Foodaholic!: Chatime

Chatime is a Taiwanese franchise bbt chain, and has over 800 stores worldwide. The company opened their first location in Toronto back in 2011, and that spot today is still very popular. Chatime has an extensive menu with lots of different drinks; signature milk tea, fresh tea, mousse, tea latte, QQ jelly drinks, smoothies, and more. It may not be the cheapest place for a cup of bubble tea, as it's a little more than $5 for a drink. However, I'd say that the quality of the products are definitely not lacking and the drinks are good. Customers are able to customize their order(s) to their liking as they're able to choose both the amount of sugar, and ice they want. The toppings are an extra charge (price varies) but they have a good selection of toppings from pearl, grass jelly, coconut jelly, red bean, aloe vera, rainbow jelly, pudding and malt.

One of my favorite drinks has to be their Chatime Roasted Milk Tea (large is $4.70) with grass jelly. The drink itself is flavorful without being overwhelming strong. I often opt for the chewy tapioca balls, but I have come to like grass jelly quite a bit. I have been to both downtown locations, and I prefer the Annex one over the Dundas location. The one on Dundas (near Chinatown) is always bustling with customers, sometimes it's even through the door. The Annex location has much shorter lines, and the space has more seating.

For those who like collecting points and rewards cards; Chatime has their very own loyalty program. They have partnered up with Vicinity Rewards Program and you can pick up the card at any Chatime locations. For every drink that you purchase at a participating Chatime location, you would get 1 point. For every 10 points earned, you can redeem for one free regular sized drink with one complimentary topping.

I met up with a friend for dinner last week, and we ended up going to Chatime afterwards. The North York location looked a lot more hip compared to their downtown counterparts. Despite the cold weather, there were quite a few patrons sitting around and enjoying their drinks. Since that day was an extreme cold alert, I didn't want to drink anything cold. So I opted for the warm version of the Roasted Milk Tea (large is $4.70). The warm version was decent, but I prefer the one with ice a lot more.