visit, I ordered my favourites: Matcha Milk Tea and Sago Taro Milk Tea.
Tea flavours were on point for both the Matcha and Taro. The tapioca pearls were also particularly good: smooth and slightly soft on the outside, but chewy through to the middle with a slightly increasing level of firmness. The sago was also very tasty: jelly-like, chewy and refreshing.
Overall Impression of Coco at Marine Drive
I continue to enjoy the drinks offered my Coco Fresh Tea & Juice. I’d be interested in revisiting this particular location at South Weset Marine Drive if I wanted a sit-down experience. Rating: 4/5