Gong Cha

Gong Cha is a bubble tea shop on Garrick Street, between the Covent Garden piazza and Leicester Square, and a branch of one of the largest tea franchises in the world. The brand's founder, Super Wu, opened his first tea shop in Taiwan in 1996, experimenting with blends and pioneering the signature milk foam, and the Gong Cha name launched in Kaohsiung in 2006. It refers to the tradition of offering tea as a tribute to the emperor, a shorthand for the highest quality.

From that single Taiwanese shop the business has grown to more than 2,100 stores across 28 markets, with its first English store opening in 2019. Consistency is the point: a quality assurance lab in Taiwan checks the teas, and since 2023 the company has owned its own tea garden. The leaves come from Taiwan, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, slow grown at over 1,000 metres, and are freshly brewed as whole-leaf tea rather than made from concentrate.

Bubble tea in Covent Garden

For bubble tea in Covent Garden, the Garrick Street counter serves the brand's Famous Five: Black Milk Tea with Pearl, QQ Passionfruit Green Tea with pearls and coconut jelly, caffeine-free Brown Sugar Milk with Pearls, Taro Milk Tea with Pearls and Matcha Strawberry Milk Tea. Every drink is made to order, with sweetness, ice level and toppings such as tapioca pearls chosen at the counter, so it is worth deciding how sweet you want it before you reach the till.

What to expect on a visit

This is a quick, efficient takeaway tea counter with a little seating, open from 11am to 9pm seven days a week, and delivery is available through the usual apps. The location makes it an easy refreshment stop while walking between the market, the theatres and Leicester Square. For a smaller, craft-led Taiwanese alternative, Day Day Drink on William IV Street builds its menu around caramelised Kara Sugar, and the directory lists the other dessert shops in Covent Garden.