I'm addicted! Living in San Francisco Bay Area, I have no problem finding bubble tea/coffee shops. They're everywhere.

Most of my friends don't like it though. They say it tastes like rubber.

Bursa, I will visit Boston a lot in the coming months. Any specific place(s) that you can recommend? Thx.

In Boston, it is available at a number of places:

The best place to go is the tiny Juice Bar located on the second floor of a Chinese shopping complex at 44 Beach Street in Chinatown.

You can also go to May's Cafe (on Glenville Ave in Allston/Brighton) for very good bubble tea (standard milke tea), or you can goto the chains of Lollicup around Harvard Sq and in the Super 88 on Brighton Ave. There are also an Infusions Tea Spa and Cassava Bubble Tea Lounge and some others...

Thanks for the info!

I like the Lychee bits more than the pearls

Thanks for the kit, we made some yesterday and the wife really liked it

Hope you got the chocolate abuelita.

Tropioca in Midtown on Milam has a nice selection, lots of board games and free wi-fi to boot. A great place to hang out. Only problem is fighting the college kids for a table.

I know that the Pho 79 chain in Denver serves it, as well. My girlfriend is particularly addicted to the Taro root one.

Timothy

I had my first (and definitely last) taste of boba while in California this week. For those not familiar, it is tea, infused with milk that is served cold. So far, so good. And this portion of the drink I actually liked.

Now for the bad part. There are slimy tapioca balls at the bottom of the cup. (In this case, they were chocolate tapioca balls).You use a really wide straw, and these nasty things end up in your mouth. The entire time, I thought a) I do not have a cold....and b) I'm about to barf.

Finally, I could take no more of this calamity.....and vowed never to drink this again.
Does anyone out there like this?

Boba shops have sprung up all over Southern CA the last couple or so years.

I had no idea what they were selling or what Boba was until I read your thread.

Don't believe I'll make my first visit anytime soon.

I know it as Milk Tea with pearls (or tapioca, but they are not usually chocolate). Here it Texas it is usually sold at Chinese restaurants and other places.
First tried it in Taiwan, and have loved it every since.

There's a few around here, I personally like them. Some flavors are better than others. And the balls are half the fun part drink, part yummy snack.

The tapioca balls are actually very tasty, but need to be freshly prepared. Shops with high turnover or dedicated boba drink places tend to be better for this. Once the tapioca balls get to be day old, they do develop a very slimy exterior.

Also, I'm not sure that chocolate tapioca makes a good flavor combination. I personally like the classic tea infused flavor--it matches the milk tea drink a lot better.

That said, everyone has different takes for texture/flavor. The tapioca balls should be a firmer, chewier version of agar agar or jello.

I luv bubble tea. I luv it so very much. The boba are just chewy bits of goodness in a sea of tasty tea. In fact, I think I'll get some this afternoon!

I like 'em. My local pho place offers bubble shakes - the mango is delicious.

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...