CUPP Bubble Tea - Harrow — Restaurant in London

I went to Cupp Harrow once or twice when it had only just opened and at the time I had lovely experiences, however their menu has become a lot more complicated since, and on my last visit, whatever I tried to order I was told that no, they couldn't make it or go off menu.

I wasn't asking for anything unreasonable: the first thing I asked for was plain green tea, which many bubble tea shops sell under the heading of "Fresh tea". I was told no, if I wanted plain tea I had to have it as a hot drink. Even though they have big vats of green tea, which they use as the base for all their other drinks. This was strike one.

I then asked for a fruit tea, and I asked for cream crown as a topping. They have like 3-4 different flavours of cream crown, I picked one and after I asked for this the server said the till was not allowing him to add the cream crown. Adding cream crown as a topping is a standard in most bubble tea shops and it was listed right there as a possible topping so why can't I add it? This was strike 2.

I was told by the server if I wanted a drink with a cream crown I would have to pick from the specific cream crown menu. Except all the drinks on that menu are milky ones. This doesn't cater to people who prefer plain or fruit teas! Nevertheless, I picked from that menu and was told those drinks only came in a large size. So I had to pay £6.70 for a disappointing drink, where I couldn't even add some jelly or similar because of how much the drink was already costing.

Absolutely horrible experience and I will never go again when I'm in this area.

Edited to say: I reached out to Cupp as per their response to my review, and my email was ignored. It's been well over a week. I get the impression that they do this to all negative reviews to give the impression of a company who care about putting things right but they don't actually take any action about the emails they receive.

Edited again: still no reply from Cupp it has now been 3 weeks...

Edit - I had a great experience last time, that i visited again today. I was served by the store manager, who made sure to let me know that. I asked for the same drink last time, I liked it so wanted it again and had no issues before. She said they aren't allowed to make me a drink with one shot of coffee instead of 2. I explained that Umar made it last time for me, as per my request. She said "he's new, he doesn't know." I said I couldn't drink that much coffee and left it. I don't like how she tried to make the staff member with the most common sense and willingness to make customers happy sound like he did wrong by giving me one shot instead of 2, lol. If anything, she made herself look more ridiculous. A store manager HOW? She lost a sale. Surely taking away a shot as per a customers request is fine, I wasn't asking for more. Very odd, won't be back because she wasn't very nice or efficient. 1/5 for store manager 5/5 for the "new" staff who "don't know"

Original review - I've been to cupp before and love their teas, however it has been a long time since and the menu is huge now. I had an offer to try something from their "barista" menu of teas and coffee. I had a few questions and uncertainty, but Umar was very patient and explained things well. He was very helpful and didn't rush me, the staff in this store are really great and an asset to the store. The drink he suggested was lovely, I asked for one shot of coffee instead of 2 and he accommodated my request. I would definitely visit and...

3⭐ – Sweet boba, bittersweet experience

Ordered their best Brown Sugar Milk Tea and requested it with soy milk (lactose isn't my friend!). Unfortunately, it came loaded with double cream instead. When I flagged it, the staff were apologetic and quickly asked if I had a milk allergy – I appreciated the concern.

What followed was a bit of a plot twist: a lovely staff member tried to defend the mistake by pointing out an asterisk on the menu about milk – fair enough, but the asterisk wasn't even next to the drink I ordered. Bit confusing!

I offered to pay for both drinks because mistakes happen, and I wasn’t looking to cause trouble. She kindly offered a discount instead – sweet gesture. But the remake was… well, it missed the mark. I got soy milk with boba and a generous pour of brown sugar syrup that wasn’t mixed in. Not the creamy, rich flavor bomb I was hoping for.

That said – and the reason this isn’t a 1-star rate– the boba was excellent. Soft, chewy, and full of flavor. So props where they’re due.

Would I give it another shot? Maybe. But next time, I’ll double-check the asterisks and ask for a stirrer just in case😜. Not in this...