Matcha Milk (抹茶ミルク) – The Alley

Happy Birthday to the Emperor! Today’s a national holiday, which means I get the day off work. It’s a little awkward, because it’s kind of a random Thursday off (so not a three-day weekend…), and I have to go into work the next day, only for it to turn into the weekend, ha! Anyway, I was mulling about going out for a bit, but I ultimately decided to because a movie I recently got interested in is currently playing, and the theater in Sapporo does discounted tickets on Thursdays. Read about it here! It’s also my first solo trip in a while, since my boyfriend has to work. I always get boba, and originally I wanted to get The Tea, but they’re closed on Thursdays…so I decided on The Alley instead.

Ok, I honestly wanted to finally try their Jasmine, but when I was looking at the app for any potential coupons or campaigns happening (there’s something called a Rich Milk starting March 1?), I noticed there were a few coupons until the end of February. One was 10% off for their Royal No 9 Milk Tea, another for 10% off the Assam Milk Tea, and the last one for 10% off the Brown Sugar series. These are apparently the 3 most popular drinks at The Alley, so they’re doing a special discount for these for some reason. I can’t pass up on a coupon, so I decided to use it. As I’ve probably mentioned before, I’m not a fan of the idea of their signature No 9 Blueberry milk tea, I don’t think the brown sugar milk is the first thing I’ll go for, and I’m not feeling an Assam Milk Tea at the moment. That leaves the Matcha brown sugar, which I’m totally fine with and down for. Plus, the drink comes with boba already in it, so I don’t have to pay to add boba!

Unfortunately, when I was buying my boba, I saw on the in store menu that the boba and brown sugar drinks were being prepared, and I was pretty nervous for if they actually had boba or not. I asked the cashier, who confirmed with the back, and she said that they had boba. I then tried to order the brown sugar, but she ended up saying that only the colorful boba and matcha milk were available, and the brown sugar boba would take 30-40 minutes, which I did not have the time for. The colorful boba is a recent addition to the menu I think, and I was actually curious what it was when I passed by the store earlier. Apparently it’s just boba with added color (duh). I just got that, since it’s still boba, with the matcha milk. Now that I look back, I really could have gotten the jasmine at that point since this one isn’t covered by the coupon, but oh well.

The drink is pretty good, and true to its name, tastes like a regular, well, matcha milk. I got less sugar, so the matcha here is a bit bitter, but not too bad. I wouldn’t say it tastes like a matcha latte (though that’s technically what it is, I guess). Maybe it’s not milky enough? How often is sweetener put in matcha lattes? I do have to constantly stir it when it’s sitting, otherwise the matcha starts to settle, but I think that’s pretty normal for any matcha drink. As for the colorful boba, kind of doesn’t matter when in the super green matcha, but tastes fine. Todays is a little stiff/chewy, but not hard. Overall, a little bummed couldn’t use the coupon, but I did get boba!

Details: Matcha Milk; large; colorful boba; less sugar; no ice; from The Alley (Sapporo Daimaru)