BlackBall is a Taiwanese dessert spot specializing in decked out crushed ice bowls and black grass jelly. 

This is the first Canadian location of the highly popular chain, which has over 100 stores worldwide.

It's no wonder the brand is beloved in tropical and subtropical countries throughout Asia: everything off BlackBall's menu built to cool you down on a hot summer's day. 

It should be noted, however, that this is a year-round thing, given that you can get any of these desserts cold or hot.

Offering a refined take on Taiwanese desserts with an impressive selection of jelly varieties, tapiocas, and sticky rice balls, bowls here somehow manage to taste natural and light—healthy even. 

The silky smooth black jelly, known as Xian Cao in Taiwan, is known to have beneficial health benefits, which makes the experience of consuming these bowls guilt-free in comparison to other desserts.

Using a light signature brown sugar syrup, dishes like the Taro Shaved Ice with Condensed Milk ($8.99) come laden with specialty toppings and a pile of sweetened ice. 

There are sizeable servings of mini taro balls, sweet taro (the yellow things), and tapioca, but the ingredient that steals the show is the soft and reddish cubes of real taro which, for some reason, are rarely ever offered at most Asian dessert spots. 

The Signature Matcha Jelly Bowl ($10.99) is a highly satisfying and chewy experience. 

A jiggly serving of matcha pudding is served on matcha-flavoured ice surrounded by clear jelly boba, mini taro balls, red bean, and sweet taro. 

A whole section of the menu is dedicated to Aiyu jelly, a rising star in bubble tea toppings made from a Taiwanese fig. 

The Signature Aiyu Jelly bowl ($10.95) might be my favourite, with regular and jelly tapioca, taro balls, red bean, and a tougher coconut jelly that adds even more bite to this textured dish. 

For something you don't have to chase with a spoon, the Mixed Fruit Qffle ($12.99) is just an on-brand name for a Belgian waffle.

I suspect there's tapioca starch in here, hence the delicious stretchiness of the waffle. It's decked out with fruits and a scoop of ice cream. 

As for drinks, BlackBall has something called the Devil Milk series, which offers bruleed drinks.

The Coconut Brown Sugar Fresh Milk ($6.49) come with a thick, foamy layer of cheese mixture, lightly burnt, that actually tastes like cheese.

Tapioca is unsurprisingly on point here, as is the Black Rice Fresh Milk drink ($6.09) with taro balls.

While it's definitely spacious enough at BlackBall to grab a seat and slurp down some black jelly, but if the weather's nice, you might feel inclined to eat these cooling bowls in the summer heat.