Review Hulucat Tea House - Auckland Central

Malwika Shahji

Lychee Green Tea with Lychee Jelly, no ice with 25% sweetness for $8.40 🧋 Picked-up from Hulu Cat, Dominion Road 🤌

Elder Smith

Tried the caramel milk tea, better than the Cha place down a few blocks. Got the pearls all good. Pre aight. Not a big fan of milk tea, might come back after I try the 20 other shops that sell milk tea.

S Lau

A nice post meal dessert drink, my Taro milk tea was made the way I like and remember it to be. We order 2 drinks and received them within 5 mins. Husband enjoyed his drink too.

Chtholly

I got the original milk tea with pearls. The tea tasted good and the pearls are nice and chewy. The packaging is also super cute. The only reason why I gave it a 4 stars is because the drink was warm even tho I got regular ice, probably because I went at opening time so the pearls were still warm so I recommend not getting the pearls as soon as they open.

Di Melody Huang

Ordered some drinks from Hulucat on Dominion Rd before popping in for lunch at Hot & Spicy Pot on a Sunday. Their Oatmeal Milk Tea – couldn’t fault the flavour😊... Years ago and during the good old uni days, Hulucat and J’s Tea were the cool places to go for late night drinks and snacks with friends👏. Nowadays, increasing demand for Asian-style tea with tapioca pearls has seen the opening of Gong Cha, Chatime, HITEA, ONEZO, Wu Cha and the like absolutely everywhere‼️The introduction of new flavours and their refreshing versatility has helped the industry to thrive👍. Milk tea’s demographic has also expanded – it’s not just the uni students anymore, you see families with children, business people and tourists... You can’t go wrong with the classics like the Pearl Milk Tea at Hulucat and jazz it up with chewy pearls or fruit jelly; but I couldn’t resist the feeling that this NZ classic milk tea shop is trying really hard to keep up with the other milk tea chains in an increasing saturated market, but no longer has the power to command the same type of huge following🧐. At the end of the day, we all like trying new & trendy things - the milk foam drinks from Gong Cha, the use of Zealong Tea at HITEA and the tapioca mastery from ONEZO...

Malakai Singh

I loved the customer service , and warm smiles that were welcoming. 10/10 experience would recommend. Strawberry milk tea was the best !

浩哥-奥克兰

A great place to have milk tea. Good to see some kiwis ordering. Thumbs up for hulucat

Nenetzin Sesar

They have a lot of different flavors and combinations that you don't event know what to ask for, but they only have one size and it's really big, we were having problems to finish it even when we loved it.

Jordie

The staff at Hulucat are always friendly and helpful when I go. Shoutout to Helen for being a superstar and ever so patient with me! Will be back soon

Tristan Phipps

A good selection of teas. The cup size has gotten smaller 🧐

Sarah Liu

Extremely underwhelming. I ordered a taro milk tea, with mix pearls, while my husband ordered a matcha slushy. We were the only customers there and there were 3 staff on. The front of house staff were somewhat friendly, but the order took 10mins to make! In the meantime there were no explanation on why it took so long. The pearls were overcooked, so much so that there's not much bite to it. EDIT: changed from 2 stars to 4 stars because of their communication and customer service after. The owner explained that there were a equipment issues and have relayed my feedback with the manager. They offered 2 complementary drinks to compensate, of which I haven't redeemed due to us living a distance away and we have 3 little ones to worry about! Since I haven't been back, I cannot comment if they have made any improvements or changes, but I do appreciate their efforts to listen and take feedback.

No Dice

I've been here lots. The tea is always good, and its served within 5 minutes almost every time. The staff are lovely and I will continue going here. My usual order is brown sugar fresh milk with mixed pearls, and all the others ive tried have been nice too. Recently tried a new one with taro chunks, the texture was yuck! The basic taro with Boba is good. I just wish they had coconut.

Billy C

This is the closest place to where I live for bubble tea. Its local, they have friendly staff, great service and a exceptionally detailed menu which is awesome!

Pudding

Bad customer service and gave me the wrong drink. The workers was just talking to each other.

ㅇㅇ

The place I go the most to get bubble tea. They are open til 11 everyday which is good. The staff are kind and the drinks are always good. I usually grab chocolate milk tea with big pearls, with half sugar and no ice. But sometimes when I go a bit late, they have run out of big pearls.

Sophie

strawberry green tea + lychee jelly! its so so good. i love the tea, you can really taste the fresh green tea taste. its not overpowering or too sweet. its perfect.

Persian Foodie

Got the Japanese green milk tea with egg pudding and the rock melon milk tea with pearls! Really yummy drinks but slightly on the pricier side of $16 for 2. Rockmelon was overly sweet and had a little artificial flavor but still delicious! Such a great menu range. There were drinks with wacky colors that I’d never heard of before!

Shirley Au

I love my hulucat, normally get the almond milk tea + taro pudding with 75% sugar with no issues. However the person making today's rockmelon milk tea definitely did the ratios wrong. 50% tastes like full sugar. Coffee jelly may have added to the sweetness but it shouldn't to be point of drinking milky diabetes. 2* for now, will update next time I visit and get something else

Anish Ketty

Best milk tea in auckland. Coffee milk tea and original milk tea is my fav. Quick service, no dramas. Takeaway only. Parking is first come first basis.

_foodfanatic

This is one of our go to places for bubble tea. Always a line up when we go but had died down a bit now Because there are few other bubble tea store close by..love the options price is a bit on the higher side but it’s still worth it.

Isha

This was the first place I tried bubble tea from and sure, they are a bit expensive but honestly just a classic place and I love them heapsssss!!!

True.buzz

Great tea but they need to work on their customer service as it makes a huge difference. A lot of the girls look grumpy and look they don’t want to work there and they come off very rude. Had a girl with purple hair serve me and she was very rude and grumpy

LuNa The TuNa

Next to spicy dry pot,really good after eating spicy food. Refresh and relax. I like the grapefruit flavour smoothie. It's pretty good, not too sweet.

Brandon Li

Very disappointed with the drink. I ordered the original bubble tea with milk foam. I can’t taste any tea at all as I think there could be too much ice or the tea itself is too watery. Milkfoam has coconut taste, the foam is thick which is good but I can’t taste any milk? The flavour is not there. Service can be better. No greetings. Won’t be back.

Dani

Really small store however they produce some of the best bubble tea. Quick and efficient service and really friendly staff too. My First time trying the rockmelon bubble tea and it was super delicious, would recommend if you are wanting to try something new, otherwise, the taro milk tea with pearls is the go-to!

SpoonMe

Love coming here for a drink after I go to spicy house or new flavour! I wish they had the red bean topping but that’s just me haha Their milk tea is yum like anywhere else:)

BAbyWin

Not a fan of milk or bubble tea but my friend bought me a salty cream black tea and it was better than I thought. First heard of salty cream you might thought it's weird but just like salted caramel they are good. Remember to ask for less sugar or no sugar if you don't have a sweet tooth.

Glenn Iuvale

Yummy tea! fave tea at the moment is Ice choc and lychee! its a MUST TRY! you wont be disappointed! Friends and i try and make it a weekly thing to visit HuluCat for Tea!

Ompong Monkey

A bit on the expensive side for bubble tea but an amazing splurge when u crave for the best bubble tea in the city in my opinion. The wait is not long at all and they have a good amount of options to choose from. Been here several times and haven’t been let down yet. Pearl milk tea is an amazing bubble tea to start off with. Hulucat also has THE BEST taro milk tea I’ve tried in different bubble tea chains.

Amy Marie

Best place for tea, have tried different types from other places and nothing has been better than Hulucat, havn’t been in a while so am due to come back soon!

Benz Chan

Efficient service, wide range of selections. One of the easiest and cheapest means to make wife happy. :-) I tried Apple Aloe Green Tea this time. I opted for less ice and 50% sugar, which was good enough for dessert after a heavy lunch.

Jason Zhang

Other than fizzy drinks or other drinks, Hulu Cat’s milk tea is a great alternative. Get it cold or hot, these would go nicely with your dinner on dominion road if you ever plan to eat somewhere there. The taste varies depending on the flavor you get but their original and wheat milk tea are pretty nice. The red teas are my preferred choice of drinks. 1 drink is around $6 - $7 but could be more depending on the toppings you add. Taste - 7/10 Size - 7/10 Price - 7/10

Tony Shi

Great drinks in a convenient location! Quite busy when we were there but waiting time was still quite short (less than 3 mins). Photos: Original milk tea (left), pineapple black tea with lychee jelly (right)

AJ

I had my first two tastes of watery bland Hulucat many years back at the what was once the Civic location, and I never drank a sip of it since. When I tried it again here, I was astonished at how much better it was in every aspect! Creamy milk and aromatic tea balance was just right, topped with perfectly cooked chewy pearls. 25% sugar level still a tiny bit too sweet for me but it was still super refreshing. I'm looking forward to try the other flavours.

Rohit

Great spot to get a drink after having a delicious dinner in Chinatown. Ordered the Mango Milk Tea with Lychee jelly, Less ice & 100% sugar. Yum! Goes really well together for me. Staff are a bit standoffish though and could be a little more polite.

Msav

Great variety of drinks to offer, my favourites would definitely be the Almond Slushy and Taro milk tea. Not too fond of adding any of the jelly and pearls etc

Ashlee Adams

My favourite HuluCat location - the team here always make the most DELICIOUS rose iced tea with 50% sugar and double big pearls. Everybody is always extremely considerate, and for busy times you can call and place an order for pick-up. Also in a convenient location to other delicious food places in the Dominion Road area. My favourite!

Shihana

Loved the options from the required temperature in the drink and the sugar preference in the drink. And don't forget to add some bubbles in the slurps.

Shelby Niuloa

Really quick service, the place is a little hole in the wall. Great friendly staff who offer yummy recommendations. I especially love the sizing I always get the Papaya milk tea and am never disappointed. Yum

Kelly Vilisoni-Richards

Came here on a Monday night which was surprisingly busy. Didn't take too long to receive drink which was good. I ordered a hot rockmelon and green apple jelly drink which was weird and not what I expected. Would probably try a different flavour if I were to come back.

888bing888

This place could be easily missed as the stall is so small. However, you will be surprised that they offer a wide range of flavours. If you just had a meal and would like a refreshing drink, I would totally recommend this place. They're one of the best bubble teas I have tried in Auckland. We had the Original Milk Tea with small pearls and Apple Aloe Green Tea with jelly. It is true to its taste and delicious. Will definitely come back to try the other flavours.

Aabhas Dole

Love this place. You get amazing pearl/bubble tea's here. Hulu cat has 3 outlets in Auckland and all of them are pretty decent but this ones the best in terms of the service speed and taste consistency. Person favourite - Rockmelon bubble tea with big pearls!

Fairy-Anne Glenn Guiang

It is a go to milk tea place. The rosemilk tea (hot or cold) is my favorite. We are a regular and this branch has the best tea and service even though the area is quite small and there's no tables to hang around.

Sid

Such a Convenient area. Great for when you are craving a drink of tea. The staff work really fast. However they could be more friendly. Probably would go again.

Jen

Handy location to just rock up and grab your milk tea fix. Open pretty late. Favourite milk tea place in Auckland. Best flavoured taro milk tea and the pearls are nice and chewy.

Jeffie

Just a quick, convenient and consistently good spot for bubble tea. It's a takeaway and the staff are a bit friendlier compared to similar places. I always grab a cold taro milk tea with jelly, I'm never disappointed.

Charmaine

Hole in the wall, blink and you miss it. But very handy to have around so that you don't have to go all the way into the city to get your hulucat fix! Parking isn't really a problem as there are lots of p30 parking in the area so people come and go quite quickly.

Keri

The drink here is amazing and so tasty but I have to give it a bad review because what I witnessed really put me off from coming here again. When I was waiting in the line I saw one of the girl working there sneeze into her hands and handling the customer's order without cleaning her hands. I was so disgusted I just walked away. Before this, the girl in front of me couldn't order anything because majority of the flavours were out of stock that day. The customer service here is very poor as well and I am yet to see anyone working there smile to a customer. I can put up with average customer service if the food is good but with poor hygiene standard I will never come back here again. It's such a shame because I love the drinks here. I just hope the standard in their staff will improve.

Mandy C

Cute little store. Always get the perfect bubble tea, can't go wrong with coming here! I love the taro and classic milk bubble tea! Love it.

Neelam Chandra

Best bubble tea I've ever tried !!! Came here to get a taro milk tea and ended up getting something different due to their wide selection of flavours. Everyone needs to try their watermelon milk tea with passionfruit jelly. It's sooooo delicious. Definitely coming back

I_like_pickles

Taro milk tea with pearls. Always a go to classic. This particular Hulu Cat is just a takeaway store and has no seating. Even though there isn't any seating it doesn't stop people ordering. Sometimes there are lines of people waiting for their order and waiting to order. It's great to grab a bubble tea after a meal to go. The only lame thing is the parking around here.

FM Cafe

Nice milk tea, poor service. No greetings, no smile, Iam wondering wether the staffs have been trained before they start doing customer service or not. Or maybe they r just too busy to care about the quality of service. The tea is not good enough to make me ignore the non-exsisting service. Will not go back again.

Leo Dilshan

This place has the best bubble teas I've ever tried . Highly recommend the "mocha slushy with coffee jelly" For winter : almond milk tea (hot version) Very friendly staff. Nothing to complain about honestly . Just love the place . I visit this place very regularly .

Lia Yosaatmadja

My favourite bubble tea place! I was so excited to find that they have a little take away place on dominion road. Because parking is a pain in the city! I really like their tea base. I enjoyed almost everything in their menu from their original milk tea with pearl to their slushies. My go to drink at hulucat are: original milk tea with grass jelly, caramel milk tea with egg pudding, green apple green tea with jelly and wheat germ milk tea.

Annie Yang

Went to the Wellesley Street Hulucat last night and was treated with terrible and disgraceful service. Me and my friend were reading the menu and the lady at the counter was speaking in Chinese to another girl working counting how long we were taking to decide our drinks. This is absolutely unacceptable and staff need to be properly trained in professional customer service. It is not our fault that your menu is long and right by your counter. If you wanted us to take a shorter time you should make a shorter menu or place it somewhere else. Lady at the counter also did not seem very happy to work there either. I had the original milk tea with honey aleo, tea was ok but the customer service defiantly let down the whole experience. Wouldnt come back here again.

Auckland Food Tours

I've always wondered what bubble tea was and so decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a go. There is a massive menu and you can have any combination of things, but basically you choose a flavour, cold or hot, sweetness level (1/2, 1 or none) and whether you want any additives like jelly or 'pearls'. The pearls turned out be large tapioca, and I was surprised how enjoyable the drink was. I don't take sugar in my tea so I had the original tea, warm,no sugar with large pearls. The pearls slightly sweeten the tea but not unpleasantly so, and it ends up with a slight caramel flavour. I liked it but you would need to be a fan of the sago type desserts to enjoy the pearls, but with so much choice you're bound to find something that suits. A nice touch is that they serve it with a sealed lid, so no fear of spillage.

Princess Norain Luzon-Marcial

Hulucat was suggested by my friend to try their milktea. The food was nice but too pricey. The milktea was so nice! I want to have it every week! Ehehehe! The place is fine, average rate. It feels like i'm in korea when I went there, lots of asians but that's fine.

Ashlene Cheryl Cardoza

Very refreshing teas. My favourite are the milk teas with passionfruit jelly. The best part is that they are open till late and there always seems to be a queue.

Marcella

Decided to give this place a go the other day and had mixed feelings towards it. First of all, I'm quite impressed with the selections and varieties of toppings available to customise your drinks. I got the green tea milk tea with egg pudding and mini pearls which disappointingly tasted way below average. The egg pudding was borderline yuck and the pearls were overcooked and mushy. It also had that powdery taste to it. The bf got some kind of lychee drink with lychee jelly which tasted ok but was too sweet for my liking and had weird foams in it. My friends got the apple slushy and the coffee drink with ice cream which they seemed to enjoy so maybe it was just me who ordered the wrong drink. I still think there are better milk tea places out there. Especially since this place doesn't have sizes and you can't customise your sugar/ ice intake. Probably would come back to try again just because I'm curious whether it was just my choice of drink that let my experience down.

Mezza

Never had any issues with my orders. Found my favourite- Caramel Milk Tea (hot) with pearls. I think they're pretty generous with the pearls. I always grab a tea when I'm in the area.

Ruth

Quite busy in weekends, but it worth waiting for it. They have the best bubbles in Auckland. The Original Milk Tea With Bubbles is super tasty!! Love it so so much!! They offer the loyalty card now, so that I can get 6 off when I buy 9 drinks. Really recommend this shop to you all! Also the staffs there are very lovely :-)

Isgracie

If I can rate 0 I would do that. The staffs used to be good. But tonight I popped in late with my husband. He ordered earl grey ice tea. After 10mins waiting the staff called out Puer ice tea and my husband thought it was a mistake and confirm with her. She said it was Puer. Maybe the staff put through Puer ice tea but we didn't notice. So my husband said we ordered earl grey not puer. Finally I was so astonished that one of the staffs told us earl grey is puer they were same, with her totally impatient face! Oh god we are ok that she told us she put through a wrong order but please don't consider your customer is an idiot!!

Louise MacNaughton

Passion fruit slushy with pearls, mmmm. Love hulucat for that very drink. So refreshing and massive size! Haven't tried anything else on the menu, don't really like the idea of anything else!

Stango

Hulucat Balmoral keeps to the same consistant standard of Hulucat in town, which is great. Love their taro milk tea warm with egg pudding in winter. My partner and I have recently made more of an effort to try new options and we've discovered that we really like the milk teas in black sesame, egg, oatmeal and watermelon flavours. These options might sound a bit scary if you aren't too familiar with Asian desserts, but trust me, they're all really good. For example: the seasame milk tea will be grey coloured but it has a nice nutty flavour, the egg flavour is sweet and comparable to custard, oatmeal won't taste like porridge but is made from a oat based sweet drink (look up Nestum), and watermelon just tastes like a creamy watermelon ice cream. I totally recommend giving it a go!

Charlene Weaver

My favourite bubble tea place! Highly recommend the taro slushy with mango pudding.... WOW. I normally order taro milk tea with egg pudding... but the taro slushy with mango pudding is next level amazing... so good!! Its a must try if you love taro. This place also has the best quality teas like other people have mentioned.

Stefanie Kouch

Whenever I'm coming back from the south side we always drop in to Hulu Cat to cater to our sweet tooth ☺️ it's a drink and a dessert wrap up all in one! My all time favourite will always be original milk tea 😍 with either the pearls, grass jelly or egg pudding. Service is always great and I just love how it's open late, just like almost everything on dominion road!

LuciferTSN

The best quality milk tea around Balmoral area, opens till late which gives you opportunity to get refreshment after dark. Recommend: oat milk tea with egg pudding.

HangryChow

Amazing drinks! Milk teas are some of the best in Auckland. Love the hot/cold options to suit your mood slash weather. Hot Lychee black tea was just perfect for a cold night! Drinks can be very sweet so i often ask for the 1/4 sugar option. A regular place to visit after a yummy meal at one of dominion roads cheap eats.

BrinkersMad

Fav is taro milk tea with pearls !!! - I've experienced some inconsistency in beverages - amazing at times but really average in others (but maybe because we went there late) but service is good - I've been unlucky to go there and have pearls be sold out 2 or 3 times now. I've also opted for: mango milk tea (not much of a mango taste) oatmeal milk tea with choc ice cream almond milk tea lychee pineapple strawberry jelly strawberry egg pudding or similar coffee milk tea or similar choc milk tea I would not try any of those flavours again - some are incredibly sweet even though I opt for less sugar but I've noticed my own sweetness tolerance has just lowered overtime so this may not be the case for you. I always like to try new flavours but I always regret not getting my usual taro or original teas and so I'll be sticking to that from now on unless you have some good suggestions! PLEASE BRING YOUR STORE TO HENDERSON/LINCOLN/NEW LYNN OR JUST WEST AUCKLAND IN GENERAL - I HAVE TO TRAVEL SO FAR TO GO TO YOU GUYS BECAUSE THE TEA ADDICTION IS REAL. XOX :D

Nitya Lakshmanan

Hulu cats by far makes the best pearl milk original tea. One of my favourite places to visit during summer. I've tried a variety of favourites but my favourite flavour is either caramel or original.

Andi Jandal

I've tried a few tea places, but Hulucat is my favourite. I love the warm oolong milk tea with taro pudding. So good! My teenager's favourite is oolong iced tea with grass jelly (sometimes he says it's not strong enough, but that's not enough to stop him wanting more) and the little ones love the slushies. They make the oolong tea fresh, so it takes five minutes. Service is okay, not that friendly usually, but not terrible & the drinks make up for it.

Tanz

Rock melon milk tea and Japanese green milk tea with quarter sugar and pearls are my favorite drinks there. Only downside is they open at 2pm and sometimes I feel like bubble tea before 2 :(

Clarke Beaux

They have a loyalty card. Just ask and you will receive one. They should have displayed this at the counter so they can invite more customers to buy.

S. Joberg

Good bubble tea. It's getting pretty popular now, so you may have to wait a bit sometimes. Love that they let you choose how much sugar you want. Only downside is they don't always open on time, and if you go towards the beginning of the shift they may not have some of the toppings (like tapioca pearls) ready, which seems a bit odd - if you're going to open at 2... be ready at 2.

Tami T

My original bubble-tea hang out :-) I will always have a soft spot in my heart for their Oatmeal milk tea! It's breakfast in the most beautiful liquid form :-)

Riddhi

Not sure what all the bad reviews are about, but i found this hulucat to be of the same calibre (good) as the anzac ave store. I love the idea of a little shop in the window and i love bubble tea! I went with peach green tea with pearls (iced) for $6.50 which is a good price for the amount you get. The tea was tangy and refreshing and cold, perfect on a hot summers day like it was today when i went. Cant really say anything on service since it wasnt a sit down place but overall exactly what i wanted.