CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice: Bringing Taiwanese Bubble Tea Downtown

Downtown meet CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice. Bubble tea, downtown. The Taiwan-based franchise has come to Edmonton this week and is offering up ten different kinds of bubble teas (or BBT) for their soft opening. Grand opening and a full menu is still up for approval for next week but with the response that I saw on my first two visits, it’s sure to be a hit. I’m in love with the CoCo! 😉

Located in Capital Centre Building on 109th Street and 102nd Avenue, CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice is prime location for both students and workers in the area. The franchise is the largest of its kind, boasting over 2000 locations all around the world. According to their website, over 100 bubble tea orders are rolled out every second. That’s a lot of bobas!

For those who are new to bubble tea, the treat is a Taiwanese tea-based drink. It can be made with a variety of teas (black and green the most common) then shaken with fruit juice or milk, then made with the addition of chewy tapioca balls or fruit jellies. Sometimes it is offered with more ice to make a slush or smoothie, or even has a salty “milk cap” for a salty-sweet treat. Once made up, it’s sealed with a plastic wrap and ready for you to drink with a large straw. Puncturing through that sealed plastic wrap is half the fun!

Edmonton has a few bubble tea houses, Dream Tea House probably the biggest name of them all. My favourite bubble tea places on my travels always have a fairly limited menu (usually offering only a few milk or fruit teas) and offers the choice to adjust sugar and ice content. Bonus if they offer different size cups.

CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice’s full menu looks promising: categories of milk tea, fresh tea, fruit tea, yakult (a fermented Japanese probiotic milk), chocolate (whaaaa?), slush/smoothie, fresh milk, and salty cream. Most drinks are available hot or cold, and in regular or large sizes. You can also add on more toppings like the salty cream to any of the drinks or extra tapioca, coconut jelly, pudding, or red bean. Yum!

So far, I’ve had the Bubble Gaga: passion fruit tea with coconut jelly and tapioca. My first was half sugar (50%) with normal ice. Loved that CoCo even offered me a bag to take it home! 50% sweet was still a tad sweet for me, I don’t even want to think about what normal sweet would be! My second visit showed me that 30% sugar was the way to go. Joe grabbed the classic Bubble Tea, a mix of black tea, milk, and tapioca. I think we’ve found our new afternoon coffee spot.

I’m excited to try out the rest of the menu once it’s been approved from Taiwan’s head office. The Yakult drinks look interesting, a fermented Japanese milk product that I would imagine to be similar to yogurt. Or the Black Tea Latte! So far I’m impressed that CoCo has been able to make the drinks so quickly despite the opening rush. Currently it’s a bit hidden behind the construction at Hudson’s but it’s there! Think: The Pint, Hudson’s, then CoCo! Give it a try and let me know what you think!

CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice
https://www.facebook.com/cocoedmonton1/
10147 – 109 Street
(780) 756-7752