I was particularly excited for this review. I find it exceedingly difficult to turn down an opportunity to get some boba.

   Bubble University is one boba shop that I used to frequent a lot before Ding Tea opened nearby. There had never been anything that turned me away from Bubble University, save for the fact that Ding Tea just happened to be conveniently located so that it’s five minutes from Granite Bay High and where all of my friends live.

   For this reason, I was excited to make the drive out to Bubble University to revisit some of their tea and give it a solid review.

   As my friend and I pulled up to the shop, the first thing we noticed was the sign out front that asked that its customers take the precaution of only having three people inside the store at a time.

   The inconvenient part of this wasn’t how the store only allowed three people in the store at a time, rather it was the customers that blatantly ignored the line that formed outside the store and just pushed their way in whenever they saw fit. 

   So, if you plan on going yourself, take heed to the others waiting patiently in line to order their tea. Don’t be rude.

   This isn’t something that I can pin on Bubble University’s staff. While they were working inside, I can understand how it’d be difficult to monitor who orders their drinks and when.

   After waiting for the last group to enter, my friend and I headed into the familiar cool interior.

   To combat the summer heat, the store was nice and cool. The seats were closed off, and a rope directed us to a touch-screen kiosk to order.

   The ordering process was very simple and clear. There were options to control the level of sweetness, ice, and there was a variety of toppings to choose from, including boba pearls and their sweeter counterpart, golden boba pearls.

   Lately I’ve been on this matcha kick, so of course I chose the matcha milk tea with golden boba. I kept all the sweetness levels the same, and ordered my drink with less ice.

   My friend insisted on trying their Thai milk tea. We order it all the time from other boba shops and Thai restaurants, so of course we had to add it to our review of Bubble University.

   He made the unfortunate mistake, however, of dropping the sweetness down to 0% to fit his bitter taste. He ordered the drink with regular boba pearls.

   The third drink we ordered was the Iron Goddess oolong milk tea with regular boba pearls. This was for my friend. I’m not a huge fan of bitter tea.

   There was only one size for the drinks, so keep that in mind should you choose to go. In total, it rounded out to $18.27 with tip included.

   The drinks took a shocking five minutes to be prepared.

   This came as a surprise because the past times that we had come to Bubble University, it had taken about ten or fifteen minutes of waiting to receive our tea, so this was an impressive improvement.

   The teas didn’t disappoint.

  The drinks came in tall cups, and were presented in a very cute way.

   My matcha milk tea was very sweet, especially when paired with the golden boba. Always remember to stir your matcha milk tea, or else it will turn out very powdery and bitter. I definitely recommend trying the matcha if you enjoy that sweet sort of taste.

   The reason why the Thai milk tea with 0% sweetness was a mistake wasn’t because of the poor execution on the baristas’ behalf, rather because it just tasted like it was missing something.

   To my friend, it still tasted alright, though we came to the conclusion that Thai milk tea is definitely meant to be a sweeter tea, and making it as bitter as we did made it just not as good as we were used to given our experience with other Thai milk teas.

   If you want to order Thai milk tea from Bubble University, I recommend you order with at least 75% sweetness to get the best taste you can.

   As for the Iron Goddess oolong milk tea, I wasn’t much of a fan, but I’ve also got a bit of a sweet tooth.

   My friend, on the other hand, loved the bitterness of the drink. It was a very smooth drink, and it wasn’t super creamy. The regular boba pearls were the only sweetness in the tea, and it offset the bitterness perfectly.

   I would definitely recommend Bubble University’s oolong tea to anyone who is looking for a not-so-sweet milk tea.

  My friend ordered the drink at 0% sweetness, and there was really nothing sweet about the drink at all besides the boba, so if you like bitter drinks that have at least a hint of sweetness, feel free to order a higher percentage of sweetness.

   Overall, the experience was really nice and enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed returning to Bubble University.

   My final recommendations are the matcha milk tea with golden boba and 100% sweetness, the Thai milk tea with a sweet topping at at least 75% sweetness, and the Iron Goddess oolong milk tea with boba pearls at 0% sweetness.

Final take: A great variety for anyone, whether they’re a sweet tooth or a lover of bitter tea.