Chatime

Had the most expensive and horrible mocha latte in my life. The latte was blend and even though I ordered the less sugar it was still too sweet. Just milk and light mocha taste but super sweet water mixture. So disappointed with this £3.95 mocha latte with red bean.

People of Edinburgh, I hope this isn’t your only bubble tea option. I was let down.
The taste was totally ok, but the pricing and general options were the big disappointment. A bubble tea place that charges for boba? Seriously? Most all other spots give you either tapioca boba standard or one choice of boba standard. Obviously extras cost extra, but Chatime charges for anything — which seems to kind of defeat the point of calling yourself a bubble tea shop. The pricing is also rather ridiculous. I would’ve found it expensive in London. But I was in Edinburgh where I’m always happy for the slightly lower cost of things. Highly doubt I’ll be going back here on my next visit. The lychee green tea was fine enough, but not worth the kajillion pennies it cost me. :/

Every time I passed by here, this will reminds me of hometown. I was always disappointed that after every tiring and exhausted shopping for a whole day or half day, I can’t find a place to have some milk tea, which was a thing I always do when I was in Shanghai. The only drink you would be able to find are coffee or cold drink… so I was absolutely very happy to spot this small but lovely shop on my way home!
I can tell the taste was almost as same as I had before when I was in China. You’ll be allowed to choose how much sugar and ice you’d like. For me, standard sugar was a bit sweet, so perhaps less sugar (75% sweet) would be better. Hot milk tea is 25p more expensive, but totally worth it for winter.
The price was absolutely too expensive, considering I had milk tea with tapioca pearl for only 50−60p back in Shanghai. But honestly I can’t ask for more here — considering all the ingredients might be imported. 3 – 4 pounds for milk tea and tapioca is fair enough.

I wanted to love this place more than I did. I’ve had bubble tea in Asia before and took a special detour to try it.
The person serving was sat on her phone when I came in and wasn’t that helpful when I asked questions on the different options available. The menu is quite large with most things available hot, cold or iced. Then you have the choice to add pearls etc, how much sugar you want to add and how much ice you want. There is such a lot of choice that I wanted some help with the options.
I don’t normally have sugar in tea but I do in chai so I went for the lowest level of sugar and still found it too sweet for me.
There is some seating by the window on bar stools and a larger area at the back of the store but it only has one sofa and one other seat so it’s there isn’t much seating. They advertise free wifi but I couldn’t get connected to it.
I’ll probably come back on a rare sunny Edinburgh day and get bubble tea to go sit in the sun and pretend I’m on holiday but I don’t think I’ll be here regularly.

Chatime is going to become a *its really too expensive but I’m going to get bubble tea there anyway* treat.
As other Unilocalers have said there is a wide choice of bubbles, tea, sweetness and queue size (I think my long queue size maybe had something to do with the fringe being on* — pats chin)
Warning the large is LARGE, and if I was not so greedy would be deemed «sharing size»
Downsides, I got charged 7p for sugar?! Next time I will just cary it home and use my own sweet sweet free sugar.
OH and cash only!
*it most definitely had something to do with it.

I just got back from Asia where I had been indulging in Chatime’s milk teas on what was almost a daily basis. Chatime is known for offering authentic Taiwanese bubble tea, a hot or cold beverage tea-​based beverage which is usually sweet and super fun to drink thanks to the bubbles which wizz up your straw. I was amazed to see that a new branch had been opened in Edinburgh. And right in the historic heart of the city, close to the castle, Waverly station and the Royal Mile.
So far I have been relatively conservative, going for the original milk tea or the jasmine green tea with black tapioca pearls. I like that you can choose your ice level and the sweetness. Slight sugar is perfect for me though I can imagine full sugar is quite syrupy. The tea is served in super-​hygienic plastic glasses which are machine-​sealed after the cha has been made. Inevitably, the bubble tea is far superior to those found in Frisky.
Great addition to Edinburgh’s diverse foodie scene.

Chatime is a very popular chain of bubble tea (aka boba) found throughout the streets of Taiwan. Since its opening, this shop has been filled with people every time I walk by it (I do work just around the corner). You can customize the amount of sugar and ice in your drinks, and as a bubble tea shop, it is perhaps one of be best you can find in Edinburgh.
Definitely a place my friends and I frequent. A bit expensive to go too much, but well worth it if you like bubble tea.

I’m so happy this is here! Yippee! Good bubble tea in Edinburgh!
Having travelled around Asia and Australia, i’m familiar with the Chatime brand; it’s ubiquitous. it’s everywhere. it’s pretty damn delicious. and now we have one smack BANG in the middle of central Edinburgh!
The menu is HUGE guys — be prepared to be overwhelmed. It’s first broken down into milk tea’s, fruit tea’s, non milk tea’s, tea lattes etc. Then you have the option of choosing either hot or iced, and your size of choice. add any extra toppings such as Boba, red bean (!!!), grass jelly or other delicious things for an extra 50p!
The best part of this for me is that they haven’t ‘Westernised’ the menu in any way; everything present in the Asian stores is here, including Taro Milk, Matcha milk tea, Red bean and coconut jelly. What’s more, they also kept the option to let you customise your sweetness level — something that most other bubble tea stores in the UK don’t offer. madness! Thank you for keeping this Chatime!
Not quite 5 stars because, alas, this place ain’t cheap. I had a delicious regular iced milk tea with red bean, only slightly sweetened, and it came to £3.50. It was a generous portion, but I reckon this will be an occasional treat rather than a daily bank balance crippling indulgence!