Kyoho Grape Oolong Milk Tea (巨峰ウーロンミルクティー) – Gong Cha

I’m back in Hokkaido after spending the long weekend in Aomori! My plan today was take a final look at this years Autumn Festival, and take the newest The Alley seasonal on the bus ride home on the bus, when I went to go check if they had it, just my luck they had sold out of it for the day. Not entirely happy with this outcome, I went for my backup at Gong Cha. I really haven’t had The Alley in a while…

Anyway, the current seasonal drink at Gong Cha right now is the annual Kyoto grape one. I had this one before (under a different name, they decided to add “mamire” this year), so this time around I’m aiming for the seasonal tea in milk tea form. It also is Kyoto Grape, but I’m thinking it’s a grape tea as opposed to a grape-based drink.

I had considered getting no sugar (because I’ve done full vacation mode this weekend…hence the medium size), but surprisingly, the drink is not super sweet, at least artificially. There’s a relatively strong tea flavor, while also having a strong real Kyoho grape flavor, if you’ve had it before. Not the usual medicinal grape flavor, which is quite interesting.

The boba is definitely the best texture of the ones I’ve had this weekend, although it’s a bit on the stiffer side. Maybe it’s a user error for letting the boba sit in the cold drink for a bit before drinking. Maybe it’s a shop error.

Details: Kyoho Grape Oolong Milk Tea; medium; less sugar; less ice; pearl; from Gong Cha (Sapporo Akarenga Terrace)