Find the Best Bubble Tea in Greenville

Where do you go for great bubble tea in Greenville, SC? Our writer, Kristina, goes on a mission to find the best bubble tea in Greenville, SC. Here’s what she found!

I was on a media trip with my kids, writing about another city and things to do there, and kept passing bubble tea shops. I was intrigued. What was this concoction? So I decided to try it out, asking the employees what it was and which one to order. I ended up with a Taro tea and popping strawberry bubbles.

Oh my gosh. This thing called bubble tea was amazing. I was hooked. So when I got back to Greenville, I was determined to find the best bubble tea. Greenville, SC has to have some pretty good bubble tea, right? I searched so I could experience it whenever I wanted right at home. So that’s what I did. And, now you can enjoy amazing bubble tea, too!

What is Bubble Tea?

Bubble tea, sometimes called Boba Tea, is tea mixed with milk or sometimes fruit and topped with tapioca pearls. These are usually chewy or can be filled with a fruit juice concotion so they pop when you eat them. The drink is of Tiawainese origin and was invented in the 1980s in Taichung.

Bubble tea isn’t the same everywhere and if you go to any bubble tea shop, there is a massive number of combinations you can choose, which is why I need to give credit to every place I tried because they were all so nice and patient. All the employees helped me out to choose the best bubble tea for myself and my tastes.

Bubble Tea Greenville, SC Tour

I went to Kung Fu Tea, Cosmic Rabbits Tea Company, Asia Pacific, O-CHA Tea Bar, and Ding Tea, all in Greenville. I also tried out the make-your-own bubble tea packets from Trader Joes. Here are my reviews of each one.

Kung Fu Tea

Kung Fu Tea has an extensive menu with both caffeinated and decaf teas, milk teas, slushies, milk caps, milk strikes, and seasonal specials. It’s overwhelming but the staff can help you out. I got a Taro Milk Tea with strawberry bubbles and low sugar level. I really appreciated that you could choose the sugar level here because I prefer usually to eat my calories and not drink them. This tea was awesome. It was so flavorful and I had to stop myself from drinking it all within a few minutes. I loved the texture of the bubbles (it’s a thing I like about bubble tea in general).

My rating: 5/5

581 Haywood Road, Greenville
233 N. Main Street, Suite II Greenville (this location is not open yet as of this writing)
Kung Fu Tea Website

Ding Tea

Ding Tea has an enormous menu, offering everything from milk tea to fruit juice to yogurt to coffee. Again, pretty overwhelming for a new bubble tea drinker like myself but the staff here were so patient and helpful. I told them what I like and they pointed me in the right direction. I got a Taro Boba Green Milk Tea and it was delicious. This was another place where you could pick your sugar level, which I appreciated.

My rating: 5/5

30 Orchard Park Dr Suite 20, Greenville
Ding Tea Website

O-CHA Tea Bar

O-CHA Tea Bar is right along the Reedy River, an ideal location for picking up a bubble tea and walking in Falls Park, which is exactly what my daughter and I did after visiting here. My daughter got a Strawberry Milk Tea and I got the Taro Tea (you can tell by now this is my favorite tea). Both were really good but very sweet. You can’t choose the sweetness level at O-CHA Tea Bar but it was still good. You can also get sandwiches and pastries here.

My rating: 3.5/5

300 River St #122, Greenville
O-CHA Te Bar Website

Asia Pacific Supermarket

Asia Pacific is a huge Asian supermarket that I love shopping at but they also have a restaurant in the back with authentic Chinese cuisine. I have a list of things I want to order here but haven’t got to yet. But I did try the bubble tea and it was awesome. They have several different kinds of tea here and what I liked most was that they gave you a sample before you bought anything. Of course, I went with the Taro because by now, I knew this was my favorite. I can’t remember the other kind of tea I sampled but the Taro won out. I do want to try their Lavender Milk Tea next time. There’s no option to adjust the sweetness level here.

My rating: 4/5

420 N Pleasantburg Drive, Greenville
Asia Pacific Supermarket Website

Cosmic Rabbits Tea Co.

Cosmic Rabbits Tea Co. is a beautiful shop right in downtown Greenville where you can get really whatever you want when it comes to tea, both in-store and at the counter. Their bubble teas are green tea based. Cosmic Rabbits describes their bubble tea as a “creamy dessert beverage with a chewy topping at bottom” so yeah, not an everyday thing if you’re trying to stay away from the sugar, but oh-so-good. They have a lot of options for the bubbles, including the popping ones. The staff can help you choose the best option if you tell them what you’re looking for. My daughter and I got a Strawberry Milk Tea and Taro Tea.

My rating: 3.5/5

131 E McBee Ave., Greenville
Cosmic Rabbits Tea Co. Website

Trader Joe’s

I wasn’t sure if I needed to include this but here we are. I had heard about the boba tea kit on some online forum so I figured I would test it out and found it easily at the Trader Joe’s in Greenville. It’s $5.49 for the Instant Boba Kit, which is about what one glass of Bubble Tea costs anywhere else, and includes four packets of brown sugar tapioca balls and four straws. You just heat up the packets for a few seconds in the microwave and pour them into a glass of cold milk or tea or other beverage of your choice. I was pleasantly surprised by how good these were and how easy they were to make! I’d get them again.

My rating: 3/5

59 Woodruff Industrial Ln, Greenville
Trader Joe’s Greenville Website

Where is your favorite place to get bubble tea in Greenville?

Check out Big Ben’s Desserts for a Slice of Something Delicious in Spartanburg, SC