CoCo: Fresh Tea & Juice

Location: No. 143號, Daxue Rd, Sanxia District, New Taipei City, 237

Boba Taiwan Grading (BTG): 71.2/100

Number of Stores: 4500

Price of the Boba Tea: 60 TWD

Order: Boba Milk Tea, Regular Sugar Levels, Regular Ice Levels

Overview: CoCo is an international bubble tea chain. The quality of the pearl is moderately enjoyable, both soft and chewy. The milk tea is average and up to standard. The service is ordinary and the conditions of the design and store are classic and agreeable. CoCo is a good plan B for any satisfactory boba run.

Boba Taiwan Grading Overview:

Quality of the Boba Tea (QBT): 59.2/80

• Quality of the Pearl: 27.2/40

  • Chewiness: 6/10 - Overall, the chewiness of the pearl is quite good and it requires around 2-3 average chews for the boba to be digested in the mouth. However, several of the pearls have a spidery film wrapped around the deformed pearl, creating an uneven texture in the chewiness.

  • Hard/softness: 7/10 - The hardness and softness of the pearl are just right and evenly matched. The pearl is almost exactly balanced in the Goldilocks zone, although it could be slightly harder, creating a more sharp texture.

  • Relative size: 2.3/2.5 - The size of the boba is just right for the straw, and around 4-5 pearls can fit into the average mouth in an average slurp. This, in part, is due to its lack of lumpiness. The pearls, however, could be slightly larger than they are, due to the fact that some of the pearls have deformed.

  • Amount of Pearl (relative to Volume of Drink): 2.4/2.5 - After drinking the entire drink without changing the height of the straw, there were two or three slurps of only tea and no pearls. The amount of pearls in the drink needs to be increased only slightly, for just the right amount of pearls relative to the drink size.

  • Lumpiness: 3/5 - One lump of a collection of 5 pearls stuck together was discovered. It jammed the straw and could not be sucked up the tube. One or two large lumps are common in the drink, while there are three to four small lumps of 1-2 pearls that jam the straw for half a second and can be slurped up easily. This results in a 2-point dock.

  • Taste (or sweetness level): 4/5 - The taste of the pearl is normal. It has not received full points because of a lack of extraordinary qualities.

  • Spherical quality and perfection (of pearl): 2.5/5 - As stated before, several of the pearls have a deformed quality, wrapped in a silky film. Around a fourth of the pearls have this quality, while the rest of them are not perfectly spherical, but close enough.

• Quality of Tea: 32/40

  • Sweetness: 8/10 - The request was average sweetness. The amount given was almost exactly right. It was sweet at first, and gradually became less sweet as the ice melted, but remained in the Goldilocks zone without too much variation.

  • Milkiness: 6/10 - There is a bare amount of milk detectable in the milk tea. The tea-to-milk ratio is tilted heavily toward the 'tea' side of the spectrum.

  • Concentration of tea: 6/10 - There is a large amount of tea detectable in the milk tea. The tea-to-milk ratio is tilted heavily toward the 'tea' side of the spectrum.

  • Aftertaste: 4/5 - The aftertaste consists of the remains of the pearl left behind, as well as the remnants of the milk.

  • Wateriness: 8/10 - Almost the right amount, with a little too much water in the milk tea.

Quality of the Shop (QS): 12/20

• Delivery Speed: 3/5 - There was nothing exemplary of the speed of delivery, which is the reason for the base point of 3 points. The order was completed in under two minutes, including the payment and the recieving of the order.

• Quality of Store: 3/5 - There was nothing exemplary of the quality of the store, which is the reason for the base point of 3 points. It is clean and organized as a boba store should be, with a reasonable amount of lighting and working space.

• Quality of Service: 3/5 - There was nothing exemplary of the quality of service, which is the reason for the base point of 3 points. The server was neither extremely friendly nor was he extremely professional. He worked alone and kept up conversation with a regular customer who had struck up the conversation while also making the order, neither being rude to the customer nor slowing the order down. He did not speak too loudly, nor did he speak too softly. He did not speak with honorifics, neither did he speak rudely. The service was positively normal, and so the points given are normal.

• Quality of Utensils: 3/5 - There was nothing exemplary of the quality of utensils, which is the reason for the base point of 3 points. The cup was leaning towards the worse qualities for drink cups, but not entirely bad. The straw was an average straw and sliced itself into the plastic wrapping in one stroke, which is expected. The bag was recyclable and reusable. The design was simple and had nothing special on it, except for the store's logo "CoCo". Everything was classic and a positive normal, and so the points given are positive normal.