Chatime Atealier

Update: Name has been changed to Chatime Atealier rather than Chatime Innovation Bar

Feb 12, 2021

New flavours at Chatime Innovation Bar for BOGO

Jade Berry Blossom Tea ($7 for 2) and Hibiscus Berry Blossom Tea ($7 for 2)

The drinks were beautiful with the colourful gold swirls (which also made them only available in cold). 

The jade berry blossom tea had a strong jade jasmine tea flavour that stood out. 

The hibiscus berry blossom tea was really good too with a nice floral scent and berry flavour - it was much better than the jade version. We got both teas with one having 0% sugar and the other having minimal sugar just to taste the difference and I think the added sugar made the tea flavour stronger and brought out the berry flavour in some ways. The hibiscus was still really good with 0% sugar (but the jade was a miss). 

Feb 8, 2021

Definitely have to take advantage of the Ubereats BOGO promotion with my favourite drinks as many times as possible before it ends! 

Handwhisked Taro Tea Latte (hot, no sugar $7.65 for two) and royal blueberry milk tea (hot and no sugar $6.95 for two) 

Since I got 4 large size drinks, I got a purple pocket from Chaime with a promo coupon!

The taro tea latte was delicious! Grainy texture from the ground taro (not as many bigger chunks of taro like last time though) and it came with frothy lactose free milk which made a delicious sweet combo that wasn't too sweet. This is definitely my favourite taro drink and favourite chatime drink! 

The royal blueberry tea came with options: milk tea or tea latte or teaspresso - I got one of the milk tea and the tea latte to try it out since they were BOGO. 

The milk tea version had a yummy smooth equally balanced blueberry and milk tea flavour that was pretty strong - but it definitely needed minimal sugar to make it taste better. 

The latte version had more milk, less tea flavour and the blueberry flavour was stronger and more prominent than the tea or milk flavour - I definitely preferred the milk tea version. 

Feb 4, 2021

I can't believe I saw my favourite taro drink on sale (BOGO) on Ubereats!

Taro Tea Latte ($7.65 for 2)

Such a good deal! It's made so much better at their Innovation Bar (now Atealier) locations. 

For taro lovers, this is a dream! It's filled ith tons of ground taro and has a really strong and sweet taro flavour even when you get the drink unsweetened (so guilt free pleasure!). Definitely worth a try here (and for that price now - amazing!)!

July 6, 2020

OMG I've been craving Chatime Innovation Bar's Handwhisked Taro Latte for a while now (especially since they opened up their HQ to offer Innovation Bar drinks). Their HQ on Scarsdale Road is delivery only. 

I was a little sad I couldn't get my drink hot (since that's the way I prefer it), but the no ice version was okay. The flavour wasn't as strong when it was cold and the texture is a little weird when it's not hot (I think the hot water helps to melt the grainy texture of the ground taro into a more smooth texture). It was also much more expensive $7.30 for the drink (compared to the Innovation Bar location at Wellesley's $5.80) and when I contacted Chatime about it they said: "due to COVID, there has been an increasing in demand for our products, and we opened a cloud kitchen uptown to fulfill the orders. With the cloud kitchen, there has been extra costs and therefore resulted in higher prices for the Scarsdale location."

May 30, 2019

Blue Crystal Coconut (less ice and no sugar)

It looks better for pictures than it tastes. It turns out butterfly pea flower tea is actually kind of bitter, you definitely need a lot more sugar for this drink to taste better. Personally, I don't like super sugary drinks, so I'll skip this in the future. 

Taro latte (hot with no sugar)

This was REALLY GOOD! I think this is my new go-to drink. It's perfect even unsweetened because the taro is sweet enough by itself and it tastes like a warm soothing milky taro drink - aka AMAZING. It does have a bit of a grainy texture from the taro, but that's how you know you're getting the real taro.

Mar 15, 2019

I've been watching and waiting for this Chatime location to open up. They're supposed to have special drinks that aren't available in regular Chatime stores. 

Black Onyx and Royal Blue tea lattes

I think the Royal Blue tea is supposed to compete with The Alley's Royal No.9 milk tea, unfortunately, it's got a long way to go in my opinion. I probably should have gotten it with more sugar or something so that the flavour is enhanced, but I generally don't like to have super sweet drinks. The Black Onyx was much better. 

Website: https://chatime.com/

Gong Cha

Feb 11, 2021 @ 3250 Midland Ave

Peach Green Tea ($5.20 for 2) - one was hot and one was cold

The hot version was okay for a hot fruit tea - decent peach tea without the peach or tea flavour being too overpowering

The cold version wasn't as good as the hot version (which I was surprised by - usually it's the other way around with fruit teas). It tasted more like peach juice than tea. 

Jan 18, 2021 @ 3250 Midland Ave

Hurray! A bubble tea BOGO promotion on Ubereats!

Hot Royal Milk Tea with tapioca and no sugar ($5.99 for two)

Good tea flavour and a well-mixed milk tea that wasn't too sweet! Very consistent between visits - a sign of a good milk tea place.

Dec 3, 2020 @ 5449 Yonge

Since I was grabbing takeout at Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu a few doors down, I thought I'd also pick up a milk tea while I was waiting.

Regular hot milk tea with 0% sugar (about $5)

Pretty good milk tea with a smooth and rich flavour and even without added sweetness, it was a sweet and strong tea flavour. I would definitely get milk tea from Gong Cha again (and I signed up for their points/text system to find out more about deals). 

I remember trying the taro coconut a long time ago and not being impressed, but their milk tea is pretty good!

Website: https://gong-cha.ca/

CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice

Feb 6, 2021 @ 3300 Midland

The Coco location at Scarboro Village Mall had their popular Bubble Gaga BOGO on Ubereats

Large Bubble Gaga $5.85 for 2

I got no ice and no sugar (probably not the best idea for a sour fruit drink and I definitely regretted it later). The tapioca was super congealed and sticky and stuck to the bottom of the cup, the lychee jelly added some sweetness to the 0% sugar drink (thank goodness), the passionfruit seeds/pulp added a nice texture with the crunchy seeds. Unfortunately overall though, the drink was really tart and sour - it NEEDS sugar. I wouldn't get it again though - sour drinks aren't really my thing and I don't want too much processed sugar in my drinks either. 

Jan 8, 2021

 The January special was a large sago taro for $3.99 (pretty good price for a bubble tea drink)

0% sugar and warm

The taro part of the drink was made with powder and while it was sweet, it also tasted like more milk than taro, but at least it felt like the flavour was more concentrated than the last time I had it (but still watery). I don't think this time will change my initial opinion of this drink, there's better taro sago drinks out there and I wouldn't get this version at Coco. 

Jan 3, 2021 @ 808 York Mills

Pearl Milk Tea BOGO on Ubereats $5.35 (for two)

No sugar and hot milk tea, this one tasted much better than previous versions I had since it had a stronger tea flavour and it wasn't as milky or diluted like the other milk teas I had here before. The tapioca was chewier and fresher as well. There was a long line up of people today - so maybe the turnover of their tea and tapioca was better. 

Dec 27, 2020 

With the Ubereats BOGO promotion at Coco, I could try out two of the mango sago green tea for $6.05

Unfortunately, it only came cold, but I could get no sugar and no ice. 

It had a good mango juice flavour that was sweet and tasty and pretty good sago, but it didn't have a strong tea flavour. I think Coco does much better fruit teas than milk teas. 

Oct 5, 2020 @ 808 York Mills

Fresh Taro milk with QQ $4.99

I thought I'd try their QQ with the taro milk, but it tasted like warm milk, taro paste and gummy QQ balls individually - but not necessarily blended well together. I think the QQ balls were the strongest flavour and it really just reminded me of a hot milk bedtime drink - I wouldn't get this again. 

Sept 18, 2020 @ 808 York Mills

Coco's September promotion for their QQ series $4.80 for a Large size

The milk tea was really super sweet and the gummy potato and taro QQ were kind of bland. After trying both milk teas, I'm not sure if I'd get their milk tea again.

Pearl Milk tea with 30% sugar and no ice $2.99 promotion on Sept 15

Super sweet milk tea and on the milky side - I could barely taste tea. The pearls were really soggy and soft. Hopefully it's only opening issues and they figure out their recipe soon. 

Mar 19, 2019 @ 648 Yonge Street

Fresh Taro with Milk Tea

It is exactly what they advertise: mushed up taro with milk tea poured in after and haphazardly mixed. I got it unsweetened thinking that the taro would sweeten it naturally, but nope that's not what it tasted like. I'll pass on this in the future.

Oct 28, 2016

I've been intrigued by Coco's Sago Taro Milk Tea for a while, but I just haven't had the chance to try it until now. I imagined it would be like the Taro Sago Chinese dessert, but a cold drinkable version. 

Unfortunately, I don't know if I killed it with less ice and 30% sugar (or maybe they put more ice and no sugar), but it was a little bland and not that tasty. I loved the sago, but it wasn't enough to save the drink. I also don't know if I'd pay for this again. 

Website: http://en.coco-tea.com/

Chatime

Feb 2, 2021

Feb 2021's TOTM is Thai Milk Tea ($4.80 for a Large)

Thai Milk Tea

I got minimal sugar and no ice and it's still pretty good even if there isn't a ton of sugar in the drink - it's still pretty sweet from the condensed milk. It had excellent milk flavour and the distinctive orange colour from Thai milk tea - very yummy and worth a try. 

Dec 21, 2020 

The Chatime Tea of the Month (TOTM) is a cold Peachy Lychee Green Tea (large size for $4.80)

The drink came in a super cute holiday winter cup and it tasted exactly like its name: a cold light green tea with peach and lychee juice/flavour (stronger lychee juice for sure of the two). I got it without sugar and ice, but it was sweetened enough from the peach and lychee juice/syrup and didn't have as storng a tea flavour. I would highly recommend not reheating it (made that mistake!) since it ended up being a slightly sour peachy drink with a stronger tea flavour (and less lychee flavour).

Dec 6, 2020

 Jasmine Jade Milk Tea with Sago 

A delicious green milk tea

I loved the tiny sago balls which added a nice bumpy texture to each mouthful of green milk tea and the tea was really good with a strong jasmine flavour. It was also pretty sweet despite my order being "no sugar", so a pretty good drink that I'll probably be back to try it a few more times! 

Nov 21, 2020

It's been a while since I've had Chatime, so I grabbed a Tea of the Month (TOTM) as a treat. November 2020's TOTM is Iron Goddess, a strong bold black milk tea.

Iron Goddess Milk tea (cold only) $4.80

With no ice and no sugar, I could taste the strong flavour of the Iron Goddess tea even though the drink was really milky. I do like strong black teas, but I might ask them for less milk next time (or maybe a longer stir). 

July 1, 2020 @ 895 Lawrence Avenue East

Usually when I pass by this Chatime location, there's always a lineup outside the door (basically because of COVID-19 safety processes and procedures - which I totally understand). So when I was walking by today, I noticed there wasn't a line, so I immediately went into the store only to realize that they were allowing 3 people in at a time for both pickup of orders and for ordering (which is basically chaos for customers). Luckily, there were only two people ahead of me, one person picking up and one person ordering. 

Once I finished ordering, they told me to wait outside for about 5 minutes and then come pick up my drink. I walked away for a bit only to return to a ridiculously long line up with no real proper line and just tons of people loitering around outside. With the three person limit inside the store, it took much longer to actually get my drink since some people were just waiting inside the store and people were bypassing the line all the time. After this terrible experience, I'd rather try another Chatime than attempt this one again. 

Pistachio macaron and Sakura Lychee drink with Chrysanthemum jelly

Pistachio macaron was a good macaron with good feet and good buttercream in the middle, unfortunately, it just didn't have a lot of pistachio flavour. 

Sakura Lychee drink with Chrysanthemum jelly

I ordered the sakura lychee drink with no sugar and it was really good with more of a lychee flavour than sakura! It was fragrant and sweet, but not too sweet and it was really refreshing especially in the summer heat. I also upgraded my topping to the new Vitasoy chrysanthemum jelly option and I was so glad I did that because they gave me a ton of jelly (basically half the cup) and it was really tasty which was really yummy and filled up half the cup. I would love if this drink became part of their permanent menu - it's so good!

May 3, 2020

OMG have I ever been craving bubbletea during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Jasmine Green Milk tea with tapioca (unsweetened)

The milk tea is pretty good unsweetened and has a nice flavour. It's still a little disorienting to have jasmine tea with milk (considering the years of drinking plain jasmine tea with dim sum), but it's delicious all the same. The tapioca were super gummy, soggy and chewy - I can't wait until I get proper tapioca in stores. 

Jan 30, 2020 @ Chatime 895 Lawrence Ave

Earl Grey Chocolate Mille Crepe Cake

The cake was okay, the chocolate flavour was stronger than the Earl Grey flavour. 

June 21, 2019 @ 461 Queen Street West

This location always seems to have the promotional drinks for longer than the promotional periods.  

Thai Pearl Milk Tea with less sugar

Still pretty sweet! You definitely need some sugar with this drink though, otherwise it just doesn't taste the same. 

April 25, 2019 @ 461 Queen Street West

Wow!!! Durian Milk Tea is still available at Chatime

Yummy durian flavour (if you like durian) and I prefer the milk tea base since it's sweeter (rather than the roasted milk tea base).

July 6, 2018 @ 439 Yonge Street

Taro Chiffon Cake

A taro cake? I had pretty high expectations for this, but unfortunately while it sort of tasted like taro, it wasn't a really strong flavour. The cake also wasn't light and airy like chiffon (it might have been sitting in the case for a few days). I think I'll avoid these cakes unless they're fresh. 

July 4, 2017 @ 439 Yonge Street

Chatime is running 1L cup promotions for $5 with 3 different flavours in celebration of 5 years. The one I'm most likely to drink is the Roasted Milk Tea with tapioca, grass jelly and pudding.

Roasted Milk Tea Triple

Don't get this if you don't like Roasted milk tea! It's a bit of an acquired taste if you're expecting regular bubble tea or milk tea. I wasn't a big fan at first and after drink a bit more, it got a bit better. The one thing I really didn't like in this was the pudding (and it was like 3/4 of the cup), so beware! 

June 2, 2017 @ 439 Yonge Street

Chatime released some summer specials including some Instagram worthy drinks like this:

Starry Lemon

It's really pretty - but it tasted like a slushy lemonade. This was the June Tea of the Month so it was on sale for $3.99, but I wouldn't pay anymore for that. 

Website: http://chatime.com/#home

Chichop

Update: Location has permanently closed

Chichop is co-located in one store space with a few other places (one of which being Coco Fresh Tea & Juice), so it made sense when their BOGO combo had Coco tea drinks on the side (added bonus!)

Spicy (Deep Fried) Chicken with bubble tea ($11 for two)

The spicy fried chicken was pretty nicely fried, but it was more batter than chicken though. The sauce was pretty good, but sadly it didn't cover all of the chicken. The dish also came with rice, steamed vegetables, chapchae and a fried egg on top - pretty well balanced. 

And then we got to choose the Coco bubble teas: sago mango green tea for one and pearl milk tea for the other. 

A pretty good deal for the price considering Coco bubble teas are about $5 regularly. 

Kung Fu Tea

 Jan 23, 2021 @ 4733 Steeles Ave E

I remember trying the rose milk tea at the downtown location (264 Spadina Ave), but I guess I forgot to write about it (it was my favourite drink by them a few years ago since it was a day of the week promotion). Now they're doing BOGO on Ubereats at the 4733 Steeles Ave location.

Pearl Milk Tea ($6.89 with tax for 2)

One was hot with no honey and one was cold with 30% honey - the one without honey was okay, but it wasn't as good or tasty as the one with honey. I also found that these milk teas had a powdered milk taste in the tea and the quality of the tea wasn't very good. The hot drink was also super hot when I got it so I had to wait for it to cool down before drinking. 

The cold one had no ice and 30% honey and while it tasted much better with additional sweetness that also brought out the tea flavour, it had less of the powdery milk taste, but the tea taste didn't come out that much either. 

Website: https://en.kungfuteatoronto.com/

Real Fruit Bubble Tea

Jan 12, 2021

I'm kind of determined to find a hot tea I would enjoy at Real Fruit, but so far I haven't been that successful. Here's another attempt:

Original Milk Tea & Lychee Green Tea ($5.07 for two because of BOGO)

Original milk tea without sugar: Tasted like black tea mostly with a dash of milk. It had a pretty strong black tea flavour but it was kind of boring like a normal black tea you could make at home with a tea bag (I wouldn't pay $5 for this again).

Lychee green tea (could not change sugar level other than requesting minimal sugar): Tasted like lychee juice with green tea and sour. When these two are combined hot rather than cold, the combination is actually kind of terrible. 

Overall: I think I've given this a shot, and can safely say that there's nothing hot that I would order from here other than the oolong (with less milk and/or water)

Jan 10, 2021

I thought I'd try some of the other hot drinks during Real Fruit's BOGO promotion (since the oolong and matcha didn't work out that well)

Hot Taro Almond Milk tea and Hot Almond Milk Tea ($6.77 for both with tax)

The hot taro almond milk tea was made with taro and almond powder mixed with a super bland milk tea (maybe made with a tea bag? the flavour wasn't consistent). It wasn't very good, especially since the almond powder was super strong and pretty sweet and it completely overpowered the taro flavour. Unfortunate, that it didn't work out because taro almond used to be one of my favourite flavour combinations (maybe the 0% sugar also didn't help? but I cut out sugar from milk tea in my diet). 

The hot almond milk tea was awful; the powder was super sweet and had a strange aftertaste that you could distinctly tell when it was just the almond flavour. It tasted more like almond milk than tea. 

I guess the only drink that's good here is the Mango Diamond Slush. 

Dec 26, 2020 @ Shops at Don Mills

Matcha Milk Tea

The most prominent flavour in this was the cream rather than the matcha as there was way too much milk/cream in the drink (and not enough matcha powder except to make it green). 

Dec 19, 2020 @ Shops at Don Mills

Real Fruit still has their BOGO hot drinks promotion - have to get my fill of their oolong tea before it gets more expensive! 

Oolong Milk Tea $4.59

Very milky oolong tea, but it had a stronger oolong flavour than the Yi Fang oolong tea (might just be this location though). The milk did water it down quite a bit, but they also gave me a lot of tea that was filled to the brim in the cup. 

October 27, 2020 @ Victoria Terrace Shopping Plaza

I came to try the oolong and the matcha tea for the BOGO promotion. 

Matcha

The matcha had a nice strong matcha flavour, but sadly it was nowhere near the same level of matcha quality as Cheese Garden's matcha that I had recently. It was also super watery without much milk to balance it. 

The oolong was also super watery and there wasn't a lot of milk tea flavour, but a heavier oolong flavour from just the tea and water - so it wasn't really mixed well (unless I was just ordering an oolong tea with a dash of milk).

Overall, their drinks weren't very good here - they were all super watery and I probably wouldn't order from here again. 

October 24, 2020 @ Shops at Don Mills

I haven't had Real Fruit Bubble Tea in a really long time and they were running a buy one get one (BOGO) promotion for their hot teas.

I decided to order on Skip the Dishes, which had it for $5.59 for two as opposed to $4.99 in-store, but I also had a free $5 off coupon, so it came out to $1.32 with tax if I went to pick up. Unfortunately, I could only buy two of the same drink to get the bogo deal. 

Medium oolong milk tea

One was less sweet and one had no sweetness. The less sweet drink was still really sweet in my opinion (but I've started drinking a lot of my drinks without added sugar - so I might not have been used to it either). The medium was actually quite a large size, especially compared to other drink sizes I've seen. The oolong had a nice flavour, it wasn't super strong, but it was on the milky side with more milk than tea. I think I would still prefer the Chatime version though. 

June 16, 2018 @ Chartwell Mall

Scarborough Bluffs

Mango Diamond Slush

Super refreshing with ripe mangoes and icy cold slush - this might be my drink of the summer! 

Website: http://www.realfruitbubbletea.com/