魚池貳壹-西門店 — Restaurant in Taipei

From the “bubble tea” and touristy appearance of this shop, I wasn’t expecting its pure teas to be good, but it’s in the neighbourhood and my partner bought his daily litre of 0% sugar tea from here several times so I decided to give it a chance.

Verdict: This place is an absolute hidden gem for pure tea connoisseurs – if you adjust your expectations for the fact that you're not on a tea farm paying premium prices, but just want solid delicious tea from an accessible and affordable joint.

PURE TEAS 纯茶（无糖、无奶、无珍珠加料）===

21 Black Tea: 5 stars They call this their 渔池 signature black tea, and I can see why. At 55/65 NTD, it's double the price of their other offerings but I think it's worth it. It's a delicious, balanced, subtly honey-sweet brew with no astringency. The flavours are not as strong or distinct as their #18 so beginners might not appreciate.

金萱: 4.25 stars Naturally sweet Jin Xuan with decent complexity of flavour. Surprisingly good

鹿谷乌龙: 4.25 stars A lovely roasted oxidised oolong. Reminds me of a charcoal-roasted Tieguanyin or a more flavourful version of Dong Ding. Strong flavour pairs great with food.

18 Black Tea: 3.75 stars Beginner-friendly #18. Strong notes of red dates and medium astringency. This is not the premium #18 I fell in love with, but it's still better than the generic Assam black teas most bubble tea shops serve. At 30/35 NTD, this is great...

Took some time to choose because the TV screen with the English menu was flashing too quickly

They also had printed menus with tiny English words (maybe font size 4) that were in a faded light colour that I couldn't see properly so it gave me a headache trying to read it

After trying for a few minutes to read the above, I gave up and started looking around the posters on the wall and spotted a mango pearl milk tea that looked good... except that I cross-checked the printed menu and it had a sticker pasted over it (cancelling it out) so I went to ask if it was still available.

Counter staff said no, it's not mango season and it's stated in front of the store. I'm sorry, but it isn't stated in front of the store as far as I can see. I'm obviously struggling to read and you should be more patient with tourists.

The tea was ok (3 stars) but the ordering experience (1 star) left a sour taste in my mouth. So two...

Type of restaurant: Drinks stall

Overall (5/5): Nice boba stall with flavoured boba, if you like flavoured boba, should give it a try.

Food (5/5): Their specialty seems to be the flavoured boba, which didn't disappoint. I ordered the Matcha flavoured boba with milk tea. While i guess it didnt match well, the matcha flavoured boba was tasty. There are other boba flavours like mango and brown sugar.

Service (5/5): Drinks came rather promptly. Not crowded on Sunday night.

Value (4/5): Decently priced (NT60 for large drink).

Others: Will be back to try other...