Tiger Express

I walked by them on the Saturday market and the staff were super nice. I took my time ordering the bubble tea and she made some suggestions. I tried the Thai spiced tea and it was pleasant. I believe it’s a family owned shop and they’re all quite sweet. They mainly sell ice cream (cotton candy, strawberry, rainbow, rocky road, etc), drinks, and bubble tea. Kudos for being affordable!
Oregon seems to have places that charge around $ 5 for bubble tea and this does it for about two dollars less ;)

If you’ve been to Portland and visited the Saturday Market, you’ve probably walked by this place but never noticed it. It’s right next to Incense Magic, the Tibetan nick nack shop, and the 4 – 5 other restaurants on Ankeny St. between 1^st and 2^nd.
They mainly sell 3 things: bubble tea ($ 3.50 small, $ 3.95 large), ice cream, and coffee.
If you’re craving bubble tea like I was, this looks like a pretty typical place for an average quality tapioca-​based thirst quencher. Unfortunately my gastro-​senses steered me wrong :-(
Despite the owner assuring me they bubble teas were fresh and high quality, everything I tasted was to the contrary: The papaya & pineapple combo, I’m pretty sure, had no real fruit. It was all powder-​based flavor which tasted really artificial and bland… kind of that same feeling you get when you drink a diet soda compared to the original high-​fructose corn syrup option that puts your tastebuds (and pancreas) into overdrive. WORSE, there was too much flavor powder/​creamer, so you tasted sad grittiness instead of happy smooth flavorness. WORST of all, the tapioca pearls were all wrong; it was inconsistent and chunky, when it should be smooth & chewy.
I could drink about a third of it before tossing the rest. :-/​
Admittedly, this isn’t the worst bubble tea I’ve had, and maybe a visitor trying it for the first time wouldn’t think it’s so bad, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be back unless others have had better experiences and I just hit them on an off day.
TL;DR: It’s subpar, passable bubble tea. Haven’t tried the ice cream or coffee