CHICHA San Chen Hornsby — Restaurant in Sydney

Tl;dr: I've never drank boba with tea as well crafted, freshly brewed, and expertly balanced as Chicha. It's the best boba in the world, cannot recommend more.

This is the best boba tea I've ever had, and I probably spend $1000 on milk tea a year. Boba is my favourite food but the comparison isn't even close. I commuted 90min for this and I'd do it again, if I had to swim across a half frozen lake for it I'd probably do that too. I am legitimately astounded anyone rated this place less than 5 stars: a Taiwan branch legitimately has a MICHELIN STAR and tea starts from $6, you ungrateful heathens.

The tea is freshly brewed INDIVIDUALLY for each drink, and the tea itself features prominently without being lost in dairy or sweetener. Tea gets the respect it deserves here, not just a stale batch in a vat, and I'll pay extra for that every day of the week. 6 variants of tea are there to choose from, all brewed differently and deliberately, and all with a different character. The service is excellent, cheerful, and attentive. I liked it so much I ordered 4 and finished them all. Detailed ratings (light sugar for each):

High Mountain Pouchong with Lemon: Refreshing, light, an unexpectedly beautiful pairing of a savoury tea with lemonade brightness. 10/10.

Pearl Black Tea with Cream: The boba shop gold standard in their recommended format, I preferred the subtler presence of fresh milk but still appreciate cream's confectionery appeal. Pearls were flawless: uniformly chewy, fresh and not clumped, and delightfully sweetened with a delicate brown sugar taste. 9/10.

Taro Paste with Fresh Milk: I've never liked taro milk tea; it tastes like a powder and the usual violent purple belongs in a tube. This taro was different: layered, kinda nutty, distinctly real, it let me finally see the appeal. Its freshly made each day, and totally redefines the drink. Not available without ice though, so I had to fish for the last (delicious) taro balls. 10/10.

Dong Ding Oolong Latte: The best. The. Best. Rich, woody tea flavour gorgeously blended with milk, once again featuring the only taro balls I've ever enjoyed in tea. Insane detail: they FLUFF the cold milk for better texture. This is how you earn a Michelin...

First time trying San Chen in Hornsby as I had been hearing about them for awhile and wanted to know the hype and also it was michelin starred! So of course I wanted to try and let's just say it certainly kept up to it's great standards! I would 100% recommend trying San Chen if you're near one.

The staff was super nice and even provided recommendations when asked. They recommended me the dong ding oolong tea with fresh milk. Now I am not normally one to enjoy fresh milk teas, but rather standard tea + cream milk teas, but the fresh milk was a super nice add to this dong ding oolong tea. I would highly recommend with the settings of perfect sugar, less ice + bubbles. The bubbles were soft but firm and chewy just to my liking. The bubbles were not hard or undercooked at all like some other places.

There is a large selection of teas besides the recommendations on their front door. You can order via kiosk or by the counter. They also have 3% cashback on shopback!

Most drinks are $7.70 and additional $1-$1.10 for toppings. You can only select one topping at the kiosk, so I think it'd be great if there was an option to choose more. However the drinks come in one size only, and one topping is actually enough as they are super generous with toppings too!

I went around 12pm on a Saturday and it wasn't super busy. But it did start getting busy around 12:30-1pm. The wait time is approximately 20 minutes, but it is so worth the wait!

I enjoyed my milk tea in the shop. It is super modern looking and very nicely decorated too. Super relaxing and overall very nice environment.

San Chen is located really close to Hornsby station, about a 2 min walk.

So make sure to come and try their milk teas if you're in the area. I 100%...

The latest boba (bubble tea) shop in Hornsby. The freshly pressed tea aroma greets you as you walk into the store. It is almost too sad there's no place to sit down and enjoy the tea scent in the air.

Between 5-6 people work behind the counter and it looked a bit overkill for a takeout bubble tea shop. However the system somehow doesn't seem to be working.

With only 3 people ahead me in line, I almost waited over 10 minutes to order and getting my drink took additional 15 minutes. I must say this was one of the better boba I habe ad, however not many people have the luxury of spending 30 minutes to get a tea to go especually during the lunch break. If I ever have a craving again, I will only attempt to set my foot in the store if there's no one in line.

Notes to the management: Get the digital ordering fixed urgently When there's long wait, maybe there should be two people taking the orders The person taking the order should not be the one to explain about the sample tea and pour it for every customer. 30 additional seconds spent with each customer adds up. Either there should be another person walking around with a tray of sample tea already poured into small cups and offer them while people are waiting in line, or simply place the tea dispenser and cups by the door with a label on what the tea is so whoever that wants to sample can try out. I was too carried away about waiting too long to determine what the other 4-5 employees assigned rolls were, but I am sure the process can be refined and the bubble tea can be pumped out much quicker if the management paid closer look at their agonisingly...