As of late 2022, the Market at North District has served Lollicup Boba & Tea to the UCR community. The shop has many drinks to choose from, including different types of milk teas, regular teas, slushies and smoothies, each with the option to change the sweetness level which is a great option for people who prefer drinks that are unsweetened or that don’t have too much sugar.
Ordering at the boba shop is really simple and practical as you can do so via a screen and avoid what can sometimes be awkward conversations. On the screen, you can select the level of sweetness, as well as add-ons such as crystal boba, brown sugar boba, honey boba, popping boba, aloe, coffee jelly, lychee jelly and rainbow jelly, which cost an additional $1.00 each. If your drink is a smoothie or milk tea and contains dairy you can also select a $1.00 milk substitution such as almond or oat milk.
Once customers have completed their order, they receive a receipt that is used to pay at the general counter of the market. It is important to print a receipt because this guarantees you will acquire your order. Students can pay with dining dollars and bear bucks as well as credit and debit cards. Another thing that should be mentioned is the add-ons option as it can get a little bit confusing. Some drinks come with boba already included like the Roasted Brown Sugar Boba Milk and some come without like the Thai Milk Tea. Adding boba to a drink that includes boba will just give you extra boba and make you pay an extra dollar. To avoid any confusion, it could be helpful to ask the employees if your drink of choice already contains boba or not. If that is something you wish to add to your drink even if it is not included, you always have the option to do so.
The Lollicup Boba & Tea signature drinks include Thai Milk Tea, Roasted Brown Sugar Boba Milk tea, Sweet Sunset tea, Mangonada slush, Pineapplenada slush, Snow Crunch cookies and cream smoothie and their regular milk tea.
A fan favorite is Thai milk tea. A good customization for this drink, in my opinion, is to add boba to it and choose the regular 100% sweetness. Having tried the same drink at other boba shops, I felt like this one had a strong flavor that was brought out by the right level of sweetness. Another option for this drink is to make it a smoothie. The smooth and thick consistency made it even better than the regular Thai milk tea. The creaminess of the smoothie is wonderful and unexpected, which really brings out the flavor and I really took my time to savor it. This allowed it to melt a little, making the drink even creamier than it was initially and it was honestly delicious. There are many other smoothie versions of the drinks that they offer which could be very interesting to try.
Another very good drink was the rose milk tea. If flowery drinks are more your style, this one is the one for you. When I tried this drink, I was shocked by the strength of the rose flavor. The best way to describe this drink is that it feels like you are tasting the smell of roses which makes it a really interesting and pleasant experience. The rose compliments the milk beautifully as well which makes the combination very deliciously sweet. If you like this drink, another flowery drink that is offered is the lavender milk tea. For this drink, the flowery taste was less prominent than in the rose one, but I was still pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the lavender taste.
If fruity drinks are the type that you prefer, you have many options in the regular tea choices that include mango tea, pineapple tea, passion fruit tea, peach tea and many others. These drinks are great refreshers for hot spring and summer days, and their fresh taste is perfect to cool down. The many options that are offered are delicious and they usually come with many different toppings such as lychee jelly and popping boba, but I felt like these toppings only added to the refreshing taste.
Whether you like milk teas or fruit teas, flowery teas or smoothies, Lollicup has delicious options for everyone. Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at the North District’s own boba shop and would definitely recommend checking it out!
