Union College students looking for bubble tea have a growing list of options to choose from in the local Schenectady area. Bubble tea, a drink traditionally containing milk tea and tapioca pearls, originated in Taiwan, initially gaining popularity in Asian countries. Now, it’s a popular option in cafes around the world, including Union’s own city of Schenectady. My friends and I have visited our fair share of bubble tea stores, and together we compiled a list of our favorite local cafes and stores that offer bubble tea. Some of the stores are under a ten minute drive away, while others are in the further surrounding area, and the stores have a wide variety of options and pricing. For our rankings, my friends and I took into consideration the amount of drink options, the pricing, the taste, and the location of each store. Here’s our rankings of the top 5 places to buy bubble tea locally.
5: Kcaffe
Kcaffe is a bubble tea store at 200 Clifton Corporate Parkway in Clifton Park. It offers a decent amount of tea flavors, but the boba is limited to tapioca pearls. Last time I went I got a Thai iced tea with tapioca pearls. The tea was good, but Eva Crowley ’24 and I agreed that the tapioca pearls were not particularly flavorful. Its lower ranking is also due to the fact that it’s a slightly annoying 20 minute drive from campus, so I only go there on the way to Trader Joe’s. They only offer one drink size, so every drink is $5.50, which is in the middle range of pricing for boba in our area. A benefit is that Kcaffe sells food as well as bubble tea, and their fried rice is really good. Kcaffe may be the lowest ranked on the list, but if you find yourself in Clifton Park, it’s a perfectly good option for bubble tea and a meal.
4: Gong Cha
Gong Cha is a bubble tea chain, with the closest store at 1232 Western Ave in Albany. This store has the most options by far, offering fruit-flavored popping pearls, jellies, puddings, and foam toppings in addition to tapioca pearls. You can choose the level of sweetness you want in your drink, and there are tons of drink flavors, including milk teas, herbal teas, and even smoothies. My personal favorite is the Lemon Ai-yu White Pearl tea, with lemon juice, white pearls, Ai-yu jelly, and lemon zest. The extended amount of drink options make up for the 22-minute drive to Albany from campus, but the reviews for how the drinks taste were mixed. Olivia Logan ’24 says “it’s just lower quality compared to the other boba places around here… Even if the other places don’t have as much variety, they’re not chain businesses, everything’s homemade. It’s like comparing getting a coffee at McDonalds to getting a coffee at a local coffee shop.” The pricing of the drinks is also unnecessarily high, even for a drink with lots of ingredients, with most drinks falling between 6 and 8 dollars. There are cheaper options with more basic flavors, but the main attraction of going to Gong Cha is the interesting flavors.
3: T-Swirl Crepe
T-Swirl Crepe mainly sells crepes, but that doesn’t mean the bubble tea options are lacking. They offer a considerable amount of both milk tea and herbal tea flavors, and they have tapioca, popping pearls, and lychee jelly toppings. They are a chain of businesses, with the closest store being located at 622 New Loudon Road in Latham. Sadly, this makes it a 32-minute drive from campus, which is the furthest option on our list, and a hassle if you aren’t already in the Latham area. Their website says their crepes are also naturally gluten free, which would’ve been great to know as someone on a gluten free diet, but I didn’t see anything in the store labeled as such. I visited the store last weekend, and I got a lychee green tea with lychee jellies, which was really good. Ysabel Thompson ’24 ordered matcha tea with tapioca from T-Swirl Crepe, and she said it was pretty good, but that “it was a bit strong for my own personal taste.” The pricing is a bit lower than Gong Cha, with small drinks costing $5.50 and large drinks costing $6.50. To be fair, this is likely due in part to the simplicity of the drinks at T-Swirl compared to Gong Cha.
2: The Axe & Grind
The Axe Lounge is located at 2330 Watt Street in Schenectady. As the name suggests, it’s mainly an axe-throwing venue, but the cafe inside of it is available to non-axe throwers, and its options include bubble tea. This store has the least amount of options, but the flavors they offer are really good and they do have different sizing options. Their tapioca is the best tapioca I have ever had in my life, and I say that as someone who is very picky about tapioca. My favorite drink at the Axe & Grind is the brown sugar milk tea, but they also offer Thai tea, matcha, and other drinks like coffee and smoothies. The store stays open until 10 PM on most days, and the store is only ten minutes from campus, making it a great option for dessert. The teas here are the cheapest on the list, with the average prices ranging from about $4.15 to $6.
1: Storied Coffee
Storied Coffee is the closest store on our list, with only a 7-minute drive from campus to its location at 143 Mohawk Avenue in Scotia. They have an impressive list of milk tea flavors, and all sorts of topping options, including multiple flavors of popping pearls and tapioca. My favorite drink is white tea with honey and heart-shaped strawberry jellies. The location and atmosphere make it a great place to study off campus. It’s also a manageable bike ride away, and the city buses can take you from campus to the store if you don’t have your own transportation. Eva Crowley ’24 says “my favorite drink from storied coffee right now is definitely the unsweetened iced chai latte with tapioca pearls. I’m not the biggest fan of overly sweet drinks, but the tapioca sweetens it just enough that it’s really delicious!” The hours are generally 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM, so we’ve done our fair share of running to catch the bus to Storied Coffee after our classes. The number of drink options, the convenient location, and the small business cafe vibes make it the perfect option for buying bubble tea as a Union College student.
