Update 1/2/2021: This outlet is now permanently closed. 

With bubble tea craze in Malaysia reaching critical mass (there are now close to 30 brands), smaller outlets have had to compete in creative ways – by upping their Instagram game. Which is why you get new ‘concept’ bubble tea shops, such as QR-Tea Lab at Sunway Geo Avenue, Bandar Sunway. Themed after a science lab, the cafe features decor such as a periodic table of the elements on one side of the wall, and servers dressed in lab coats.

Aside from your standard bubble milk tea, QR Lab also allows patrons to customise their own drinks by mixing different concoctions together. You can select your own mix from a test tube display counter at the front, with tea options such as oolong and black tea, fruit flavours such as peach and pineapple, and flavoured syrup the likes of jasmine, rose and more. If you like the foamy cheese tea, they have that as well.

Colourful beakers adorn one side of the cafe.

A small area at the back for photos, complete with microscope, test tubes/beakers and a model skeleton.

Photoshopped pictures of famous scientists with the brand’s bubble tea.

Ever since I tried the Brown Sugar Fresh Milk series (they have it at almost every single bubble tea outlet these days), I’ve found it hard to drink anything else when I go to a bubble tea shop. The QR-Tea version was pretty good, with small, chewy bubbles that went well with the cold fresh milk. They only come in one size and cost RM12.90 per cup.

That being said, I don’t condone having bubble milk tea too often – high sugar content and all that. Treat yourself after a month of hard work, or have it for a celebration or something. 😀

QR-TEA LAB 

B01.05, Sunway Geo Avenue, Bandar Sunway, Selangor.

Opening hours: 12PM – 11PM (daily)