Review | The Alley Bubble Tea

The Alley seems to be a really popular place to get bubble tea these days in many countries – I literally see it all over social media and with the recent product placement in Lee Minho’s latest Korean Drama ‘The King: Eternal Monarch’, I’ve been even more intrigued to try in particular their ‘Brown Sugar Deerioca Creme Brulee Milk’.

So I finally got the chance to trek it up to Holborn and have a try. As it was quite a sunny day I decided to also get the ‘Snow Strawberry Lulu’ and shared that and the ‘Brown Sugar Deerioca Creme Brulee Milk’ with my fiance. 

Lets start with my thoughts on the Snow Strawberry Lulu:

Snow Strawberry Lulu

Price: £5.30 for Large +50p for extra Konjac Jelly topping = £5.80

My Thoughts:
The short version is that this was basically an iced fresh strawberry smoothie with salted cream on top which they like to call ‘snow velvet’ and for most people the whole combination probably tastes pretty much exactly as it sounds.

The longer more important version is that although I knew it was meant to be a cold drink I didn’t expect or like the type of ice that was in it – It had lots of small ice clusters to crunch into and I know many people who like that kind of thing but crunching on ice is not really my jam as my teeth are quite sensitive. Flavour wise, it’s definitely a good choice for the summer and you really can taste and feel the fresh sweet strawberry bits. As for the ‘snow velvet’ cream, when mixed in well with the strawberry portion it gives a nice creamy smoothie like taste which is nice and familiar, but when I tried the cream on it’s own I didn’t like the saltiness of it and it made me feel a bit sick. Some people actually like salted cream as a topping for their drinks, but now I know I’m not one of those people. The konjac jelly that I got as an extra topping added a nice sweet bite which was quite nice, but I do wonder how this would be with the regular tapioca pearls or just on it’s own.

Now let’s move on to the oh so popular aesthetically pleasing ‘Brown Sugar Deerioca Creme Brulee Milk’:

Brown Sugar Deerioca Creme Brulee Milk

Price: £5.30 for Large

My Thoughts:
First of all, I don’t know why I was surprised to learn that this does not contain any tea in it, I mean it doesn’t mention tea in the name so I have no idea why I thought it would be a milk tea with brown sugar pearls and creme brulee pudding. This drink literally is just brown sugar tapioca pearls, creme brulee pudding and plain cold milk poured on top. I asked if they have a tea version of this drink and the staff said no and something about the balance of flavours but that I can add creme brulee as an extra topping to other tea options but can’t add tea to this one – sounds a bit odd but I just said okay and thank you, took my drink and left.

Now upon receiving my drink, I was really excited to try it as it looks freaking delicious! I then noticed that the bottom part of the cup which had the brown sugar tapioca pearls was warm which I assume means that they must have been made fresh. The milk portion, which makes up the majority of the cup was cold as expected.

I took my first sip and my god were the pearls and creme brulee delicious. To be honest, I’m not even sure if I could taste the creme brulee and will only know the difference if I try it without the creme brulee next time, but for now I would like to think what I could taste was the combination of the two. It had an almost roasted caramel depth in it’s flavour – and I’ve got to say brown sugar tapioca pearls are definitely superior to regular ones in my opinion.

I got a large size but the amount of brown sugar pearls wasn’t enough in comparison to how much milk was in the cup. Even though I mixed the drink thoroughly, once the brown sugar tapioca pearls and creme brulee pudding had finished, the drink pretty much tasted like sweet watered down milk, mainly because all that was remaining was milk and large ice cubes. I normally ask for no ice, but that doesn’t seem to be an option at The Alley.

This drink has so much potential and I just wish The Alley made a milk tea version and also allowed the option of not having any ice in it. Even if they don’t have a tea version, this would still taste much better with no or less ice – I get that adding ice to drinks is a good way to make money as they can save on main ingredients but some people really don’t like when the ice melts and turns the drink into a bland watery mess.

In general, although I think it’s a tad expensive for what we’re actually getting, I do like the aesthetic of The Alley – I mean the deer logo, the interior design of the shop, the way they prepare the drinks beautifully in the cups and the actual cups themselves are all “up my alley” (sorry, had to).

Would I go here again? Yeah, to try some of the other flavours but I think I’ll opt for the regular size and try my luck with the ice issue.

Is it worth the hype? Flavour-wise, no, not really – it’s just nice and standard. Aesthetic and atmosphere-wise, yeah sure! – it’s definitely an insta worthy tea shop, so if you like finding hot spots for the sake of the gram then this is one to add to the list.

Address:
The Alley
Unit 3, 272 High Holborn, Holborn, London WC1V 7EY

Telephone:
+447311 811907

How to get there:
The closest station is Holborn on the Piccadilly line. The Alley is located directly opposite Kimchi Restaurant on High Holborn – Here is a map I pulled from google:

I’d love to know your thoughts on this tea shop so please leave a comment below 🙂

– Saima –