Ben Gong Queen's Tea is a bubble tea shop at 127 Riccarton Road, Riccarton, Christchurch, holding a 4.3 Google rating and sharing its drinks on Instagram.
Ordering bubble tea well starts with the sugar and ice: most shops let you set both, and it pays to go lower than the default, since many recipes run sweeter than newcomers expect. The tea base matters too — a properly brewed oolong or jasmine gives a cleaner, more aromatic cup than a powdered mix, so it is worth asking. Cheese foam, the salty-sweet cap popularised by cheese tea, is best sipped from the lid before the straw goes in, and tapioca pearls are at their chewy best the day they are cooked.
Amid the shops and takeaways of Riccarton Road, it is an easy stop for students and shoppers passing through the suburb.