Boba Of the Bay Area

two east bay boba lovers finding the best boba in the bay

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Today we visited: Asha Tea House 2806 University Ave Berkeley, CA 94704 [phone]

Monday - Saturday: 11:00 AM - 10:00 PM Sunday: 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM

The drink we ordered: Large iced matcha latte with soy milk and boba.

Review:

Notes: We love Asha. One of our all-time favorite drinks comes from Asha: the Matcha Latte with soy milk. The atmosphere would be nice for studying, except that Asha is always full, it’s hard to find a spot for your laptop, or books, because every booth is full. The chairs are metal stools or wooden benches. These contribute nicely to the visual modern style but are not the best for extended hours working. 

Overall rating: 7/10

The drink: Flavor Variety: 3/10* Taste: 10/10 100% sweetness: 5/10 Size difference: yes (16 & 24 oz.) Oz/1$: 

The boba: Individual pearl size: Medium Quantity: 5/10 Texture: 9/10

The customizability: Dairy free milk: Yes Sugar adjustment: Yes Ice adjustment: Yes Fresh fruit option: No Toppings: 2

More about the shop: Snack options: Yes Snack variety: 2/10 Snack cost: 7/10 Organic: Yes Atmosphere: Noisy, modern tables covered in laptops and students from Cal.  Location or neighborhood: Downtown berkeley Wifi: Yes Bathroom: Yes

*Asha has many teas which they do not allow you to add boba. Their policy is to only allow boba in teas that in Taiwan would traditionally have boba. I am torn on whether to applaud or complain about this, but that is why their flavor variety is so low.

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Today we visited: A’Cuppa Tea 2992 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705 [phone]

Monday - Thursday: 7:30 AM - 9:00 PM Friday: 7:30 AM - 7:00 PM Saturday - Sunday: 8:00 AM - 7:00PM

The drinks we ordered: A 16 oz. iced peppermint tea with soy milk and boba, and a 16 oz. iced rose black tea with soy milk and boba.

Review:

Notes: A'Cuppa tea is in a calm location on college ave, next to many lunch spots. It is open early in the morning. If you order for-here, tea is served in a glass, reducing plastic waste. In addition, all teas here are made with loose leaf tea, and no syrups or powders. The variety is incredible, with black teas, green teas, white teas, herbal teas, and oolong teas. The tea itself is expensive, due to its high quality, but this means just grabbing boba tea costs 5$. There is a full breakfast and lunch menu. Food is average priced.

Overall rating: 8/10

The drink: Flavor Variety: 10/10 Taste: 9/10 100% sweetness: 3/10 Size difference: yes (16 & 24 oz.)  Oz/1$: 3.2

The boba: Individual pearl size: Large Quantity: 6/10 Texture: 5/10

The customizability: Dairy free milk: Yes Sugar adjustment: Yes Ice adjustment: Yes Fresh fruit option: No* Toppings: 1

More about the shop: Snack options: Yes  Snack variety: 10/10 Snack cost: 9/10 Organic: Yes Atmosphere: Quiet classical music, comfy armchairs, people working and studying.  Location or neighborhood: Elmwood neighborhood of Berkeley Wifi: Yes Bathroom: Yes 

*There are fresh fruit juices, which are not meant to have boba, but the woman here is awesome and let us try boba in citrus tea so I'm sure you can try boba in fruit juice.

[bobaofthebay]

Today we visited: Sheng Kee Bakery 2307 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704 [phone]

Monday - Sunday: 7:00 AM - 11:00 PM

The drinks we ordered: Regular size (16 oz) honey green tea and black milk tea with boba.

Review

Notes:  The milk tea is odd, but not bad. The green tea is good and the boba texture is great. It is a bakery so there are a lot of sweet and savory baked snacks.

Overall rating: 6/10

The drink: Flavor Variety: 3/10 Taste: 5/10 100% sweetness: 8/10 Size difference: Yes  Oz/1$: 7

The boba: Individual pearl size: Small Quantity: 5/10 Texture: 8 /10

The customizability: Dairy free milk: No Sugar adjustment: No Ice adjustment: No Fresh fruit option: No Toppings: 7

More about the shop: Snack options: Yes  Snack variety: 9/10 Snack cost: 2/10 Organic: No Atmosphere: No seating Location or neighborhood: Cal campus  Wifi: No

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Today we visited: Teaway 402 Central Ave Alameda, CA 94501 [phone] Monday-Sunday: 11:00am-11:00pm

The drink we ordered: Regular size (16 oz) rose black tea and lemon ginger black tea. We added small and large boba and the grass jelly.

Review:

Notes: We were not impressed with the flavor, so getting a natural tea (without the syrups, like plain milk tea) would be recommended. The self-serve toppings are pretty cool and for that reason, it might be nice to come again and try for a better drink. The prep time was 30 seconds.

Overall rating: 4/10

The drink: Flavor Variety: 7/10 Taste: 3/10 100% sweetness: 9/10 Size difference: Yes Oz/$: 5.82

The boba: Individual pearl size: Offers Small and Large Quantity: 10/10 Texture: 8/10

The customizability: Dairy free milk: No Sugar adjustment: No  Ice adjustment: No Fresh fruit option: No Toppings: 11

More about the shop: Snack options: Yes, because it’s connected to a fro-yo shop Snack variety: 5/10 Snack cost: 3/10 Organic: No Atmosphere: Clean and mostly empty, although we went when schools in Alameda were in session. Location or neighborhood: Alameda (Park St) Wifi: No

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Today we visited: Boba Guys 3491 19th St, San Francisco CA [phone] (They also have a Union Square location) Monday-Thursday: 12pm to 9pm Friday & Saturday: 12pm to 10pm Sunday: 12pm to 5pm

The drink we ordered: Hot 16 oz Jasmine tea with extra boba, 25% sweetness.

Review:

Notes: This is by far our favorite boba place. The tea is amazing. We have in the past ordered thai tea, rose black tea (Delphina’s favorite), hong kong style tea, horchata boba (!!!!!), and the matcha latte. The boba is also amazing, and if you order less sugar it also tastes pleasantly sweet. There isn’t a lot of seating at either location, and the line can get extremely long. We think it is worth the wait. If you order a hot drink, the texture of the boba gets a lot softer on the outside.

Overall rating: 9/10

The drink: Flavor Variety: 6/10 Taste: 10/10 100% sweetness: 8/10 Size difference: Yes: if you order your tea hot, they offer 12 oz and 16 oz but if you order it cold they recently added a 20 oz size! Oz/$: 4

The boba: Individual pearl size: Medium Quantity: 5/10 but extra boba does not cost more, so be sure to ask for that if you like a lot of boba Texture: 9/10

The customizability: Dairy free milk: Yes; almond milk and soy milk Sugar adjustment: Yes  Ice adjustment: No, but you can ask, and postmates allows ice adjustments Fresh fruit option: Yes Toppings: 3 (50 cents each)

More about the shop: Snack options: Yes, but only in the Mission location Snack variety: 1/10 Snack cost: 8/10 Organic: YES! They use Strauss milk! Atmosphere: Small, packed, very clean, and made to look like a science lab Location or neighborhood: Mission or Union Square Wifi: No

[bobaofthebay]

Today we visited: Plentea 341 Kearny St, San Francisco, CA 94108 [phone] Open Weekdays 11am-11pm Open Weekends 12pm-11pm

The drink we ordered: Black milk tea with boba. $5.00

Review:

Notes: The tea was not amazing, but the presentation was great. The option to get your drink in a milk bottle is environmentally friendly because if you bring the bottle back, you get 10% off the next drink. There is no bathroom. The time it took to prepare our drink on a busy day was less than 1 minute. There is plenty of seating and even an upstairs. The milk bottle made the drink too expensive.

Overall rating: 4/10

The drink: Flavor Variety: 5/10 Taste: 4/10 100% sweetness: 7/10 Size difference: No  Oz/$: 4

The boba: Individual pearl size: Small Quantity: 8/10 Texture: 9/10

The customizability: Dairy free milk: No Sugar adjustment: No Ice adjustment: No Fresh fruit option: Yes Toppings: 6 (50 cents each)

More about the shop: Snack options: Yes Snack variety: 7/10 Snack cost: 9/10 Organic: No Atmosphere: Loud, packed, clean, and modern design (”hipster”) Location or neighborhood: Union square Wifi: Yes

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Today we visited: ShareTea 2440 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 [phone] Open Weekdays 11am-11pm Open Weekends 12pm-11pm

The drinks we ordered: Honey green tea with aloe and boba, 80% sweetness; coffee milk tea with boba, no ice, 50% sweetness; brown rice milk tea with boba, 50% sweetness

Review:

Notes: The tea was good and refreshing. The regular size is on the larger side at about 20 oz. The taste was great despite being on the sweeter side. The boba were almost imperceptibly undercooked. There wasn’t too much ice.

Overall rating: 7/10

The drink: Flavor Variety: 8/10 Taste: 7/10 100% sweetness: 9/10 Size difference: No Oz/$: 5

The boba: Individual pearl size: Large Quantity: 8/10 Texture: 5/10

The customizability: Dairy free milk: No Sugar Adjustment: Yes Ice adjustment: Yes, no ice costs 25 cents Fresh fruit option: No Toppings: 10

More about the shop: Snack Options: No Organic: No Atmosphere: More or less clean, not crowded but full Location or neighborhood: Across from Cal campus Wifi: No

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Today we visited: Cool Tea Bar 103 Waverly Pl, San Francisco, CA 94108 [phone] Open every day from 11am-8pm

The drink we ordered: Regular size honey green tea with boba, 70% sugar

Review:

Notes: The tea was good and refreshing. The regular size is on the larger side at about 20 oz. The taste was great despite being on the sweeter side. The boba were almost imperceptibly undercooked. There wasn’t too much ice.

Overall rating: 6/10

The drink: Flavor Variety: 5/10 Taste: 7/10 100% sweetness: 9/10 Size difference: Yes (Regular and Large)  Oz/$: 5

The boba: Individual pearl size: Medium Quantity: 7/10 Texture: 7/10

The customizability: Dairy free milk: No Sugar Adjustment: Yes Ice adjustment: No Fresh fruit option: No Toppings: 8

More about the shop: Snack Options: No Organic: No Atmosphere: More or less clean, almost empty Location or neighborhood: Chinatown Wifi: No