YOYO Bubble Tea

http://yoyosnack.com/
1812 2nd avenue
(b/t 94th & 93rd St.)
New York, NY 10128

This brand new spot may not have the best bubble tea, but it is not the worst.

What I ordered: taro milk green tea

• Taste: not too sweet, light taro flavor that doesn't mask the nice jasmine green tea taste
• Boba: nice texture and chewiness, but with a rather plain taste
• Price: $3.50 for Med, $3.99 for Large plus tax

Newly opened last weekend, this is easily the closest bubble tea to my apartment. The second avenue construction makes it nearly impossible to get to, but I am glad I have a bubble tea option closer to me. When I first stepped in to YoYo it was very hot inside and smelled like Chinese take-out, to be honest I wasn't expecting much. Especially since there are barely any bubble tea places within 50 blocks. YoYo doesn't have much competition in the area to make it better. I was surprised that the bubble tea was not terrible.

They have a weird menu where only certain flavors are listed under certain teas. However, I imagine you can get any flavor with any tea if you like. They use powders and syrups for their flavoring. I think they also use powder creamer for their milk-based bubble teas. The bubble tea  I got had a sort of film from powder that wasn't fully dissolved, as you can see in the photo. But this didn't inhibit the flavor, which was actually quite nice. I loved that I could actually taste the green tea. The boba was of a good consistency but they didn't have any flavor or sweetness which I like.

YoYo also has a variety of dumpling and Chinese take-out foods. It is fairly average though and doesn't standout from better shops in other NYC neighborhoods, such as Chinatown. YoYo definitely has room for improvement if it wants to be one of the best.

3 out of 5 Bubbles

Argo Tea

http://www.argotea.com/

Locations in New York, Chicago, Boston, and St. Louis.

This tea-centric chain cafe is the answer to my dreams. With a market dominated by Starbucks' mediocre coffee, it is nice to see something new and different. I am a big fan of Argo's concept. They offer a large menu of signature tea beverages along with standard teas and coffees. They even sell a wide variety of loose-leaf teas, tea pots, and accessories. I love their tea wall where you can easily view and select any loose-leaf teas you would like to buy.

Loose-leaf Tea Dispensers

The Menu:
Their wide variety of tea-based drinks is hugely creative and tempting. There are so many drinks I want to try. They also offer BUBBLE TEA! I suggest checking out their entire signature drink menu.

Argo's Bubble Tea:
Their bubble tea isn't bad. It is very standard milk tea and they don't  have many flavor options. Primarily coconut, mango, and raspberry, but you can also get  the regular syrup flavors such as vanilla, hazelnut, caramel, etc. Argo's bubble tea is only available with nata de coco jelly, no boba. I must ask the question, can this really be called bubble tea without having boba as an opton? I guess I can forgive this since they don't focus on bubble tea and their jellys are healthier and delicious.

What I got: coconut green milk tea

• Taste: slightly sweet coconut flavor, not overpowering the great tea taste.
• Jellys: firm and chewy, slightly sweet and coconutty
• Price: small 16oz. $3.76 including tax

I also tried the mango flavor with black tea. I didn't like the mango flavoring. I didn't taste anything like the real fruit. There are just some flavors of fruit that don't translate well into powders for bubble tea. I usually only get mango if I know real fruit is used. Otherwise the flavor is always disappointing.

I give Argo's bubble tea a 4 out of 5 bubbles but only for flavors other than mango.

Other Notes:
I also tried the a vanilla and green tea Teappuccino. While I don't like the name, (I feel like a moron trying to say it) it was a great mix of tea and milk without being too sweet. It was more a latte than a cappuccino. It was good, but I got a small and it was $3.76. I can get almost the same kind of drink at Panya on Stuyvesant for cheaper.

One thing I didn't really like about Argo Tea was their fixed pricing for the entire signature drink menu. All small drinks are $3.76 regardless of the type of drink or difficulty to make. I wish they had some cheaper options. Some of their names are also a bit cheesy. Additionally, I was a little disappointed that they didn't have free WiFi.

Despite these issues I still want to try more of their signature drinks like the Mojitea, Tea Sparkle, and Tea Sangria. I will definitely be back to try more of their tea creations especially since I dislike other chains. I recommend Argo Tea to all tea lovers or for anyone unsatisfied with tea options at other chains.