The best bubble tea spots in NYC

Having opened its first store in NYC over three decades ago, this tea fixture has blossomed over time with locations in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, but more so with a bubble tea shop along Mott Street. At this bustling, bright-green location, browse the wall menus for choices of flavor blends and fruity slushes and milk teas. Note: It’s cash-only here.

This San Franciscan company has gone cross-country with stores on the Lower East Side, Greenwich Village and Canal Street Market. Pushing aside powders, their drinks go all natural with tea leaves, organic milk and house-made syrups. Menu lists range from classic milk tea and Jasmine milk tea to their Dirty Horchata, topped with espresso, and the Strawberry Matcha Latte.

This cozy Astoria storefront also skips artificial ingredients and instead uses teas from all over the world, along with spices and fruits. Their Signature Taro Root Milk Tea mingles pureed taro with black tea nicely, while their Roasted Oolong Tea with Signature Cream unleashes creamy goodness upon a good shaking.

Their house brand specialty is what’s called a “milk foam,” described as a “slightly salted cream that sits on top of freshly brewed tea.” As for the Taiwan-sourced teas, popular flavors are the Pearl Milk Tea (their version of black milk tea), Milk Foam Green Tea, Taro Milk Tea and Lychee Oolong.

With a ton of stores throughout Manhattan plus some in Brooklyn and Queens, the U.S. portion of this franchise gets high-quality ingredients imported directly from Taiwan to authentically produce a flavorful and freshly made tea. Choices are plentiful too: Tea types extend to fruity picks like passion fruit, honeydew, mango, lychee and kumquat to milky tastes such as chocolate, coconut, taro and green tea.

Since 2013, this petite Morningside Heights café and bakery has been serving bubble teas alongside some very nice pastries. Picks include black teas , green teas and oolong teas before you specify your order as either hot or iced, then sweet or not, and finally, add in some bubbles or lychee jelly at a small additional cost.