Purple Kow

Oh my god, why did I even convince myself to try this awful boba joint… again?! I first tried Purple Kow in SF — hated it. Tried it again in San Jose — still hated it. Yesterday, I was visiting Berkeley and this Purple Kow just so happened to be right next to a place I was eating at. My friend and I decided to give it a go.
I ordered a honey tea (80% sweetness) with green boba. According to the cashier, the green boba is «sweeter than regular boba and made with green tea.» Uhhh. It had the same texture as regular boba, but had absolutely NO taste to it at all (compared to regular honey boba). The honey tea tasted like water, I kid you not. I paid almost $ 5 for practically a cup of water with chewy things that tasted like nothing.
My friend ordered a milk tea drink and even hers tasted so off! It tasted like regular milk that you buy from the store. There is no tea essence in any of their drinks at all!
If Purple Kow wants to consider themselves a milk tea place, they may want to reconsider changing their recipes. This place is a serious waste of money. Gross gross gross!!!

really wanted to like this place but was disappointed. I ordered three drinks and all were average. the third drink, which was supposed to be mango was not the right drink. it was very bitter and had little flowers in it! it also had no sweetener when I asked for regular sweetness. spent a days worth of my tip money on it so pretty butthurt at how lame it was lol

We asked for no sugar and they gave us a very sugary drink and wouldn’t budge when we asked to remake it

The drink had way to much sugar and wasn’t made to how we requested. The boba places right around the area are much better

You can imagine my excitement when I found out that they were opening a location in Berkeley and didn’t have to trek all the way to SF.
I tried their signature ice milk since I like trying what they’re known for. It was definitely sweeter than I imagined and I should’ve gotten it with less sugar.
Location: Non-​existent parking. Being right in the heart of downtown it’s a great place to be for the business and for students walking by. However, if you’re driving in the area expect to find no place to park. Convenient that it’s right across from campus though.
Ambiance: Small shop but it’s cool that they have an upstairs.
Service: I’ve never had a bad experience with their staff. They’re always super friendly and are really quick with my order.
Overall it didn’t quite meet my expectations. I would come again just to try other drinks but I prefer other boba places in the area. Their chubby cups are a plus though since you get so much for what you pay.

I’m the Duke but never reviewed this place? Preposterous! Hands down one of the best boba places in the area (just my opinion). This doesn’t discredit other boba places but for me this is overall the best in the area.
Sharetea’s Peach Green tea is better than Purple Kow’s though.
Yes occasionally they mess up my order and forget to add boba but that’s okay.
Location isn’t optimal for non-​Berkelians.
06/​08/​2016
Green boba is now available! I asked the cashier girl what the difference is. She said it’s more colorful.

I LOVE LOVE BOBA so I have really high expectations for boba places. This place was… okay. It was definitely worth giving a try but not worth going back.
The pros of this place is that the cup is very big and they give you a lot of boba/​drink and it’s customizable as in ice/​sugar level etc. It also gives fresh fruit chunks in the fresh fruit teas. You can also get soy milk instead of regular milk and the customer service is very nice.
The cons are the taste of the tea. I recommend getting atleast 50% sugar when ordering because I know a lot of people opt for sugarless drinks in a lot of other boba places but this boba place is not the place to go sugarless. 0% sugar milk tea just taste like milk… with boba. It just taste nasty. Other than that, this place was pretty good.
I got the strawberry green tea and mango green tea with lychee jelly and tapioca. The lychee jelly is out of this world and I would get it again.
Overall, good place to get boba but not worth the hype of coming all the way to Berkeley to try. If you are in the area, it’s a great place to get boba.

My friends raved about Purple Kow but when I went there with two other friends, none of us liked what we got. The boba was standard, nothing special and more on the mushy side. Tea tasted stale.
I think it’s dependent on what you get but in my opinion a good boba shop should have every drink be a winner down pat.

I’ve been wanting to try this for an entire year! So glad I finally came. 5 stars for taste, customer service, and décor.
I got B1-​green milk tea with boba, non dairy creamer and 100% sugar. B1 without boba is 3.29, +0.50 for boba and with tax was 4.29. Their cups are HUGE and if he price was 3.79 that would be a steal. Even at 4.29 they give a lot of tea and boba for the price.
I appreciate the strong tea flavor and non dairy creamer option. They offer fresh milk too. I thought 100% would be very sweet since 100% is typically very sweet at other places. However, I didn’t think 100% was sweet enough and when I came back the cashier was sweet enough to adjust it for me!
I also went upstairs to the little loft area and it was
beautiful, peaceful, and quiet. A good place for studying or group projects. There were also these lights suspended from the ceiling surrounded by daisies.
I’m very impressed with the authenticity of the tea, the price, and the décor at Purple Kow! I’ll be back.
I’m impressed with t

So I’m going to still need to try Purple Kow out again… but a very kind Unilocal user pointed out that the D8 is only an iced milk drink, NOT a milk tea. Sorry my bad. So me not tasting any tea was truly because there was no tea in it! How crazy is that?!
Now i just feel silly. Overall, the D8 had some great chocolately flavors but was still much too sweet despite asking for 50% sweetness. In the future, I’ll actually get some tea so I can properly rate them.

Seems inconsistent, it tastes different each time I order here. I usually stick to a milk tea with regular sugar but during my most recent visit it tasted sugarless and too milky.

Probably out of all the boba places in Berkeley I’ve been to, this one has the best menu! It’s really well organized and easy to read. The numbers make sense which makes ordering easy. It’s simple to customize the amount of sugar you need, there’s different sizes in cups. I will admit it’s a little bit pricier than other places though. The customer service is on point! Very friendly people! I changed my order last minute and the cashier was very flexible. The boba is super chewy if you’re into that, however some people might find it a little too hard.
I’ve only had the D3 with 80% sugar and I will admit I have a sweet tooth and love the taste. If you’re looking for a stronger tea flavor, try one of their milk teas and avoid the «purplekow» milk teas (D section).

I like it! I come from the land of Half and Half in LA and this is the closest you get to it. It’s on the pricier side but still under $ 5 and I’m sure it’s because they have a larger cup.
If you can’t decide what to get like me, the D3 is a mishmash of yummy toppings [pudding, boba and caramel] + milk tea. I only got it at 25% sweetness and it was plenty sweet. We also got the popcorn chicken and it was a nice takeout size. For the popcorn chicken snobs, there’s chili powder for you to dress it. There’s limited seating in an upstairs loft and though the staff was friendly, the tables could use a bit of wiping every so often. Also, parking is street and limited.
Overall, coming back again!

Bubble tea was tasty. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long like the other reviews mentioned.
The nuggets and sweet potato fries were on point. Definitely a must if you visit!

Hands down still the best boba drinks I’ve ever had and I’ve had many. The quality and consistency just can’t be beat. There’s a reason why there’s always a line.
It does take a little longer than your average wait but that’s because they make each drink to order and not have everything in buckets pre-​made. Trust me, it’s worth the wait. You can taste the quality and care put into each drink.
I have way too many favorites but my current crush is roasted oolong milk tea with Tcho chocolate pudding.

D3– ice milk w/​boba, caramel and pudding/​half sugar/​less ice
Super insanely sweet, even at 50% sugar. Found this to be the sweet spot IMHO for this drink~

Long lines, but they’re pretty fast.
I got milk tea with boba and grass jelly, the toppings are already sweet so you can tone down the sweetness of the drink a bit. Their boba was cooked to perfection, chewy and bouncy! I’m interested in trying their milk drinks next time. I was impressed with the standard milk tea and boba.
A great boba spot in downtown!

Es un lugar agradable, mi bebida favorita es la B8 macha fresmilk tiene un sabor delicioso.

Got the standard black milk tea. The regular size is bigger than usual. Next time though, I want to try one of the fruit teas.
Pearls — pretty good. Chewy and soft.
Drink — on the watery side (none of the milky texture). Tea was over-​steeped — pretty dark /​tad bitter.

I’ve completed the circle!!! Tried all three locations hahahaha.
So this location isn’t the nicest out of the three but they’re definitely consistent with the drinks. D4 all the way!!! I was a little irked the drink took 20 mins but totally worth it.
Purple Kow still tops the best boba in my book.

D4 for the classic win at any Purple Kow chain! Now, that they have expanded in the Bay Area besides being solely located in SF, I can easily access it more. I’m so glad.
D4 is made up of fresh, shaken milk with a mix of grass jelly and boba, yum! The perfect blend.
If I opted for no sugar, then I wonder what full sugar load would be like. Hyper overload.
They offer fried side snacks. Seatings are upstairs.
The downside of this spot, however, is that they close way too early. Dropped by on a Sunday and they closed at 6:30pm. Maybe it is urban life because the one in SF doesn’t close until around midnight.
A good spot, nonetheless.