Liquid Sugar Lounge - Emeryville

I'm so glad that Purple Kow is still around! The last time I came was about 7 years ago and when I came this time around, it looked completely different! I asked the cashier if they had changed locations and she confirmed my suspicions, they moved from Shattuck to this new location about a year ago! The location is very bright and there were a couple tables and chairs to hang out and chill with friends. Boba wise, I ordered D4, the iced milk drink with boba and grass jelly. It tasted as delicious as I remembered it! I asked for 0 sugar and it's still sweet. I wonder what kind of milk they use! The grass jelly is perfect and the boba is soft. The cup size is still pretty funny. If only parking was easier, I would come more often. But the boba is absolutely delicious!

This Purple Kow location is closer to where most of the other boba spots are in Berkeley and in the area where most of the students hang out in. Parking is a bit hit or miss here, as everyone is always doubled parked, but they are located on a quieter street, so there is usually some parking right in the front of the shop. Not much service I ordered ahead on the app and sat inside waiting for my drink and even though they finished making it, the time for the drink being done was not updated and my drink was just sitting on the back counter. I ordered the Purple Kow Green Milk Tea with boba and grass jelly. The milk tea tasted a bit off like the milk tasted a bit funny like it did not go well with the drink and it also tasted a bit lukewarm, even though I ordered it cold (there was no option for ice, only either cold or hot). I feel like I only go here because I like how big the cups are, but the milk tea is just eh.

A lot of my friends like coming here and it's a reliable boba stop. Their drink size is huge and their boba has come out decent every time! No complaints. I love getting the oolong milk tea here. They have good snack foods as well! The popcorn chicken pieces were large and had a nice crisp. The fried zucchini were a good quick snack, and the garlic wings weren't my favorite personally, but were very juicy inside, crispy on the outside, and had a great garlic flavor.

The boba here is not bad and the cups are huge. I ordered ahead on the Snackpass app and my drink was ready very quickly. I got the purple kow green milk tea with oat milk and boba. I like that the oat milk here does not include an extra charge, and when I got 25% sugar it was not too sweet. I do feel like the milk to tea ratio was not quite right though, so the milk tea was a bit watery. The boba was a decent texture. There is a good amount of seating inside.

If you haven't been to this location before, be warned that there isn't a ton of street parking directly next to the store, but there is a parking garage within walking distance that has 1 hour free parking! The interior isn't huge, but you can definitely go in to sit down with a couple of friends! We only came for the drinks D3 B2). The service was quick as well. I generally try to go by the rule that if you've never had a drink before at a new place, you should always get 100% to try the drink how it was intended to be made. That being said, we got the B2 with green milk tea 80% sweetness but didn't really feel like the flavor was super strong... I definitely feel like I should have gotten a 100%! There was A TON of boba in there, which was half appreciated but also it was so difficult to try the drink on its own! We also got the D3 with 100% Milk with Caramel, Boba Pudding). The caramel definitely makes this feel like it's 200% sweetness, so you could totally tone down the sweetness for this drink. Other than that, the boba was nice and chewy, a little smaller than usual though!