Food Review #9: Crown Cafe
Looking for a colorful yet simple dessert/bubble tea cafe? Look no further than Crown Cafe! Located opposite the Royal Phnom Penh University, Crown Cafe is a hotspot among local students.
The reason for their fame? Their colorful and unique drinks and desserts! Their drink menu contains a wide selection of drinks, along with 12 different types of 'toppings.' Some of these drinks are hard to find at other cafes, such as the butterfly pea, strawberry latte, or the grapefruit latte. The different toppings consist of 10 different bubbles (original, collagen, brown sugar, green tea, purple sweet potato, strawberry, mango, lychee, mini rainbow, and low-calorie rainbow) and two types of jellies (homemade grass jelly and brown jelly). The prices of the drinks were quite reasonable, ranging between $2 - $3, depending on the drink and whether you decided to have it in a cup or a bottle. For all drinks, you can pay 3 cents extra for your drink to be served in a reusable plastic bottle (which you can take home), and in your next visit, you'll get a discount if you give them your bottle!
For the price of $2.40, we ordered the strawberry marble latte with rainbow bubbles. It was recommended as one of the most popular drinks within the menu. The drink tasted like store-bought strawberry milk. Nothing more, nothing less. The drink had strawberry jam on the bottom and milk on the top, thus creating the 'marble' part of the name. When mixed, the drink becomes a pleasant, pastel pink color.
The butterfly pea strawberry latte is blueberry pea tea mixed with the strawberry latte. It tastes extremely similar to the first drink, but also has a slight earthy aftertaste that some might not enjoy. Although the flavor might not be for everyone, the colors are VERY pleasing to look at. It starts off as a pink-colored drink on the bottom, but the pink eventually turns blue on top. The pastel gradient makes the drink very Instagrammable. The aesthetics of this drink give buyers a reason to buy this somewhat mediocre drink. A solid 7/10.
The sweet purple potato latte. Unlike the drinks mentioned earlier, the sweet purple potato latte had a 25% sugar level (the strawberry marble latte and the butterfly pea strawberry latte had the store's standard sugar level, which was 75%). The sweet potato latte tasted almost like an actual sweet potato. That statement might sound unremarkable, but after many drinks and snacks that didn't quite taste like its name, the sweet potato latte was a surprise. However, this surprise might not be something that everyone likes. The drink is served cold, so the coziness that many associate with sweet potatoes is hard to find. Personally, I would have preferred it a bit sweeter. The drink is a pastel purple color, which is, once again, very aesthetically pleasing.
Now, onto the rainbow bubbles. They were not what we expected. The texture was similar to the crystal bubbles from Heekcaa. Unlike the tapioca pearls from other bubble tea shops, the rainbow bubbles from Crown cafe are different colors, hence the name 'rainbow bubbles'. The different colors of the bubbles might cause one to think that each color is a different flavor, but that was not the case. The bubbles tasted like melon flavoring. It was slightly disappointing for me, because, instead of a myriad of flavors in my mouth, the only thing I could taste from the bubbles was the sour, and artificial taste of melon flavoring. They tasted mediocre at best, and are probably more pleasing to the eyes than to the tongue.
One thing that you probably should not do at Crown Cafe is study. At least, not in the afternoon, which was when we visited. People started to file in at around 2:00 and it only got noisier as time went by, so if you do want to study here, try studying before that time. When the slightly obnoxious music mixes with the loud chatter that was present during our visit, focusing on a task is nearly impossible. That doesn't mean that this cafe is a horrible cafe! Crown Cafe is a perfect place for meeting up with your friends and chatting together! Students seem to visit this cafe to unwind with their friends. In fact, Crown Cafe has created a perfect atmosphere for doing just that, with the many tables, the warm colors, and the pop songs playing in the background.
Altogether, this cafe would receive a 7/10. There were some expectations that Crown Cafe failed to meet, but it was still a good cafe. Not the best, but still good. If you are ever looking for a place to meet up with your friends and drink bubble tea, you should try out Crown Cafe!