I Tested Out The New Woolies Bubble Tea Kits To See If They Stack Up To The Real Thing
You can ask literally any person I’ve worked with over the last two years — I am a bubble tea addict. When other people are buying their morning coffees, I’m buying my morning matcha tea with bits in it. I will not apologise.
The only problem I see with this arrangement is that each bubble tea isn’t exactly cheap. So you’d better believe that I ran straight to Woolworths the second I saw that Adelaide-based TikTokker @brittty.b spilled the literal tea that they were now stocking bubble tea kits by New Zealand coffee (and other things, but mainly coffee kits) brand, Avalanche.
“PSA for all my bubble tea lovers,” brittty.b posted. “Woolworths now sell bubble tea kits”.
I’m obviously not the only person pretty damn excited by the news either. Woolies have reported selling out of stock within days — not surprising when over 1.7 million people have viewed the video on TikTok.
The DIY Bubble Tea Kits are going for just $8 a packet, which includes five tea sachets, straws and of course, pearls. There are eight flavours to choose from (or at least, there will be again once they’re restocked): Milky (Original), Strawberry, Peach, Caramel, Brown Sugar, Mango, Matcha and Taro.
To make your bubble tea, you just pour the sachet in a glass and mix it with milk or water. All seems pretty straightforward, right?
Except that I truly suck in the kitchen and if something CAN go wrong, I will accidentally find out what it is. This is why I’ve hunted down (aka checked four sold-out stores until I finally found the very last box) a packet to test out if it truly measures up to the sweet, sweet bubble tea that you can buy at a dedicated store.
So above is everything that’s included in the box: tea powder, the ‘bubbles (in this case tapioca balls) and paper straws. The only flavour left as the store was Brown Sugar Bubble Tea, and I’m more of a matcha or fruity bubble tea person, but beggers can’t be chooser and all that.
It’s honestly so simple to do: microwave the opened pearl packet for 20 seconds, empty them into a cup with ice. Pour the tea powder into a separate cup and mix with 200ml of water (although I used half water and half milk, considering this was a milky tea flavour). Combine the pearls, ice and tea and boom — done.
As for the flavour? Actually pretty delicious, and as I’m staying with family right now to avoid the spreading Covid plague in my area of Sydney, it also got the thumbs up from my nephew and sister as well. It’s not quite as good as they’ll make it in a real bubble tea store, but if $7 single professional bubble tea is a 10/10 for flavour, then this $8 packet of five DIY bubble teas is still a solid 8/10.
Of course, if you need your bubble tea a little harder, Sydney’s Burwood Hotel has been selling DIY bubble tea cocktail kits for a while now, which yes you can get delivered.
(Lead image: provided / Avalanche)
