The Nine Best Bubble Tea Shops in Melbourne

There’s no doubt Gotcha Fresh Tea takes its commitment to quality seriously — all of its base tea products are exclusively farmed and hand-picked on the brand’s own Gotcha plantation in its home country of Taiwan. And that top-notch tea is showcased across a downright hefty menu of drinks, running the gamut from fruit-driven green teas to less familiar sips, including a misty-coloured bamboo and charcoal milk infusion. You can jazz up just about any of the drinks with extras — perhaps some popping pearls and cheese foam — or go straight for best-selling combinations like the boba-filled black sugar fresh milk tea.

Bonus points for the reusable cups and gold straws available at many of Gotcha’s other Melbourne bubble tea stores, including Footscray, South Yarra, Glen Waverley and St Albans.

Making its drinks in a nod to Chinese tradition, Xing Fu Tang is a go-to for an authentic bubble tea fix. It’s only a recent addition to Melbourne, but the Taiwanese brand is already earning a local reputation for its quality liquid fusions, many showcasing the brown sugar boba pearls that are handcrafted in-store daily.

It’s easy to see why the brown sugar boba milk is the hero drink of the menu, with its dramatic marbled look and rich flavours. But you’ll find plenty of other sips, too, from the colourful pearl-infused matcha and milk concoction to the milk teas and lively fruit-driven drinks.

One of Taiwan’s most celebrated bubble tea chains, Milksha (or Milkshop to international fans) surpassed amateur status long ago. And now, its debut Aussie store has brought the tea party right here to Melbourne.

The menu features a signature spread of specialty teas, cloudy cream drinks and milk blends, many showcasing primo loose leaf teas sourced from Sri Lanka and Taiwan, and milk products from Fitzroy’s own St David Dairy. The boba game here is pretty strong too, featuring sweet, silky tapioca pearls that have been cooked in honey. Try them in the brown sugar milk tea, the earl grey latte, or perhaps a cup of fresh taro milk.

This isn’t your traditional bubble tea offering, but it’s certainly Melbourne’s homegrown version of one. In 2017, Fitzroy institution Industry Beans jumped on board the bubble tea bandwagon for a new cult Melbourne coffee: the IB Bubble Coffee.

Pulling inspiration from the OG Taiwanese drink, adding a bit of a Vietnamese edge and shaking it all up with some Melbourne flair, this one features a blend of cold drip coffee, coffee-soaked tapioca pearls and a house-made ‘consoy’ (a fusion of condensed milk and soy milk). A handful of other iterations have since been added to the menu, including one with salted caramel, another version infused with pandan and even a vegan-friendly option crafted with a plant-based condensed milk.

Industry Beans also sells the Bubble Coffee at its cafe on Little Collins Street in the CBD.

A Taiwan-born tea store with over 50 global outposts under its belt, The Alley LuJiaoXiang has made a name for both its slurpable drinks and those all-important ‘beverage aesthetics’. Not only do these sips have serious swagger, but ingredients like the sugar cane syrup and signature tapioca pearls are made in-store from scratch. Sample those house-made orbs in the likes of a milk-infused black tea blend or tea latte, or go for one of the popular fruit tea concoctions, best enjoyed topped with some ‘snow velvet’ cheese foam. And if you fancy a bit of a mouth party, opt for something featuring The Alley’s special brown sugar pearls. These rich little gems are served warm, making for an extra treat when mixed through cold milk.

You can also find this famed Melbourne bubble tea shop in QV Melbourne, Highpoint Shopping Centre, and on Bourke Street in the CBD.

By now a familiar face to Aussie bubble tea aficionados, Taiwan-founded chain Chatime boasts over 100 local venues. And these guys aren’t mucking around when it comes to options, either. Not only will you find a sprawling lineup of drink styles, but also a hefty selection of mix-ins to jazz up your bubble tea — from classic tapioca balls and popping pearls to jellies, custard and Oreo crumb. Pick your favourites and get busy customising your ultimate blend. There are milky concoctions made from an array of different tea varieties, fruit-infused black and green tea blends, and even a series of sparkling tea fusions for something a little bit fancy.

You can find a Chatime basically within a five-kilometre radius of wherever you are in Melbourne. Without mentioning them all, the chain has Melbourne bubble tea stores in the CBD, Brunswick, Sunshine, Broadmeadows, Epping, Doncaster and Glen Waverley.

With a sprawling menu of tea options on offer at each outlet, Top Tea has you spoilt for choice. You’ll spy fruity concoctions built on fresh ingredients rather than sugary syrups, tea drinks spiked with yoghurt or fermented rice milk, and, for the dairy fiends, a series of brûlée-topped, milk tea-based creations. But one of this spot’s best-known offerings has to be the line of signature cheese teas, each finished with a creamy cheesecake-like foam layer, ready to be stirred through according to taste. It’s an unexpectedly satisfying match to seasonal fruit flavours like dragonfruit, cherry or watermelon. If you’re also on the lookout for solid food, the store sells a bunch of buns filled with OTT fillings like mochi, matcha cream and soybean custard.

Top Tea’s other two stores are located on Swanston Street and inside Westfield Doncaster.

CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice is a global bubble tea player that now has a bunch of stores all across Melbourne. The menu is broad, with options to suit bubble tea veterans and novices alike, and new seasonal offerings being rolled out all the time. Here, the tea creations range from a classic bubble cup crowned with pearls to a sago taro milk tea and passionfruit slush with honey jelly. Familiar flavour infusions including chocolate and caramel sit alongside Asian classics like matcha and taro, or you can ditch the dairy in favour of fruit-based sips like a mango green tea (topped with a hefty scoop of those house pearls, of course).

As well as four in the CBD, CoCo Fresh has shops in Box Hill, Springvale, Glen Waverley and Footscray.

Image: Allan Ran via Flickr

With a swag of Aussie outposts under its belt and over 1500 stores worldwide, Gong Cha is something of a bubble tea veteran. This one’s named after an ancient Chinese phrase describing the act of offering tea to the Emperor — fitting, given its menu features a whole kingdom’s worth of crafty tea drinks. Fruit fiends will find themselves tempted by fusions like the mango and fresh milk tea loaded with mango-flavoured pearls, or the passionfruit green tea sporting a thick crown of jellies and boba. Meanwhile, milk-based offerings might feature the likes of a unicorn-hued taro coconut milk tea, a layered oat milk tea dense with toppings, or a sticky brown sugar milk blend starring a healthy serve of brown sugar tapioca pearls.

Gong Cha also has nearby outposts in Sunshine and Highpoint, as well as in the CBD, Richmond and all over the southeast suburbs.