With so many options popping up around the city, it isn't hard to find brilliant bubble tea in Toronto. Originating from Taiwan, the iced drink has entered the chat on the international drink scene.
With bubble tea, you can have your drink and eat it. Literally. The traditional tea element is served cold, combined with milk or infused with fruit. And the kicker: chewy tapioca balls for an all-inclusive drink experience that's sure to satisfy your sugar cravings.
The city is abundant with many other drink options, too for some seriously smooth sipping. For classy cups of tea, these high tea places have got you covered for a bougie afternoon. Or if you're looking for some more – ahem – adult-friendly drinks, check out these speciality bars in Toronto.
And for extra bougie points, nothing beats sitting on a patio during the summer – except maybe sitting on a patio with the best bubble tea in Toronto in hand.
Here's where we get our fix for the best bubble tea in Toronto.
Toronto's best bubble tea: 19 places to drink it
Encounter Tea
439 Spadina Ave.
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Hold. The. Phone. This new bubble tea spot in the Pacifica Mall tops its bubble tea with mochi balls. Yes, really. And the way to eat it? Dip the mochi balls in the tea, duh. If that doesn't tickle your fancy, the store does fruity varieties like the grape drink topped with a cheese foam. Sounds weird, but we dig it.
OneZo Tapioca
Multiple Locations
If there's one place we'd pick for bubble tea, it's OneZo Tapioca – no pun intended. What sets OneZo apart from other tea shops is their freshly made-from-scratch tapioca, which is available in untraditional flavours like mango, black sesame, purple yam and cactus. OneZo's menu, at their North York and downtown locations, features flavours like orange passion green tea, made using fresh fruit; a brown sugar 'dirty' milk tea and summer favourites like the seasonal mojito series (sans alcohol).
The Alley
Multiple Locations
If aesthetically pleasing drinks for the 'gram are your thing, the Alley is up your, erm, alley. Their cult classic: the Deerioca Fever, a layer of warm brown sugar tapioca, balanced with milk. For fruit teas rivalling summer sunsets, try Morning Dawn – mango crushed ice and jasmine green tea.
Icha Tea
235 Spadina Ave.
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Icha Tea is stocked with a high quali-tea menu featuring a wide variety of white, green, oolong and black teas imported from Asia. They have a tea bar for tea ceremonies, as well as desserts like tofu cheesecakes and rose jasmine pudding to compliment your drink. Order fan favourites like roasted oolong milk tea and their iced matcha latte, or more creative flavours like White Grape Jasmine Ice Tea made with grape and lychee jelly.
Gong Cha
Multiple Locations
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"Gong cha" is a phrase from ancient China: an act of giving the highest quality tea to the Emperor. Gong Cha's focus is on their brewed tea, using earthy blends like oolong, green or black tea. Tea aside, they specialize in milk-based flavours like the crème brûlée strawberry latte or the winter melon milk foam – a thick layer of creamy frothed milk to compliment the rich flavour of tea and natural sweetness from winter melon.
Real Fruit Bubble Tea
Multiple Locations
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Harry Styles would approve of this watermelon sugar high. As the name suggests, Real Fruit Bubble Tea is stocked with fresh fruits like papaya and mango for their bubble tea and smoothies. For a classic drink that can't go wrong, order their mango diamond slush made using fresh mangoes, cut in house. For other refreshing options, try the watermelon slush or strawberry banana smoothie with tapioca.
Chatime
Multiple Locations
There isn't a time when we'll say no to Chatime. Their innovative bubble tea flavours range from rare finds like Thai milk tea and Golden Blossom – grapefruit juice with chrysanthemum tea jelly – to regulars including matcha sea salt crema, mango green tea, and Chatime milk tea.
Tika Tea House
675 Yonge St.
"Tika" means tea guest in Chinese, and you'll definitely want to take a seat in this aesthetic spot. Take a look at Tika Tea House: a minimalist teashop that specializes in traditional teas and fruit-based teas. Opt for their oolong pearl milk tea or their signature Tika fruit tea – packed with freshly sliced strawberry, orange, watermelon, grapefruit, lime and lemon in a base of green tea. For tea connoisseurs, their cold brew teas have no sugar added for that pure tea taste.
Yi Fang Fruit Tea
Multiple Locations
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The story goes that Yi Fang Fruit Tea's signature drink was made from an authentic Taiwainese family recipe, passed down from the founder's great-grandma; the tea is infused with fresh apple, orange and passion fruit. The not-so-secret, secret ingredient: homemade pineapple jam imported from Taiwan. For other fruity options, try their pineapple green tea or aiyu jelly lemon tea.
CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice
Multiple Locations
When bubble tea cravings hit, CoCo is one of our go-tos. CoCo has options a-plenty with flavours like grapefruit Yakult and sago taro milk tea. If you're looking for all drink and all bite, the Bubble GaGa has passion fruit tea, coconut jelly and tapioca.
Yang Tea
Multiple Locations
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It's all about the tea at Yang Tea, and you definitely won't want to spill this. This bubble tea chain imports their tea leaves and brown sugar from Taiwan. Their signature drinks include their marble boba tea latte, mango tea slush and Okinawa milk tea (made with roasted brown sugar). If you're looking to mix things up, try their tea mix of the day.
Tiger Sugar
Multiple Locations
No need to head into the jungle to hunt for these sugary stripes. Tiger Sugar is serving up dessert in a cup, specializing in brown sugar boba. Their menu features popular drinks like the brown sugar pearl milk: a layer of warm "black sugar" (roasted brown sugar), mixed with fresh milk and brown sugar tapioca. Shake it up for an even hit of sweetness throughout.
Hey Sugar
Multiple locations
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The founder of Hey Sugar travelled the length and breadth of Taiwan to find the best-quality tea and milk; an endeavour that made their business so successful that there are now more than 1,000 Hey Sugar stores worldwide. Impressive. Almost as impressive of the store's range of seasonal teas: fall brings in purple yam and mochi; summer brings Grapefruit Yakult. If that weren't enough, some of the flavours come with a cheese top. We're not entirely sure how it works, but we're here for it.
Kung Fu
Multiple locations
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Kung Fu Tea treats its drinks with sincerity. And that's an attitude to eating and drinking we can get on board with. They serve lattes – hello, Kung Fu ginger latte – milk teas, and the slush series, featuring a matcha slush with red bean. The one we're really intrigued by, though, is the cheese milk foam rose oolong. We like oolong, we like rose, we like cheese and we like milk, so it sounds like Kung Fu is on to something.
YGO Lab
Markham and Downtown
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The theme of Taiwanese bubble tea brand YGO is innovation, which makes its laboratory-themed store make sense. The concept focuses around research and development around tea and fruit, which means you can get all sorts of creative drinks. Our current fave is the bottled fresh strawberry milk with pana cotta or chocolate milk tea with pana cotta. Dessert in a cool, cute illustrated bottle.
Tru Tea
Carlton, North York, Richmond Hill
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Tru Tea specialises in low-calorie bubble tea. We wouldn't normally get excited about something with the low-cal label, but Tru Tea is different. It sets out to make tea that tastes good first, and the low-cal bit comes a distinct second – and the proof is in the pudding, because what started out at a tiny outpost now has four sites around Toronto. The Trupioca Jelly is a particular highlight thanks to a curiously, delightfully springy texture.
Machi Machi
Downtown and North York
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Machi Machi's bubble tea is irresistible, and not just because it tastes good. The brand serves its teas in the cutest bottles and cups, and if you're a sucker for good design like we are, they're worth a trip to the store just to get your hands on one, or several. And as for them tasting good, Machi Machi's teas come with a layer of grass jelly, pana cotta or jello at the bottom. We'll take a Mochi Cream Black Tea, please.
Its Tea
North York
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Taro is a root vegetable popular in Asia that's been likened to sweet potato in flavour. While you can try it in Cantonese restaurants in the form of dumplings, we'd rather get our fix through Its Tea's fresh taro drinks – including one that's made with milk for added creaminess. The brand started in China and landed in Toronto in 2020, with plans to take over the world with its distinctively designed bottles and totally delicious tea.
Palgong Tea
Various locations
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Palgong's bubble tea has some serious stomach appeal. Palgong means 80 in Korean, which is the perfect temperature at which to brew tea. Our eyes are on the strawberry cheesecake milk tea, but the shop also does coffee, hot chocolate and macarons. Double up for the ultimate sweet treat.
