Superbolt Lab Matcha Tea Vancouver — Restaurant in Vancouver

SUPERBOLT is a highly-curated space that brings a contemporary perspective to the tea experience. You could tell that a lot of thought and detail was put into the launch of this business, from the menu, to the branding, all the way down to the lights and decorative coffee table books. While the marketing geek in me can pop off for hours on this, I break down my review by Atmosphere, Service, and Food below.

[atmosphere] My friend and I went on a very rainy day a month after they opened, and it was busy enough where we had to wait about 3-5 minutes in order to grab an open seat to enjoy a quick chat (it’s a relatively small space meant more to be a grab-and-go setting for now, as there’s also construction out front. not sure if this will change). As we sat, the store had a steady flow of customers despite the rain, which was very impressive to see.

[service] When was the last time your barista double-checked how to spell your name with you while placing an order? When Johnny took our orders, he made it a point to clarify the spelling of our names which was SO appreciated. This type of care and consideration was a consistent theme throughout our time at Superbolt - when my friend and I took mirror selfies across their matcha bar, literally 5 of their staff members silently moved away from the background so we could get a pristine selfie together (and we didn’t even ask! such a sweet gesture).

We also received a sample of their original hero product, a Performance Tea blend that is meant to improve focus, offer an energy boost, and support overall immune support to try (which, I will say, is something a lot of other teas can help with if you know where to look). I haven’t tasted the tea just yet, but I will say that the core benefits of improved performance and endurance ties very well with their street/sportswear-esque branding.

[Matcha] We ordered the sakura matcha iced latte and we will say - the first sip did catch us by surprise. Despite ordering a cow’s milk base (i believe you could choose between cow, oat, and almond milk for the same base cost), our first sip had a nuttiness to it that we couldn’t really place where it came from (possibly the sakura foam). The matcha itself was rich in colour but a little lighter on flavour, so this would be a good entry point for people who had previously tried matcha but thought it tastes like grass. Despite the surprised nuttiness, it was a well-balanced matcha latte, and the staff is very attentive to beverage personalizations so I’d be curious to know if I’d be able to get a stronger matcha flavour the next time I go.

Overall, it was a tasty drink and I would love to go back to try their other beverages - their coconut cold foam matcha is something i have my eyes on for next time!

— Taking all factors into consideration, this was a very fun experience that was worth the hype. Although their branded approach to matcha goes against the grain, I would say this was a very enjoyable matcha experience unlike any other I’ve felt in life - very LA, yet very Vancouver, all done with a respectful nod to...

I posted my personal opinion and review on my own public social media page, and I gave superbolt a 5/10. I believe the owner or another employee commented from the business account. They were condescending, saying I only like sweet and artificially flavoured matcha, they bashed me for rating another local cafe higher than them, and continued to blame me for choosing the wrong type of drink. Now, I only gave them a 5/10. That’s 50%, meaning I could’ve EASILY been persuaded to try them again and give a higher rating next time. They could’ve recommended me a different drink, or invited me to return. But their ignorant response changed my mind, and I will no longer be retrying them. I wasn’t going to write a public review until they bashed my personal opinion under my own page, where I am free to share my opinion based on MY experience. The mango matcha was bland, with no mango flavour. They blamed ME for this as I chose their Tokyo style over the LA style matcha, (something the employee did not explain to me in a clear or understandable way). Like I said, they easily could’ve invited me to come back and try it again with the LA style, and I would’ve. Their comment could’ve politely explained the difference, instead of making it sound like it should’ve been obvious to the customer despite it not being common practice. Regardless of which style I chose, I should still be able to taste at least a hint of mango in my MANGO flavoured drink. But they will probably just blame me for liking “artificial flavours” based off of their assumptions. If this small business who relies on locals continues to treat everyone with an opinion like this, especially publicly for all to see, they will begin to lose support. The drink WAS NOT BAD. If I was rating just on the drink alone, I’d give them a 3, with the potential for a higher rating had I of gone back and tried something different. Sad to see a small local business with lots of potential, tarnish their reputation by taking an average/mid review as a...

I’ve been here twice now and honestly have been kinda disappointed both times. The first time the vibes in the cafe were nice, people were friendly and welcoming, but it was the drink I wasn’t super impressed with- tried the Tokyo style strawberry matcha, and thought maybe I should’ve tried the LA style for more of a strawberry flavour/sweetness. So I went today again to give it another go, and honestly idk if it was just a weird circumstance but it took like 15 minutes for anyone to acknowledge our existence in the store, and the employees were pretty much ignoring us because there were these other customers in there that had spent a lot of $$ or something? We started to order, but then these other customers would ask a question, and we would just be completely ignored again lol. Was just super weird, also considering there were like 5 people working and not one of them tried to engage with us while we waited. Weird vibes aside, we got strawberry matchas and they were okay- not sweet enough for my taste (almost had like a sour/tart aftertaste or something?), and my bf and I got the two different styles of strawberry matcha and we couldn’t tell a difference...