Blackball Taiwanese Dessert

I love the idea of going here. I love their desserts. What I don't like is the wait times. Holy crap the wait here is pretty much FOREVER. I've been here a few times and times when it wasn't busy at all but the wait was still ~30mins for the food. That is terrible. I watch them make the desserts and they really like taking their time. So slow!!! 
I've had the matcha series, the aiyu jelly, and grass jelly series. All are really good and I have no complaints about them. The mochi that they put in the desserts are a little denser than what you may expect from a mochi but it's not HARD. The grass jelly series comes with cream that you put on top. The aiyu jelly series doesn't come with cream and tastes kinda juicy lol. The desserts are $8.99 which is pretty reasonable in Edmonton.
Now, the drinks are a disappointment. I've seen them make milk tea ... made out of powder or something. I wouldn't order that again. The caramel milk tea didn't taste bad in any way but I don't feel comfortable knowing that they use powder.. 
I had the hot purple rice drink. It was way too sweet.. I don't think I can order that again. It does taste good but maybe get it at 30% sweetness? It's also a little thick. I would think that it's better as a dessert soup than a drink. 
The green tea jelly with milk was okay. It's really just milk with green tea jelly and some green tea syrup. I wish they'd put more syrup because you can barely taste the green tea.
The 3Q cranberry lemon drink was really good. It comes with grass jelly, aiyu jelly, and tapioca. 
Xian cao tea with grass jelly is probably the best drink I've had from there so far. 
Wintermelon tea with mini balls (mochi) was really good too but they should have a bigger straw for that - the regular bbt straw isn't big enough so we found the mochi kinda blocking the straw for majority of it lol. The tea tasted good though! It's a new and different concept to have mochi instead of tapioca in a drink so it was interesting for me lol. 
Overall, I do like going here but I wouldn't go if I'm having a bad day and I'm impatient... lol. It's so so so sad sitting there watching them make the food and drinks and taking their time as if people aren't waiting. And it's even sadder when there's only two tables to be served but the wait is still 30 mins.

The infamous Taiwanese dessert chain BlackBall has planted roots in Edmonton and the high for shaved ice continues to soar within Edmontonians. Dominating a good part of Asia there are great factors on why BlackBall is so popular; for one-they’re offering bubble tea with a side of more dessert. Catering to the Asian palate - the toppings you’ll find here aren’t what you’d typically see at more of the westernized dessert spots. Which is even more of a reason to give this place a try.

Having a ton of different series of “bowled” desserts; Ranging from hot soup desserts to shaved ice and various jelly bases, which you can then customize and build to your liking with traditional Asian toppings; which include-but not limited to.. Taro, Yam, Sesame Rice Balls, Aiyu Jelly, Kidney beans and MATCHA JELLY. (omg.)(iknow.)

BlackBall Crushed Ice - ($8.99) - ⅘ - Shaved ice piled with boba, taro, yam, kidneys beans and a lovely surprise of grass jelly hidden in the bottom. Portions are huge, you can easily share this with 3 people, mind you- we had this after dinner. I liked how this wasn’t overly sweet and the mix off grass jelly and the kidney beans mellowed out the sweetness of the condensed milk. Downer was the weird texture and aftertaste of the yam. The option to customize will be utilized my next visit.

Pudding - (0.75) - 5/5 - This was listed as a topping, and I assumed when ordering it would be piled on top of my shaved ice as well, it wasn’t, and I’m totally okay with that. I don’t know why, but this pudding was my favorite. It was soft, and squishy and looked so perfect. I’d honestly stop by just for this side topping.

Matcha Fresh Milk - R(5.49)L(5.99) - 5/5 - I’m just as surprised that I opted for this matcha milk when wintermelon was an option. I know, but you don’t understand. It looked so pretty on the poster, and tasted just good. Simple but executed perfectly well.

Sitting off Stony Plain Road, the shared parking lot made parking on a Friday night hassle free. There was a bit of a line when we got in, but subsided quickly. Staff was friendly and were willing/enthusiastic to elaborate on menu. I’m glad the West end finally has a decent place for my dessert cravings now. I’ll definitely be coming back. Totally recommend!

I have been dying for a Taiwanese dessert place to open up in Edmonton. It's about time! I had this in Australia and similar dessert places in Taiwan itself. Blackball was pretty good, I got the grass jelly with taro q, yam q and red bean. Honestly, the portion was so small for $8.99.. We also got a jiu fen shaved ice which was good. I'm a bit bummed that it costs $8.99 per dessert which is quite expensive..but it's the only one in Edmonton so I can't complain.