I love bubble tea, and I love ice cream. So it was only a matter of time before I take my love to a new level and taste test all the bubble tea ice cream that I could find. Which ones should you most definitely try? Which ones were a hard pass? We try it all so you don’t have to!
The Ice Cream & Cookie Co. – Hong Kong Style Bubble Milk Tea Gelato
The Hong Kong Style Bubble Milk Tea Gelato is made with fresh Australian milk and cream and the ingredients list looks very clean! Made me feel like I could indulge without feeling as guilty.
How does it taste? Right away, I was hit with an aftertaste that tasted more like coffee rather than milk tea. It went away with the subsequent mouthfuls, but I think they must use pretty strong black tea! The pearls are slightly towards the mushy side and not really as QQ as the ones we get in bubble tea drinks. They started out a little sporadic, but got more as we reached the middle of the tub. They have a sweet aftertaste to them and definitely made the gelato much more "fun" to eat!
Xiao Mei Brown Sugar Boba Ice Cream Bar
We love the sleek packaging! The ice cream itself was also very aesthetically pleasing with the beautiful brown sugar swirls, and you can also see pieces of boba embedded within. Definitely the "prettiest" looking ice cream out of the lot.
The ice cream is smooth and creamy, and the taste of brown sugar with vanilla is very robust. The pearls are pretty hard, but maybe that is to be expected since it’s cold. The texture kinda reminds me of a gummy bear that’s been left in the fridge for too long.
Imei Milk Ice Bar - Black Sugar Pearl
This ice cream bar has a very brown sugar taste from the get go, which was nice, but folks looking for a "milky" ice cream should go somewhere else. The boba pearls are truly he star of the show here! They are very QQ and the closest to what we get in bubble tea drinks.
I thought it was just me, but I picked up some hints of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa. My S/O agreed when I asked if he could taste it too. It’s not unpleasant, but once you've noticed it you can't seem to un-taste it. I wish I could take the ice cream from the previous Xiao Mei's ice cream bar and the boba pearls from this Imei bar and combine them into one ice cream.
Truedan Brown Sugar Milk Tea Ice Cream Cone
I were delighted to find a ice cream cone version of boba ice cream, since most of them came in bars. Truedan’s milk tea ice cream is encased in chocolate and topped with what seems to be crushed nuts, which right off the bat seems pretty far off from a classic bubble tea…
Taste wise, the chocolate overpowered any taste of the tea. If not for the pearls, I would think that I was eating a classic Conetto instead. The pearls are slightly on the harder side, and the cone was also oddly soft and chewy. I would say give this a miss, especially if you're looking for a "real" bubble tea ice cream.
Imei Pearl Milk Tea Ice Bar
Now this is an interesting looking ice cream bar! The milk side has a very creamy and buttery flavour, while the tea side tastes like your run-of-the-mill milk tea. I liked that there are three ways to eat the ice cream bar – just the milk, just the tea, or both together!
Unfortunately, the boba “pearls” leave much to be desired. It would be more accurate to describe them as boba jelly pieces. The texture reminds me of grass jelly, except that these jelly pieces taste like black tea.
A-CHINO Salted Egg Yolk & Boba Ice Cream
Whew! You can smell the salted egg right away once you open up the ice cream bar. True to how it smells, the taste of salted egg also overwhelms everything else. If I close my eyes, I can kind of trick myself into thinking that it's a burnt caramel flavoured ice cream bar...
The pearls were more rectangular in shape, but they were very QQ and on point, comparable to the ones from Imei Milk Ice Bar. It was definitely what I enjoyed most from this ice cream! But overall, I found the taste of salted egg to be a little too overwhelming and "eggy".
The family dog* enjoyed it a lot though. Good to know that at least someone likes it? Perhaps some hardcore salted egg fans might enjoy it too.
* We do not recommend feeding ice cream to your dogs! We checked the ingredients list and found it relatively safe, so our pooch was allowed to indulge in a few licks.
Ya Fang Assam Boba Milk Tea Ice Cream Bar
Assam tea is known for its distinct flavor and fragrant aroma, and we could most definitely taste it in this ice cream! Classic tea lovers who prefer a semi-bitter tea flavour over the sugary sweet brown sugar would definitely enjoy this. There was also mild floral aftertaste which I personally enjoyed a lot.
Pearls wise, they were more like “cubes” rather than pearls, but overall they had a pretty good texture and consistency to them. Definitely one of the most delightful ice cream bars on this list! If I'm looking for a good bubble tea ice cream, this would be my clear winner.