Markham probably has more bubble tea shops per capita than any city outside Taipei and Hong Kong. Walk down Highway 7 in any direction and you'll pass at least eight within a 15-minute stretch — Coco, Chatime, Gong Cha, The Alley, Sharetea, plus a dozen indie operators you may have never heard of. So which ones are actually worth your $7?
We spent the last four weeks ordering the same drinks across every major bubble tea shop in Markham and Richmond Hill — a classic milk tea, a brown sugar boba, a fruit tea, and a signature creation. Here's what we learned, ranked.
1. Truedan (真の蛋黃の家) — First Markham Place
If you're going to spend money on bubble tea once a week, spend it here. Truedan was the original brown-sugar-boba pioneer in Taiwan, and the Markham location is one of the only spots in the GTA that's actually licensed by the original brand. The brown sugar boba milk is genuinely the standard everyone else is chasing — the pearls are house-made daily, they're served warm, and the brown sugar coating clings to the cup walls the way it's supposed to.
Order: Brown sugar boba milk, 0% sweetness (the syrup is already plenty sweet). Skip the fruit teas — that's not what they're here for.
2. Tea Topia — Cathedral Town
An indie favourite that's been quietly perfecting its craft for the better part of a decade. The hand-shaken tea base is noticeably stronger than the chains, and the toppings menu goes beyond the usual: cheese foam, salted milk foam, herbal jelly, sweet potato pearls. The matcha latte with hand-shaken oolong is genuinely one of the best drinks in Markham.
Order: Oolong cheese foam tea, 30% sweetness. The cheese foam is the move.
3. Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea — Pacific Mall + Highway 7
For fruit teas specifically, Yi Fang is in a class of its own. They use whole fresh fruit — actual chunks of pineapple, mango, passionfruit — rather than the syrupy concentrates most chains rely on. The wintermelon tea is a Markham summer staple for a reason; cooling, slightly herbal, never cloying.
Order: Pineapple green tea, no sugar (the pineapple is sweet enough), with sago pearls.
4. Sharetea — Multiple Locations
The most consistent chain in Markham, full stop. You may not get a transcendent drink at Sharetea, but you'll never get a bad one. The classic milk tea is well-balanced, the boba is fresh, and the staff actually know how to calibrate sweetness. For a reliable everyday cup, this is the best chain option.
Order: Hokkaido milk tea, 50% sweetness, with pearls.
5. Tiger Sugar — Downtown Markham
The other major brown-sugar boba contender. Tiger Sugar's drinks are slightly sweeter and creamier than Truedan's, which some prefer and others find overwhelming. The "tiger stripes" pattern from the brown sugar swirl is genuinely Instagrammable.
Order: Brown sugar boba with cream mousse, 30% sweetness.
6. The Alley — Markville Mall
An aesthetic-first shop that happens to make legitimately good drinks. The "deerioca" pearls — their slightly chewier, slightly larger boba — are excellent. The royal-no.9 milk tea (their signature) is a workhorse drink that holds up to ice melting.
Order: Deerioca milk tea, 70% sweetness.
7. CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice — Highway 7
The chain that introduced an entire generation of Markham residents to bubble tea. CoCo's classic 3 Guys is a riff on Hong Kong tea-and-jelly drinks and remains one of the best $5 drinks in the city. Service is fast, locations are everywhere, but quality varies by branch — the Highway 7 spot is the most consistent.
Order: 3 Guys (pearls, grass jelly, pudding) in a classic milk tea base.
8. Chatime — Multiple Locations
Reliable, ubiquitous, and a strong roasted milk tea program. The QQ Pearls (chewier, more flavour) are an upgrade worth the extra cents. Don't bother with their fruit teas, which can taste artificial.
Order: Roasted milk tea with QQ pearls, 50% sweetness.
9. Gong Cha — Multiple Locations
Gong Cha's strength is its tea base — the alishan oolong is genuinely premium and shows in every drink built on it. Avoid the milk foams (they tend to be over-salty), and stick to the classics.
Order: Alishan oolong, 70% sweetness, with pearls.
10. Machi Machi — Highway 7
The viral Instagram favourite (yes, the one Jay Chou is involved with). Marketing aside, the cheese-foam strawberry tea is legitimately one of the best summer drinks you can buy in Markham. The drinks are pricey by bubble tea standards — $8.50 and up — but you're paying for the strawberry quality, which is genuine.
Order: Strawberry cheese foam tea, 50% sweetness.
11. Xing Fu Tang — Cathedral Town
Another Taiwanese import with one specific thing it does spectacularly: stir-fried brown sugar boba. They actually caramelize the pearls in front of you, and the warmth-meets-cold contrast is genuinely fun. The signature drink is rich enough to function as dessert.
Order: Stir-fried brown sugar boba milk.
12. Happy Lemon — Multiple Locations
The originator of the salted cheese foam tea trend. Their version is still the gold standard — the salty top layer cuts the sweetness of the tea below in a way that just works. Their seasonal mango cheese tea each summer is worth waiting for.
Order: Salted cheese green tea, 50% sweetness.
How we ranked them
Three categories: (1) the tea base itself — is the tea actually high quality? (2) toppings — are the boba fresh, the cheese foam the right consistency? (3) consistency — does drink #4 taste like drink #1? Each shop got the same three drinks ordered across three visits at different times.
The Markham bubble tea map
If you're new to Markham, here's where to find the highest concentration of bubble tea shops within walking distance of each other:
- First Markham Place — Truedan, Sharetea, and at least four other shops in a single plaza.
- Pacific Mall + Splendid China Tower — Yi Fang and at least six independents.
- Cathedral Town — Tea Topia, Xing Fu Tang, and several quieter indie operators.
- Downtown Markham — Tiger Sugar, Machi Machi, and a couple of newer entries.
For our full directory of every bubble tea shop in Markham, browse all bubble tea listings. And if you've got a hidden gem we missed, tell us about it — we genuinely want to know.
About the Author
Food & Dining Editor
Marcus Wong has been writing about food in the Greater Toronto Area for over a decade. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Unionville, he brings a lifelong appreciation for Cantonese and Pan-Asian cuisine to his restaurant reviews, alongside an enthusiasm for the increasingly diverse dining scene across Markham and Richmond Hill. He visits every restaurant he writes about, almost always more than once, and pays for his own meals.
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