Bubble tea, or more commonly known as boba, is not exactly the hip beverage that’s suitable for vegans or vegetarians, the lactose intolerant, or anyone who’s avoiding dairy, as the hugely popular sugary drinks commonly use only dairy milk.
For those who may have been waiting for a non-dairy alternative, there’s finally a vegan version recently released by one of the pioneering plant-based restaurants in Jakarta, Burgreens. Not only that, “Dalgona coffee” or whipped coffee — one of the biggest F&B trends that emerged on the onset of COVID-19 pandemic — also gets the vegan treatment too.
The drinks, which made up Burgreens’ Naughty Drink Series, were released in collaboration with a local vegan community, Jakarta Vegan Guide. In its announcement, Burgreens promised its customers with “the creamiest vegan plant-based dalgona and boba in town.”
There are quite a few selections to choose from, such as matcha, espresso, and earl grey flavors in Burgreens’ dalgona lineup. As for the boba drinks, there are brown sugar mylk, earl grey mylk, matcha latte, and lastly Es Kopi Susu Abang Max boba — the latter of which is Burgreens’ take on the es kopi trend that bears the name of its co-founder, Max Mandias.
All the plant-based drinks use soy milk and are sweetened with stevia, except for the boba lineup, which use brown sugar. For now, the drinks are only available at four Burgreens outlets in Darmawangsa, South Jakarta; Menteng, Central Jakarta; Oakwood in Kuningan, South Jakarta; and The Breeze in BSD, Tangerang. For now, you can only order the drinks for takeaway or through app-based food delivery services, as Jakarta is still under the Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) protocol.
From what we see on our trusty app, the drinks are all priced at IDR38,500 (US$2.60) each and extra boba is available for IDR5,500 (US$0.37) per portion. If you manage to get your hands on them, happy sipping!
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