Bubbleology, 49 Rupert St, Soho, London, W1D 7PF

Website here.

"Bubble bubble, toil and trouble" is apparently an oft misquoted line from Macbeth (Shakespeare).

The correct line should be "Double double, toil and trouble" but oh well.



Anyhow, with bubbles come tea. With tea come bubbles. And with that, comes Bubbleology - the latest colourful addition to an already very colourful SoHo (from many points of view).



When it first opened, we peered in curiously, wondering what this scientific looking shop was about. The name should've given it away, but I guess with SoHo, it's always best to be sure. Having determined that it was indeed bubble tea, we decided to try it out the next time we were in between meals.



That next time turned out to be when the husband and I were strolling around town after having had Itsu for lunch, and were still waiting for dinner to come by (because that's what we spend Saturdays doing ... going from one meal to the other).

Having been here a few times now, I suggest the best time to go would be right when the shop opens, or just before it closes. Any other time, it's packed. Like, there are groups of trendy girls (mostly dressed in the latest Asian fashion, unlike myself - dressed in no fashion) queueing up outside the shop, each one busy with their smartphones, with cute stuff hanging off the phones, all waiting for bubble tea. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself.



The shop itself is quite small. There seems to be a back area which is blocked off by a door saying something like 'No lab coat, no entry' but I managed to get a glimpse as to what goes on behind when someone walked through the door. Didn't look like much was going on back there; must be where they keep the bubbles all trained for the next cup.



As I am a Bubbleonnoisseur (as in I have had A LOT of bubble tea), it took all of 2 seconds to zone in on what I wanted to order. As opposed to the 5 minutes it took the people in front of me to establish what was what, what size was small, what was large, what a bubble is, what the difference between a milk and non-milk drink is, and what flavour they wanted.

Like seriously, let me order first.

"Regular passionfruit with bubbles, please". That came to £3.35 which is reasonable for London standards (other Chinatown places charge roughly the same for just the usual Assam flavour), but exorbitant if you compare it with other places around the world (£0.50 in Malaysia).



Anyhow, when in SoHo, you pay SoHo prices.



The other flavour we tried was the Ginger non-milk version - I kinda liked this one better as it wasn't as sweet, and it had a very subtle taste of ginger to it.



The other stuff you could do with your cuppa:

Add bubble / grass jelly / lemon jelly / popping bobba £0.50
Make it a large £0.50
Have a tea and Taiwanese toast combo - the set is around £5-ish and the fillings are Nutella, garlic butter (?), and also peanut butter and banana, if I'm not mistaken from what I saw on the countertop menu



Some (made up, I reckon) facts from the bubble tea cup. Don't take my word for it, though. It could be completely true, although I might trust Wikipedia a little more than I trust a Bubble Tea Cup.



I want this lab coat.