Heart of the Ocean Snowflake Ice (Mango and Tapioca Pearls) – Smoothie House

My Taiwan trip is over, but I did have some boba treats while I was there. Surprisingly, I didn’t get any boba-flavored souvenirs this time around (I did see quite a few though). Usually I write posts the day of and can whip them up pretty fast, but this time around, aside from the usual drink posts, I was pretty busy with a packed schedule every day. Anyway, I’ll be releasing the non-drink posts as normal weekly posts.

On March 28th, I actually didn’t have a [boba] drink, but we’ll get to why later. My family went to Smoothie House on Yongkang street known for their mango shaved ice, because we were doing a food day there, and it’s really one of the must-eats when you’re there. Between 5 of us, we ordered 2 items, the Heart of the Ocean Snowflake Ice (Mango and Tapioca Pearls), and Strawberry Party Snowflake Ice with Mango Ice.

It was hot enough to enjoy everything, but not hot enough that it was suffering in the heat. Both came with mango flavored ice, a scoop of mango gelato, and frozen mango chunks, since it isn’t quite mango season yet. The Strawberry Party came with condensed milk and fresh strawberries and a side of pudding. The Heart of the Ocean came with a sugar syrup, clear tapioca pearls and a side of aiyu jelly. Everything was very yum! Although the mango was frozen, if defrosted enough, they were soft and super sweet. The gelato was rich and creamy, and the shaved ice had a nice fluffy texture and light mango flavor. Boba was super chewy, and was a great addition to everything else that was cold.

We ended off the day with a drink, and my actual boba of the day was supposed to be from Soma! I’ve always had Soma drinks in Irvine, and I was excited to try out Soma in Taiwan. Unsurprisingly, the main menu was the same, but there were a few interesting exclusives to the menu, including a seasonal section, premium section, and alcoholic section. My boyfriend tried the one with Yamazaki whiskey, my mom got their signature milk tea, and I went with a SOMA Essentia Milk Tea from their Premium series. It comes with an original black tea blend, fresh milk, and honey. Sweetness can’t be adjusted, so I just got less ice.

The drink was pretty good, and even though I couldn’t adjust sweetness, it was just right and not too sweet. It had a nice light milk flavor from the fresh milk, the honey flavor was apparent, and the tea was fragrant and strong, slightly herbal-y.

We noticed we forgot to order boba after we got our drinks, so we went to ask them to make another order when they came out. Unfortunately, the employee told us that they don’t offer boba at all, but it was just this branch, and assured us that other branches offer it. Well, that turned out to be a lie, because a few days later I visited a different Soma branch, and they also said they don’t have boba. So much for trying Soma in Taiwan. What kind of milk tea place in Taiwan doesn’t offer boba??? Thus, the experience sucked, the drink was good, but the drink doesn’t deserve its own post.

Details: SOMA Essentia Milk Tea; less ice; from Soma (Yongkang)