Chicha San Chen draws praise for tea-first quality with fresh brewing done per order, resulting in strong, authentic flavors and chewy pearls. Many reviewers rate it among the best bubble tea spots in Montreal, with favorites like taro, green tea, oolong, and osmanthus honey and the option to build your own drink with the base tea, dairy, sweetness, and ice levels. The setting is small and often lacks seating, and lines or wait times can be a factor, with price cited as high by some. Service is described as friendly and helpful by many, though a few notes mention occasional impatience at the register or language miscommunications. Overall drinks are praised for real tea, fresh ingredients, and a sophisticated preparation that sets it apart from powdery bubbles, and numerous reviews call it a premier destination for bubble tea in the city, sometimes noting awards and authenticity.
This famous bubble tea shop lives up to the expectation! All their tea is made fresh using their sleek teaspresso machine. I really enjoyed my dong ding oolong tea with fresh milk. I chose 30% sugar, & it still had a nice bit of sweetness paired with a refreshing, toasty aroma. A consistent spot for tasty tea in Chinatown!
I've tasted almost every bubble tea spot in montreal & I can tell you this place is just on another level. The bubble teas are so savoury, it's incredibly fresh in flavour, & the tea itself tastes so authentic! I love this place so much, & I return every now & then when I can!
Jan 24, 2026
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The service is extremely poor. If possible, I don't even want to give a heart.
Before ordering, my friend asked the waiter if the taro ball were made of fresh taro. She didn't know but said yes & after I told my partner that it was not made of fresh taro, she took out a box full of taro balls & showed it to us?In fact, what she needed was taro puree?So she reconsidered what to order. I thought she was Chinese, so I was afraid that she would misunderstand me & explain it to my partner. I described it in Chinese, but she didn't understand, but their attitude was obviously strongly impatient & urgent after I talked to them in Chinese (but there was no one in the store at this moment). After I read the menu carefully, I found that there was taro puree that my partner needed. I wanted to confirm with them. As a result, another waiter who made tea talked to me directly. If you need to order, wait for a while, in a very uncomfortable & impatient tone. Finally, about the tea, my partner said less ice, but it turned out to be a full cup of ice. I even suspect that it was intentional. Even if such a milk tea shop is opened in Taiwan, as a compatriot, I will not go there again.
This is the best place to get tea or milk tea. They've won awards in Taiwan!
I personally enjoy the green tea & oolong tea. You can build your own drink with $5.95CAD as the base. I recommend adding fresh milk &/or boba. There's only one size.
I passed by twice during the week & there was no line. Finally when I was here on a Sunday, there was a line out the door. They need AC inside!! It was so hot.
There is no seating inside. It's quite tight inside, barely enough room for a line & a pick up area. There are a couple tables outside under the shade.
Apple Pay/credit card accepted
No bathroom
No WiFi
Love the green tea honey or osmanthus honey here. The tea is really flavourful. I think because the tea is freshly brewed per order they keep the size standard. The only thing I wish would be for them to have a bigger size offering but maybe I'm just greedy. Would recommend.
If you're looking for an authentic bubble tea place, this is definitely your go-to place. This bubble tea shop is underrated deserves more attention & popularity. The tea is brewed freshly from tea leaves, the bubbles are freshly cooked & thus they are soft & chewy. This makes best bubble tea you can order, contrary to those powdery bubble teas from elsewhere. Very friend staff.
Ayy it's the tasty boba place known for making tasty boba.
First time trying it but it was pretty tasty as expected. The focus on the tea as well as the different method of fresh preparation made it taste better in my opinion.
Overall pretty good!
Jun 30, 2025
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This is the best & most fresh bubble tea I've ever had! They brewed the tea right there in front of you. We got the Taro King & Green Passionfruit tea with coconut jelly. Both drinks had bits of real fruit in there. The green tea one had passionfruit in it & the taro king had fresh taro paste in it. So delicious!
The tea series are unique with 3 black teas & 3 green teas. The fruit teas are really good as well. The taro series are the special one because they use the fresh taro base & taro ball
Had really strong taste of tea unlike most boba places, asked for no ice & the drink came warm (but it's fine, didn't really know what to expect). Tapioca was very good & seemed fresh! $9+ for a small size was kinda rough but would probably come back to try something else
Mar 28, 2025
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I ordered 2 custom drinks with the base Ding Dong Oolong tea+ Fresh milk, no ice & sugar level perfect .. as I walked out the door I looked at the drinks & noticed that the drinks had only tea in it & no milk. I went back & ask politely to add some milk in the drinks. The employee responded to me that they couldn't do it because when they asked me if I wanted any flavors I said no . Well I understand that it can be flavor but don't put + fresh milk in the title of the base then ! So I insisted & they finally did it ... went home took a sip & what a deception ! No sugar whatsoever , the tea flavor tasted old & & too much milky. Also no phone number to be found to call back Always been satisfied until today....
This chain is always super busy in Toronto so was surprised that there was only one customer in front of us on a Sunday afternoon. Got the black cassis milk tea & it was very good! They brew the tea fresh & have all the tea leaves displayed so you can smell them. Services was friendly & quick. Will come back & try their green tea!
Nov 3, 2024
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Although the tea is freshly brewed. The wait time is too long. There's nobody before us but we still waited like 10 mins. It's so slow I don't understand.
I had the taro king with green tea & honey osmanthus oolong with crystal boba. Liked the green tea but the boba was hard & taro a bit chunky still. It was hard to get through the straw. The osmanthus oolong tea flavor was masked by the crystal boba so didn't really get much tea flavor there. It is pricey & took awhile to come out as they brew the tea fresh & there were a couple of people ahead of me. Definitely don't recommend if you're in a rush. The shop is very small & it gets warm in there. Presentation is very cute. I'd probably come back for a different green tea but really wish the boba wasn't hard.
the bubble tea here is brewed with fresh tea, as I entered the small shop you could smell the freshness of the tea, the bubbles were flavorful & not too soggy, had the honey osmanthus oolong tea with bubble, was very fresh will come back to try more flavors next time :)
If you like bubble tea this is definitely one of the best places to get one! On the smaller size so it's only really for takeout, tea is made fresh on the spot with their fancy machine, really cute packaging. Definitely worth a quick stop by!
That was one of the best & most intricate cup of bubble tea I have ever had. Had the regular bubble tea, but it was not plain. Cold flavorful tea, warm soft sweet tapioca. Very creamy the tea was very fresh. The cup was beautiful. The tea pourers very professional. Thank you! The only thing is the shop decor isn't cute & it's very small & the corner noisy.
