Daniel B.
Yelp
The bubble tea we had from Tea Do was good. We enjoyed it.
One of our friends, who currently lives in Philly, brought us here. It was a good choice. Another one of our friends, who used to live in Philly, considers this Philly's first "legit" bubble tea place. It opened in 2012. It's located in Chinatown, just one block north of Friendship Gate: https://www.yelp.com/biz/chinatown-friendship-gate-philadelphia.
Outside, the corner storefront has a cool mural of a dragon. Inside, the place was packed. Almost every seat was taken - and this was on a Sunday night around 8:10pm. Like a lot of bubble tea shops, Tea Do isn't big, but it does have seating. There are a handful of high tables and low/coffee tables. Several years old now, there's nothing too remarkable about the interior.
The menu is sizable with over 76 drinks to choose from. They include Tea Do specialties (special drinks unique to this brand), smoothies, milk bubble tea, popping bubble drinks, green tea drinks, black tea drinks, and aloe vera drinks. All drinks come in regular and large sizes. Most specialties and smoothies run $4.25 each for regular and $5.25 each for large, milk teas $3.50 regular / $4.50 large, and other drinks $3.75 regular / $4.75 large. There are 17 topping options and 16 of them cost $0.50 each (white pearl jelly is $0.75).
In addition to the regular menu, there was a blackboard menu on the counter. During our visit, it advertised Tiger milk tea, winter melon green tea, Johnny tea, and chrysanthemum tea plus apple and yogurt popping boba and almond milk substitute. There was no description of the Tiger and Johnny teas, so you'd have to ask the staff.
I tried three drinks:
* Grasshopper (large, $5.25)
* Taro bubble milk tea (large, $4.50)
* Oolong bubble milk tea (regular, $3.75)
I enjoyed all the drinks and would recommend all three of them. Across the board, I thought the tea and topping quality was good. Good tea flavor and fresh, appetizing toppings with ideal textures.
The Grasshopper was different than what I'm used to (I usually order milk bubble teas). The Grasshopper is made with green tea, green apple, pear, green tea jelly, and lychee jelly. The drink was mildly sweet, a little bit tart, ice cold, and very refreshing. It hit the spot for me. I think my fiancee liked it the best of the drinks we ordered.
The taro bubble milk tea and the oolong bubble milk tea were both solid. No complaints here. Both drinks had a smooth, non-powdery consistency with nice flavor and ideal sweetness (for me). The boba was excellent; soft and delectably chewy.
Service was fine. The apathetic cashier could've been friendlier. He didn't have a great attitude. If we didn't tell him what size we wanted our drinks, he would've made them all large. He didn't ask us what sizes we wanted. Our order was filled quick.
According to Tea Do's website, this location in Philly is the first location. There are six other locations in the Northeast including one in Boston Chinatown: https://www.teadocafe.com/locations-1.
TL;DR - Tea Do is good.