My sister Roshali and I are lifelong snack buddies and believe wholeheartedly in treating ourselves often. It was through a commitment to this way of life that we found our great love: Machi Machi.

We used to spend my Mondays off together and usually ended up at Chadstone, always stopping for a refreshing little treat post-shop. It’s definitely not limited to Mondays anymore, but the steadfast rule is that we can only have Machi Machi together because it’s our thing. Babies obviously can’t drink caffeine, but my little niece, Stevie, loves it, too. We’re such wholesome Machi Machi girlies.

They do a kind of elevated version of some classic bubble tea flavours, all very minimalist and aesthetically pleasing. Their stores are beautifully designed too – lots of rounded edges, pastels, cement and terrazzo features. They serve really high-quality tea with specified provenance, brewed to order, unlike a lot of places that just do powdered tea mixes. The menu offering is pretty simple and concise, and you can’t go crazy and customise the way you can at other bubble tea places. They actually don’t let you.

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Rosheen Kaul, Stevie and Roshali Kaul Shang. Photography: Kaede James Takamoto

The first question we always ask ourselves is whether we’re feeling fresh-fruity or rich-creamy today.

My sister’s fresh-fruity order is a grapefruit green tea slush (no sugar) and her rich-creamy order is the black milk tea with crème brûlée (half sugar with mini taro balls) – and she has a very specific technique to drink it. She says, “Take a sip of the top layer of crispy crème brûlée. Drink about half of the milk tea with the straw, then give it a stir to mix the brûlée with the tea.” This is advice from a seasoned Machi Machi pro, which you should follow if you want to know how best to enjoy the textural extravaganza.




Photography: Kaede James Takamoto

My fresh-fruity order is the mixed berry slush with cream cheese foam, and my creamy order bounces between the brown sugar latte with pearls and the red bean matcha smoothie (without red bean). They use the most incredible floral tea for the berry slush base, so it’s got this real orange blossom energy to it. The cream cheese foam is fabulous, I remember I was so reluctant to try it because I thought it sounded gross. But it’s basically a really airy, lightly salted whipped cheesecake cream. That lightly salty, savoury richness, coupled with a mixed berry crush tastes like the best cheesecake with berry compote you’ve ever had.

Stevie is in her strawberry milk era, and the strawberry latte with panna cotta is her favourite. It comes in a cute bottle, too, which is perfect for her little hands.




Stevie. Photography: Kaede James Takamoto

We go nearly once a week and it’s been a few years, so I’ve definitely been at least 100 times.

It just ticks every box. The teas are so finessed and precise, but most importantly it’s just so delicious. The workers treat the ingredients with a lot of care – you see them picking herbs and cutting fresh fruit for garnishes all the time – and I really like that you just have to trust the set drink combinations. The stores are so pretty and so calming, and the whole experience is very aesthetically pleasing. It’s a well-made tasty treat in pretty packaging.

It’s extra special these days, because my sister and I used to go to Machi Machi when she was on maternity leave, and now the baby comes along for bubble tea with the girls, too.

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