Boba is awesome when made well and nasty if in the wrong hands. The pearls should never have a film of slime. They should be chewy and slightly sweet with a nice "bite!" The best boba is in Taiwan, of course, but some great places in California too. My favorites in the Bay area are Sweetheart Cafe in Oakland and Berkeley - try their regular, green tea boba, or even a taro shake boba; and Fantasia in Mountain View. These are great on a hot day and you will walk into a place and see a wall of different flavor bobas to choose from. Sweetheart even makes hot boba drinks too. I love the hot taro boba from there because they use real taro and not a syrup. Be careful of places that use packaged flavorings instead of real juices, teas, or chunks of fruit.

In Taiwan, they put all sorts of things in these drinks other than just pearls. Even a pudding or custard milk tea. Sounds weird? yeah, it kinda is...