Boba Battle: Brown Sugar Boba Milk Showdown Part 4 [Finale]

With a nagging sugar hangover far behind me, it is time to do battle. And in the end of this epic saga, we will traverse to where no man has traversed before. Actually... it is just SS15. 

The battlefield

On one note though, why are all the main outlets all based in the same area? It just does not make much sense to me. Too much competition and the volume of people with the same products.  I can understand bak kut teh, but not all of them are clogging the same street in Klang. But I digress.  Also, if you are looking at this for the first time, I strongly recommend that you check out part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this saga. 

On with the show!

Fiery Boba Sugar Milk (RM12.90)

The Black Whale, SS15

Relatively early. Its 8pm on a Friday. The line will surely come soon.

This was some show stealer right here! The whale maybe an endangered species, but this one fights as though it is the dominant species right here. 

Meet my new blue friend

The first thing you would noticed is that scorched sugar topping. That caramelised topping closely resembles the sugar crust of  creme brulee. The cheese cream is smooth and silky. There is some saltiness too, which cuts through the sugar that was scorched on top. That worked really well. Imagine a salty caramel. It was a bit hard to manage though, as the said roasted bits were quite sticky when you are chewing through. Similar to toffee. 

Scorched!

The milk is alright, on par with its contemporaries. The boba was really good. Chewy but not too springy. I feel like its better than some parts, but still not the perfect one. Good infusion with the syrup though. Speaking of the syrup, this was some serious sugar rush. The syrup had a very deep and full bodied flavour and had that distinctive roasted and nutty profile all the way through. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Reminds me of a Japanese matcha house

Also, on a side note, I like the decor of this place as it takes the whale motif really seriously. Aesthetically pleasing, if I do say myself. 

Pros: Sugar topping that is close to a salted caramel. The cheese topping was amazing too.

Cons: Some people may not like the contrast in texture. 

Notable points: The contrast in textures does make it stand out. Some may not like it, but I do. Alot. 

Overall scoring: 9.0/10

Black Sugar Milk (RM11.00)

Macao Imperial Tea, Atria Shopping Gallery

Front of the house. 

Lets cut to the chase. I did not like this. Its a real shame unfortunately.

The milk is decent, which does taste like a good full fat milk from good coffee houses. But the sugar syrup lacks punch. Its does feel like it is just melted brown sugar that you get from ais kacang. And thats not good, considering that there are cheaper competitors our there that do this better. 

Looks the part though. 

The boba unfortunately was not good too. It was too squishy and they actually stick together. And what turned out at the bottom of my cup was like a coagulation of tadpole eggs. That was not a savoury sight. So I did not bother taking a photo of the aftermath. 

Final take? Do not bother.

Pros: none. 

Cons: Everything seems mediocre. And when Tealive is RM7.05, its hard to justify the price.

Notable points: ...

Ovarall scoring : 5.0/10

Brown Sugar Boba Thick Milk (RM12.90)

JLD Dragon, SS15.

Hear this dragon roar!

If I were to rank this entire field on boba alone, this will take top spot! 

Real shame everything else pulls this thing down. Boba was perfect.

The pearls were chewy but bouncy. Not too squishy and was a joy to chew into. The infusion was perfect as well. The pearls do have alot of flavour and texture. I always find that some shops have good pearls but are lacking in something, like infusion or texture. But this was really well executed. Mad props on that. 

Men at work. 

However, the dragon should not be  assessed based on its fangs only, but the entire beast itself.  How about the rest of this drink? The milk is still good quality. And the syrup is alright. It has some slight floral aftertaste, which is unique. But I felt that it was a bit too little, which is funny when they gave me 100% sugar. Maybe its because of the ice. There was alot of ice in this serving. I still enjoyed it though. 

Also did I mention that the boba is amazing?

Pros: Probably the best boba in the field.

Cons: Too much ice killed the product, which probably diluted the syrup

Notable points: If I were to rate just on boba alone, this will take top spot. 

Overall Scoring: 7.25/10

Final Grand Scoring 

1.        The Black Whale @ 9/10

2.        Daboba @ 8.5/10

3.        The Alley @ 8 /10

4.        Xing Fu Tang @ 7.5/10

5.        JLD Dragon @7.25/10

6.        Tiger Sugar @ 7/10

7.        Tealive @6.75/10

8-9.     KOI The @ 6.5/10 (tied)

8-9.     Gong Cha @ 6.5/10 (tied)

10-11. Family Mart @ 6/10 (tied)

10-11. Chun Yang Tea @ 6/10 (tied)

12.      Macao Imperial Tea @ 5/10

Final Words

Winner!

What a battle it has been. And who would have thought I had a new best (and worst) in my last post. This was actually a lot of fun doing this. It also proves to show that no drink outlet is equal. Sure the concept may be the same but then again its all about the execution in the end. In all due seriousness though, I had never had this much sugar in my life in the span of these few weeks. And thats not good.

In fact, if you really want to see a real life example, one of my friends JR Song had boba drinks for a week as a self experiment and it ruined his blood sugar big time. Do check out his video on this one week experiment by clicking here, which I think is quite insightful. 

That is all for now and we will revert back to our regular scheduled programme of chasing down good food and making some too in the process. In the mean time, I am probably not going to touch boba for next couple of months. My kidneys need a break.