With a glowing interior and picture-perfect drinks, Milksha arrived in Westwood with drinks that look prettier than they taste.
Milksha, the popular Taiwanese handcrafted beverage and boba chain, had its grand opening in Westwood last Thursday. Known for its fresh whole milk and natural ingredients, the brand has more than 300 locations worldwide and a major consumer base across Asia. The menu features its signature milk teas and house creations, as well as its Uji matcha, smoothies and teas, all meant to be enjoyed with its variety of premium toppings. At a price range of $7-9 per drink, Milksha sits on the pricier end of Westwood’s boba scene.
Despite the high price tag for milk-based drinks, the inclusion of a first free topping and a drink size of 22 ounces felt generous, making the experience a better deal. Orders were taken via kiosk tablets that feel impersonal but, similar to other boba spots, with a maximum of four drinks per order. Each drink had customizable sweetness and ice levels, with five sweetness levels ranging from “Full Sweet” to “No Sweet,” with the default “Perfect” being set at 50%. For lattes and milk drinks, customers can choose between whole milk and oat milk.
After ordering, staff prepared drinks in around 15 minutes. Because of the opening weekend rush, customers had to wait in a managed line to reach the ordering kiosk and were handed a numbered card if they planned to order.
The shop embraces a distinctly modern and monochromatic aesthetic. Green concrete floors stretch across the space, complementing the continuous curved counter built into the left wall. The glossy green tiles of the counter, beneath the glow of neon-like LED rod lights, gave the ordering area a luminescent effect. Large front windows and wide open doors flood the space with natural light, while the opposite wall breaks up the color palette with white brick and simple wooden tables and benches.
Despite the open floor plan, the layout felt impractical and poorly suited for groups hoping to sit and socialize over boba. Seating was limited, and an isolated table tucked behind the curved wall sat awkwardly separate from the rest of the shop, making the spacious area feel strangely segmented.
The “Handcrafted Brown Sugar Milk,” lauded as “Milksha’s most beloved classic,” sadly did not stand out as memorable compared to other beverages, with its sweetness feeling overpowering even at the “perfect” 50% level. The brown sugar flavor itself is very one-dimensional, giving the drink a flavor profile akin to that of cereal milk. Although the whole milk used is undeniably one of high quality, its heavy aftertaste of sugar makes it difficult to get through the drink without a palate cleanser.
When paired with tea flavors, Milksha’s milk-based drinks gained tasty potential. While served as a flat brown color that looks less aesthetic than the website photo’s gradient, the “Single Origin Black Tea Latte” – ordered at 50% sweetness – struck a balance between rich tea and mellow sugar, with its milk providing a silky, crowd-pleasing texture. However, the latte itself became a little boring when compared to the distinctiveness of its toppings, especially the honey boba and aloe vera and their satisfyingly chewy consistencies.
A surprising standout was the “Strawberry Mango Tea,” located in the less advertised “Fruit Tea” section of Milksha’s menu. The jasmine tea base was the drink’s real star, with its distinct floral notes complementing the fresh, pulpy fruit chunks perfectly. Although the strawberry and mango flavors are lighter and in the background, their pleasant, natural sweetness made for a buoyant and refreshing fruit tea.
Foreshadowed by its pale color, the “Give This a Thai” was milky and dull in its Thai tea flavor. Despite also being ordered with the default sweetness level of 50%, the drink’s cloying sweetness left one’s palate feeling syrupy and candied. However, the thick, salted “Cloudy Cream” was a pleasant equalizer, cutting through the saccharin-sweetness and adding a contrasting layer of texture.
Ultimately, Milksha’s strengths lie in the quality and experience surrounding its drinks. The fresh whole milk gave their sweeter options a smooth, rich texture, and the large 22 ounce portions, wide menu and variety of toppings made the shop customizable and indulgent. The perfectly chewy honey boba, salty Cloudy Cream and aloe vera were often more memorable than the teas they accompanied, elevating drinks with their added layer of texture and flavor.
The beverages themselves struggled to balance sweetness with depth of flavor. Specifically, the “Cloudy Cream Uji Matcha” and the “Give This a Thai” prioritized creaminess and crowd-pleasing sweetness over the umami and subtle bitterness that often gives these drinks complexity and excites tea-traditionalists. This dessert-like approach, while suited for customers seeking approachable treats, left the menu feeling one-note.
With beverage quality averaging at a middling level, boba aficionados should take advantage of Milksha’s high-quality toppings, if nothing else. The store offers a maximum of two toppings per drink for an extra dollar or one topping for free, including honey boba, chia seeds, green tea jelly, cloudy cream and aloe vera. Most notably, the honey boba is a translucent, golden color, with a lighter taste than the more commonly seen brown sugar tapioca boba.
Milksha’s overly saturated flavors means the store is not yet ready to have milk as their claim to fame.
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