Kai W.
Google
To be frank, Junbi’s matcha drinks are not great. Their matcha drinks are really just green milk. While for the general area they are better than other boba shops, their drinks do not compare to other stores that specialize in matcha. If you are looking for great matcha, the truth is that you won’t find it in Princeton. Nevertheless, try Small World’s matcha latte sometime. Its taste is very similar to Junbi’s and the color is better, perhaps indicating a higher quality of matcha is used. Unfortunately, they use oat milk but the taste is still okay. If I’m craving matcha I alternate between the two.
For context, I’ve had the matcha latte, Madagascar vanilla matcha latte, strawberry matcha latte, strawberry matcha, strawberry milk, chrysanthemum tea, and the strawberry chrysanthemum tea among other things.
Junbi claims that its matcha is from local farms in Japan and is vetted carefully by Junbi. However, I find that the taste of matcha in their drinks is very dull and the level of matcha isn’t strong. I understand that other flavors like strawberry or vanilla can mute the taste, however even the flavor in the plain matcha latte is lacking. Despite using matcha sourced in Japan, Junbi’s matcha drinks do not compare to anything that I’ve had during my trips to Japan. Of course we aren’t in Japan and it’s understandable that in order to make their drinks profitable they cannot use high grade matcha from Uji or use a large quantity of matcha. But, for a store that is supposed to specialize in matcha and sources their ingredients from Japan, I can’t say I’m not disappointed.
While a little pricey, the onigiri is good and is warm when served.
I have yet to try the matcha soft serve, but I will say that among all things on the menu it seems the most promising.
The service is great. The people behind the counter are always friendly and they usually prepare the drinks quickly. You can also order on a kiosk if you aren’t paying with cash or points.
The atmosphere is calm and relaxed. There are plenty of places to sit and the store is pretty clean. The door is a little old which makes it hard to open and close, but that’s not really that important.
The biggest redeeming quality is that they are the only boba shop in the area that accept paw points. I think this alone has made it a popular spot among Princeton students. Additionally, for those who care, they use real milk in their drinks instead of powdered milk. From my personal experience working at a boba shop, however, powdered milk results in a better taste in most milk teas. Of course, for matcha real cow milk is desirable.
