Duff lines up a Gong Cha cup, a Mixue cup and a cup made at the warehouse, then hands all three to his daughter and her two friends. Nobody was told which cup was which. The verdicts came back fast, and they were not all kind.
In this video:
- Three cups tasted blind, side by side
- Honest calls on sweetness, tea flavour and pearl texture
- One tester who disliked both shop cups
What was in the taste test?
Three cups went on the bench. One from Gong Cha, one from Mixue, and one made in the warehouse kitchen with Sunwide ingredients. The two homemade builds are the ones we wrote up earlier, both of which came in at about $1.20 a cup:
- How to make brown sugar boba milk at home (Gong Cha dupe)
- How to make milk tea at home for $1.20 a cup (Mixue dupe)
The testers were Duff's daughter and two of her friends, picked for the job because, in his words, there is no one meaner than these three.
What did the testers actually say?
These are their words, straight off the video:
- "I think this one's a bit too sweet, but I like the pearls here."
- "To be honest, I think that one's more sweet than this one, but the pearls are more enjoyable. This one's a bit rubbery."
- "They taste the same, but these pearls are more chewy."
- "I like this one because it's more airy."
- "I dislike both of them."
- "If I had to choose one, it would probably be Sunwide."
- "I like the flavour, there's more tea in this one."
- "Those are really soft though. I don't like the soft ones, I like the chewier kind."
So, no clean sweep for anyone. One tester wrote off two of the cups entirely, and the sweetness comments cut in both directions.
Why did the pearls get more attention than the tea?
Read the quotes again and you will notice the tea barely rates a mention, while the pearls are described as chewy, rubbery, soft and enjoyable. That is the part most people actually judge a cup on, and it is also the part you control completely when you make it at home.
Texture comes down to how the pearls are cooked and how long they sit. Boil them for 20 minutes with 6 parts water to 1 part pearls, rest them covered for another 20, then use them while they are fresh. Cooked pearls firm up and go hard as they sit, which is where the rubbery call usually comes from.
Can I run the same taste test?
Yes, and it is a good way to work out what your own customers prefer before you change a recipe.
1. Buy one cup from a shop you want to compare against.
2. Make the same style of drink at home using one of the two recipes above.
3. Hide the cups. Pour into identical cups, or cover the branding, so nobody can tell which is which.
4. Ask about texture separately from flavour. Our testers had plenty to say once pearls and tea were treated as two different questions.
Where do I get the ingredients?
Both homemade cups use the same two staples, Tapioca Balls 3kg and Brown Sugar Syrup 2.5kg. We ship Australia wide from Melbourne and Sydney, and there is no minimum order.
