New milk tea cafe: Taste Tea

Left: milk tea with mini tapioca; right: ice cream milk tea with regular tapioca

Taste Tea's LED green sign glows like a beacon in a dreary stretch of Kapiolani Boulevard, unmissable when cruising late night (it's open until 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturdays). But do we really need another milk-tea spot? Well, when you can customize the sweetness of your drink, add tiny tapioca balls to your cup and even a scoop of ice cream, then yes, I think we do.

In addition to the usual size tapioca, Taste Tea offers mini ones just a tad bigger than caviar. You could swallow them whole and not require the Heimlich. Taste Tea's other claim to fame: six sweetness levels, all the way from zero sugar (0 percent) to extra sugar (110 percent). In case you're unsure what you prefer, they'll mix your drink, let you sample it, and they can adjust it if you want it sweeter.

Five varieties of tea (assam, jasmine green, Taiwan spring, oolong and Taiwan melon tea) are brewed fresh daily, though the "milk" is powdered creamer, on par with other milk tea places.

The decision-averse might break out in hives here; for everyone else, it's milk tea your way at Taste Tea.

1391 Kapiolani Blvd., Ste 105, 951-8288