My experience at the 2025 Canada Bubble Tea Festival

An annual tradition in Metro Vancouver served up tasty drinks to stay quenched for another summer. 

The Canada Bubble Tea Festival returned to Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, showcasing the culture of bubble tea to Metro Vancouver. 

Before I continue, I may or may not have gotten my first-ever migraine around the time of attending the event, so this recap could be a more limited recall of my experience. The summer heat was also really bad this year, so I admittedly ended up staying in the bleachers to stay cool most of the event. However, I didn’t want to miss out on the festival and at least got to see some performances on the main stage. 

One thing I instantly noticed compared to previous years was unlike the other times I paid to get into the event, it was free to enter this time around. I wish I knew why it changed, but it did help the event be more accessible to the public, especially considering it was painfully hot at the time. 

In exchange, there was something called a “boba pass” I didn’t see come up before. 

There were people working at the event called Boba Hawkers roaming around the stadium. Throughout the festival, they would carry a random assortment of bubble tea flavours to try if you bought the pass, sold at $8 each. Some of the brands involved in giving out drinks for people who bought the pass included Bubble World, Lattea, and Cha House. 

I didn’t get the pass myself, but I wanted to share this piece of info in case it returns for future events.

Something I also noticed was there were less bubble tea vendors and food trucks compared to previous years. The ones that were able to come to the event were still good, grabbing plenty of drinks such as grass jelly milk tea, matcha milk tea, and buko pandan. There were also the various bubble tea options you could get if you got the boba pass for the event. 

However, unless you got said boba pass, the options were definitely more limited compared to previous years. 

From what I saw, the performances were enjoyable as always, with some acts putting on fun showcases, while the crowds were having a good time. 

There were also some game stations throughout the stadium. I didn’t do any of them and just stuck to watching other people play at those stations, but they seemed fun from what I saw. 

Overall, I got a good time out of the event. The downsizing was definitely noticeable if someone went to this event the past two years, but I thought it was still worth it to check it out.

I hope the event continues to stick around because I would like to discover more bubble tea spots by going there.