Houji & Kuromitsu Milk Tea (香るほうじ＆とろり黒みつミルクティー) – Gong Cha

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I went on a weekend getaway to Noboribetsu, courtesy of my parents for Christmas, to experience an onsen! Of course, on my way back home, I need a drink for the ride home, and my choice today is Gong Cha, with their (not so new) seasonal drink campaign, the houji cha and brown sugar series. They’ve had this one for a few weeks now, but now it’s time for me to get around to trying it.

Obviously with their seasonal campaign, I’m going for the new milk tea. It’s supposed to contain Houjicha (which may or may not be the same one I had before? They are advertising this new “aromatic” houjicha as their tea recommendation of the month, and I’m not exactly sure if that’s a different one than their regular one to be honest), black sugar syrup, black sugar syrup jelly, crushed brown sugar and milk foam on top. Other than that, I was (and kind of still am) over Gong Cha, because after I let my coupon period expire. for a similar price and no ice, I have other options now, though eventually I will try the rest of their milk teas here (I think I’m missing a couple). That’ll always be there, so I’m not in any hurry anytime soon.

Anyway, for the actual drink, even after mixing, my first sip was really a few crunches of the crushed bits on top, and boba covered in syrup. It was definitely sweet, and also makes me wonder if it’s just the same syrup they use for their brown sugar series, even though I haven’t had their version of that yet. The crunchies were nice, and the boba was pretty good, texture and taste wise with the syrup with it. The jelly is interesting, getting tiny or bigger pieces every now and then, but it melts so quickly I mostly can’t stop to taste it. The one time I could, it actually had a nice smoky brown sugar flavor to it! Anyway, a bit of a backward review today, but the Houjicha is good. Tastes like a decent Houjicha milk tea, other than being a little sweeter (despite less sweetness) than regular. The milk foam is just there I guess.

Details: Houji & Kuromitsu Milk Tea; medium; less sugar; pearl; from Gong Cha (Sapporo Apia)

Psst! I did go to a buffet restaurant yesterday afternoon which was featuring Taiwanese food, and the ice cream section had boba as a topping!