Trader Joe's Black Tea and Boba Coconut Non-dairy Frozen Dessert with Tapioca Pearls

Yes, I still go to Trader Joe's. A lot. I mostly buy the same things over and over again but y'know, TJ's is ever on-trend and is capitalizing on the hallyu wave and other cool Asian things. So here we are at the inevitable - brown sugar boba ice cream. Except it's not labeled as such because TJ's is trying not to ascribe to labels anymore because labels are bad. Well bad when it encourages racism and prejudice and limits people to a label. And bad if the product name can't fit on the product label. But instead, TJ's takes great effort to be conscientious, ethically/environmentally conscious, healthy-presenting, and inclusive. 

Cute packaging design. Subtle but not subtle with the tea leaves, tapioca pearls, and starbursts of joy! Because that's what bubble tea is about. Refreshing sweetness that you can sip through a straw and chew on while you count your blessings, obviously. 

I realize that there are parts of the United States where boba is still not mainstream. But when there's non-Asian companies making at-home boba kits and marketing it as a cool thing...perhaps middle America is changing. The brown sugar swirl though is not a new thing - it's been around and is quite popular all over Asia. But I guess giving this product the precise label of it being a brown sugar boba, tea implied, requires a better baseline understanding of what boba is so I guess they've left it out of the product name purposely for simplicity's sake.

As a future [LICENSED INDEPENDENT PRACTITIONER WHAT], here's my health interpretation disclaimer: omai that's too much sugar. It's not rocket science to conclude that this is not meant to be a health food. But 30g of added sugar is a lot y'all.  Does this mean that I'm not young anymore? I'm less and less interested in sweets, and I down my hot water like an Asian auntie. But whatever, sweets in moderation never hurt anyone, unless you are an underlying health condition. It's coconut milk based, so I suppose that it means that it's non-dairy and vegan as well. But there's a lot of glucose syrup and caramel color, which to anyone who cares means ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS. That's right. TJ's is not above artificial ingredients...they just don't put it on a billboard when it's not convenient heh. 

1) It does taste like tea. It's refreshing, and a lot of people will REALLY like this product. 

2) The sweetness level for me is like what I imagine a 70-100% sweetness is (I normally order 30% at bubble tea shops). 

3) The ice cream itself is lacking because it's non-dairy. It doesn't mean that it's not good (A begs to differ); I find it lacking the richness and creaminess that makes ice cream fantastic and brown sugar milk tea incredibly popular. Although yes, some boba shops use non-dairy creamer - but I don't have time here to unpack milk tea composition (ask my husband or any milk tea enthusiast). Bottom line, coconut milk does have fat so it does taste better than like an almond milk or oat milk-based frozen dessert, but it's lacking that extra creamy mouth feel (which they've tried to compensate for with all the guar gums and whatever things. Sorry food scientists, please educate me better :P) that is characteristic of milk tea. 

4) The boba texture is fantastic - it's very difficult to maintain that chewy texture in a frozen dessert. I think the chewiness here is actually better than the boba in the cold brew version. 

4b) How does this compare to the cold brew version? I haven't had the cold brew version but based on my previous assessment, I think the cold brew version was slightly creamier and less sweet, which is true per the added sugar content. This black tea version is definitely more brown sugar syrup-y. The chewiness SEEMS better than the cold brew version, but I'd have to eat them side by side to know for sure. Also, I paid $0.20 less last year for the cold brew version, which you can chalk up to inflation I guess. 

5) The tea flavor for me kinda got lost under the brown sugar syrup swirl thing. Some of you will like that a lot. As for me...I want the tea. 

6) $4.49 for a pint. Not cheap but cheaper than those frozen Tiger Brown Sugar bars. 

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Black Tea and Boba Coconut Non-dairy Frozen Dessert with Tapioca Pearls. Non-dairy brown sugar boba dessert...worth if you don't have any other way to get your hands on that stuff. Or if you want a $6 drink in a $4.50 ice cream. 8 out of 10. Mantou Joe repurchase? When the craving hits, maybe.