Melbourne franchise Gotcha Fresh Tea is rapidly expanding — into Sydney. It opened three CBD shops and one Parramatta outpost in 2019 alone. Gotcha’s eye-catching neon purple and pastel pink hues make it easy to spot.

Haymarket is clearly not short on bubble tea joints. But when Chippendale’s Bubble Nini opened within the Maker’s Dozen food hall in mid-2019, it brought something a little different to the area. 

The Alley Lujiaoxiang sets itself apart with its ‘deerioca’ — tapioca balls made from scratch, with each batch kneaded and rolled in house. The brand also makes its own sugar cane syrup and hand-picks and roasts its tea leaves. 

Mega-chain Chatime started off in the bubble tea motherland — aka Taiwan — back in 2005, and, since then, has expanded to over 2000 outposts worldwide. And 120 of those are in Australia. 

While overseas boba chains are kicking goals all over our city, there’s something to be said for a local haunt. No Fail is Sydney’s homegrown bubble tea brand. 

One of world’s biggest bubble tea chains, CoCo originated in Tamsui, Taiwan back in 1997 and now boasts over 4000 stores worldwide — across countries like Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, the UK, the US and, of course, Australia.

A more traditional-style Taiwanese bubble tea shop, Yifang hails from Taiwan and is now popular worldwide, with shops in Sydney’s Burwood, Eastwood and the CBD. 

Since opening its first shop in Taiwan in 2006, Gong Cha has already grown to 1500 stores globally. And, because that’s clearly not enough, the brand also operates the first boba tea shop at sea.