Wushiland boba review
Carnegie Mellon's go-to boba shop, Fuku Tea on Craig street, came to a sudden close at the beginning of the fall semester. Distraught students looked for ways to still get their fix, but the choices were not good. Walk all the way to Pitt for the other Fuku Tea location, take the bus to Tsaocaa, or settle for Rose Tea, which is a restaurant that focuses more on its food than its tea. There was Bao as well, but those drinks were more ostentatious to just call a snack.
From my descriptions, you could argue that there never was a real lack, but the response to Wushiland's opening seems to suggest otherwise. When one writer walked in to start off the spring semester with a snack, they found themselves waiting as staff furiously struggled against the surge of interest. The store was packed at 7 p.m. in the evening, and the employees had to announce on more than one occasion that they were completely out of boba. This was not an uncommon announcement, but customers stayed in line anyway, willing to settle for mini boba or even just a decent sweet drink.
Wushiland has since settled into a holding pattern as they whip out drinks efficiently. Boba runs plentiful, alongside customers. We visited to check if it was worth the hype...
Milk tea
Isabella, with Mini Boba and Grass Jelly, 50% sugar, less ice: The tea is good, a bit stronger tasting than Tsaocaa. I’m a little worried about choking on the mini pearls, but I think my digestive system will appreciate that they’re smaller than regular tapioca pearls. The texture of the mini pearls is fine, but I would prefer if they were a little bigger. The grass jelly is the same as at any place. 8/10.
Plum lemon green tea
Josephine, with Mini Boba: The toppings were good--the mini bobas were fun to eat without being too chewy. I’m not sure if I really tasted the plum, but something in there tasted like pineapple which was interesting. There aren’t as many fruit tea options compared to other places.
Brown sugar milk tea
Sanaa Akindele: It’s better than fuku but not as good as Tsaocaa . Somewhere in the middle.
Anahita, with Mini Boba, 30% sugar: I really like the mini boba and the brown sugar wasn’t too sweet, it hit the right spot. The mini boba was really soft and not chewy at all. I would rate this drink 8.5/10.
Dhriti Posa, with Boba, 50% Sugar, Less Ice: I like the taste of this drink. I think the boba itself was soft but didn’t feel “fresh”/hot. I enjoy my boba with a softer texture. However, with the price and what is offered I think this is really decent. Compared to Tsaoacaa Brown Sugar Milk tea, I think that one is still better (maybe because of the packaging lol). Compared to rose tea cafe, this boba is better though.
Orange and grapefruit yakult tea
Ronnie Lee, with Mini Boba, Coconut Jelly: Kinda mid😦☹ think tsaocaa is worth the bus ride 😬!!
Roasted oolong milk tea
Phyllis Feng, with Mini Boba, 50% sugar: It was a very pleasant experience! I love roasted teas so I wish I had more of that earthy, rustic "roasted" taste to it, but it was the perfect sweetness and the mini bobas were so fun. I also think everything's dairy free here which is UH-mazing. I still prefer Tsaocaa, however, because they have more varieties of fruit teas.
Earl grey milk tea
Dharma Trang, with Mini Boba, Coconut Jelly, 50% Sugar, Less Ice: The earl grey flavor is really subtle so the coconut jelly overpowers it a lot. The jelly is really really sweet, almost plastic-like after taste that doesnt sit well with me. I really liked the mouthfeel of the mini pearls; I’ve never had mini boba before so this was really cool. Overall, I wish I ordered a different drink flavor and I would skip on the coconut jelly next time.
Seoyoung Joo, with Boba, 70% sugar: I often find earl grey tea by itself is too strong (for my flavor palate, whether that means I'm tasteless or not). But at Wushiland, the earl grey tea combined with the milk and boba makes for a refreshing drink with perfect balance. The distinctive flavor of earl grey tea makes the drink blossom, with the boba acting as a perfect sweet bounce to an overall delightfully bitter and complex flavor.
Our brave explorers (with a handful missing, although those handful were arguably there only for the adventure), having their fill of fully reimbursed boba, came back to next week’s meeting to reflect on their experience post-field notes. Two months after opening, the store was still incredibly crowded, they noted.
A general malaise was noted on feelings about Wushiland, especially their drink choices. Some explorers wistfully brought up Tsaocaa’s vast spanning worlds of fruit teas. Fruit slushy tea was one. I remembered the wonderful pineapple fruit tea that flavored the boba like Haribo gummy bears myself.
Even Fuku came back up, even though we all treated it as inferior (because it was). Explorers even noted that the menu seemed close to Fuku, despite Wushiland attempting to boast on its brown sugar and creams. The memory of nitro thai iced tea came back up for me when we talked about Fuku. I was never really sure what made it nitro except it tasted extra yummy. I hadn’t thought of that drink in months. I suppose the last time I had bought it had been last school year, which felt cruel, that I had so easily forgotten something beloved. But it was just food.
Some noted that the drink flavors didn’t even seem to make sense. The orange and grapefruit yakult tea came under fire especially. One member noted that it “felt gross looking at the drink” to the point that one had to “convince yourself that it’ll taste good.” We agreed that on citrus theory, grapefruit had to be a standalone flavor. Orange could work with other fruits. Grapefruit was in its own category.
They also noted that the staff members still had yet to improve with respect to their boba skills. One explorer tragically received their drink without their requested ice cream, even though the ice cream seemed to be a specialty topping particular to Wushiland.
One member noted that the crystal boba there was good. Who actually likes crystal boba, I said. I do, she said. Tapioca pearls are too chewy and makes my jaw and stomach lining hurt. I almost started crying from laughter. You can’t chew tapioca pearls?
Okay, but crystal boba has a satisfying firmness and a bite to it. It doesn’t hurt your jaw, plus you can feel like you’re eating orbeez, she said.
No, popping boba are like orbeez, another member jumped in. Now that’s crazy, I said. Popping boba doesn’t even have texture. I hate popping boba. Can we get a vote? Two votes against popping boba. Three votes for popping boba, because they liked the skin of it.
Big Straw’s name is a nod to boba. Incredibly corny, right? In 2006 I suppose it wasn’t. I would have loved to see the original meeting with the professor when they put this magazine together. How many professors at Carnegie Mellon weren’t white? Were there even any Asian cultural classes that thought about Asians as people rather than anthropological studies?
I almost felt a little ashamed doing this because not just boba, but food in general is what we’re expected to talk about. Who are we writing for when we make the argument about how delicious Asian food is? Asians already know.
But reading these field notes, I was struck by how negative the entire thing was. We expect more from our food establishments than just being Asian. Even though we’ll probably go to Wushiland anyway, because it’s really so close to campus, we’ll probably grumble about it the whole time. We don’t like boba, we like good boba. Some of us don’t even like boba (I don’t count crystal boba).
But also I guess who even cares about food. Isn’t food to some extent just like, nationalism, building false community over symbols.
But food is also something we have to consume. Where does food belong then in the Asian identity?