For those who do not already know, bubble tea is a special kind of tea/drink that has its origin from Taiwan. It is made with boba balls, which can also be called tapioca balls. The boba balls are kind of soft and chewy in nature. Now as a Nigerian local who has never been to Taiwan before, I obviously have never tried it before. However, I’ve had tapioca a number of times before. I have always fancied bubble tea but I never really knew where to get it because I obviously wasn’t going to Taiwan anytime soon and Nigeria is nowhere near Taiwan. Luckily for me there have been some improvements with different food franchises coming to Abuja. Restaurants now are more focused on bringing in something new/foreign to customers so there’s a lot of room to try out different cuisines other than what we are already used to here.

I have actually noticed a growing number of bubble tea vendors here in Abuja (which I’ll definitely be trying out soon). I decided to try tea charme first because I just kinda felt like it would be coming from an authentic Taiwanese source and not just someone trying to Mimic something they’ve had. Although it might actually be the case but I really don’t think so.

Tea charme is a cute little take out tea shop that not only sells bubble tea but also coffee, drinks and ice cream. As a take out spot, there is obviously no sitting area. I would have honestly preferred it if they had like a little space where you can sit and wait for your order most especially because of the sun. Your only options if you have to wait are; sitting in your car, standing for as long as it takes for your order to get ready or climbing up to the charme restaurant upstairs which in my opinion is not very wise because there’s no means of knowing if your order is ready.

Their menu is quite big for a small take out shop, but I love the fact that it gives you a variety of options including non-dairy options.

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What does bubble tea taste like?

Well, to answer the question we’ve all been dying to know, It tastes like a nice milkshake with boba in it. I ordered the medium sized chocolate dirty tea (because when I’m not sure I go with the safest, most delicious option – CHOCOLATE!) It cost NGN2,300. I initially wanted to order the milk bubble it but someone said it wasn’t rich and creamy enough.

The chocolate dirty tea was honestly delicious! I wanted to finish it in a single sip. It was very rich and creamy. I got carried away sipping and forgot about the boba at the bottom of the cup so when a single bubble slipped into my mouth I almost screamed that there was a giant bug in my tea but the it was chewy so I immediately remembered what I was having. The boba at the bottom if the tea were not too soft and sticky neither were they hard to chew. I must add though, that I do not think the boba adds any special kind of flavour to the tea. I think its just there for chewy purposes.

I definitely loved it, and I can’t wait to try out more flavours and most probably more vendors too.