Bubblebase

I came here today after doing some Christmas shopping really looking forward to some bubble tea but unfortunately I was pretty disappointed this time. If this was my first and only time visiting, I would probably give 2 stars. However, because I know they’ve been great in the past I know they can improve from this.
~ Drinks:
The drinks were still fine. I decided to break from my usual flavours and because it was Christmas, I went for a Gingerbread Milk Tea sans pearls, and it was very nice.
~ Customer Service:
The main downside here. Everyone was really friendly, but had no organisation or management skills. Not only did the cashier get my partner’s drink order wrong, but the drinks came really slowly. For just a few drinks, it literally took 10 minutes, and that’s not counting the wait for someone to come to the register and take our order.
Upon closer inspection, it was 1 guy doing everything from making the drinks to dealing with the huge queue of customers. The other 2 employees there were busy chatting and organising /​cleaning the station. Okay yeah I recognise that things need to be washed and cleaned, but when there’s a LOAD of customers waiting for orders to be taken shouldn’t the list of priorities change? My entire family runs on hospitality and normally the list of tasks changes depending on the situation.
If there’s a long queue of customers both at the register and waiting for their drinks, washing spoons isn’t a f*cking priority, is it?
—
Sorry for the angry rant but I’m really hoping this is an isolated incident so I can give Bubble Base their 4^th star back. I had a look at the other customers waiting and we were all visibly annoyed; employees didn’t really seem to care.

A drinks stand located in the middle of Queens arcade near to the Animal and F. Hinds shop (closest to the New Look Queens Arcade entrance from Queen Street).
The ‘milk tea’ drinks are a weak, watery mixture made with powder. The boba (or tapioca pearls as they called them here) were slightly overcooked — a bit too squishy and lacked the gummy, chewy texture.
Nothing at all like the bubble tea found in London or Manchester but I went in with an open mind to the first dedicated boba place in Cardiff. I have yet to try the coffee drinks here but I heard they’re better. I got the banana milk tea (£3) with tapioca pearls. I will likely not be getting this one again, despite the server recommending this flavour to me.
Overall, I will be avoiding the milk tea drinks. I haven’t sampled everything on the menu, such as the coffees or the frozen yoghurt yet. I’m willing to give the other things a try whilst living in the hope that a good bubble tea place will open up in Cardiff soon!
EDIT 12^th October 2013:
Following Bubblebase’s appearance at Cardiff University’s Freshers Fayre and handing out coupons, I decided to give them another try.
They managed to redeem themselves! I am still not likely to try another milk tea (for fear of that watery powdered mixture), however their Fruit Teas are MUCH better (and made with syrup). They’re actually flavourfully fruity and complement their «pobbles» — popping boba with sweet juice inside.
Their «Yogies» — yoghurt smoothies — are also pretty good. I chose the Oreo Crush — very filling and quite sweet but still maintained the tartness of the fro-​yo. It had the kind of sour aftertaste I’ve only experienced with frozen yoghurt in the UK (like brands such as Yoo Moo) but this isn’t necessarily unpleasant.
I also tried their Japanese Roasted Sencha, but added their regular boba. The sencha is a hot drink but I insisted that I wanted boba added despite the trepidation of the staff (in October it can get exceedingly wet and miserably cold in Wales! It wouldn’t have been the first time I had warm boba anyways)
The roasted sencha flavour was very good, but left a sort of layer on the tongue. I am not sure whether this was due to the added boba; made even more squishy by the hot drink.
The bigger problem was that as they don’t usually get orders like this, their hot drinks cups were too small to accommodate boba as well as the drink and they had to put my drink in a regular plastic cup. The friendly staff did their best to put a paper cup holder around it to stop me from burning my hand. Unfortunately this did nothing for the slightly melty cup. It held up — it was just a bit soft and made me worry about the leeching plastic. (EDIT– after talking to one of the staff he said he only put it in the plastic cup so that I would be able to get a lid on my drink, very thoughtful! So next time I’ll just ask for the regular hot drinks cup with no lid :))
Verdict: You can get a good drink here. The lychee fruit tea and passion fruit popping boba is a good (and popular) combo. The Japanese roasted sencha has become a favourite of mine.
I will be back again for the rest of the menu. (Possibly even a milk tea.)