Cholula, you can get some at nearly every Thai and most Vietnamese restaurants around here. Tea Station has what seems to be the most variety and they are pretty good. The food is hit-or-miss, but the tea is great.

If you don't like the pearls/boba, ask them to leave it out. At some places, they charge you for adding it in!

Taro is my favorite flavor as well. In the summer, I love watermelon slushies with boba...they look like little pips in a wonderfully coral sea!

ugh tea station...

try fusion cafe on Claremont Mesa, caddy corner to Chettahs... they have this popcorn chicken that's ooo-soo-good.

I first had boba tea in Los Angeles' Chinatown in 2001, and since then I've sought it out at tea specialty shops around the country.

We even have it in Minneapolis now!

some of the flavors have a lot of chemical taste.

I like the jack fruit or watermelon boba ^

sometimes I'll request w/o the tapioca balls if not in the mood for them but other times I find it soothing to chew them one by one.:)

had some today in "Asian-town" north Orlando...pearls were undercooked but tea was tremendous

Mango Snow Ice with Boba... yummm. Or green tea boba. It's just that they're so d*mm unhealthy... Otherwise, I'd have one everyday.

Just had a red bean slush with boba for lunch today. It was really good, although I can see where someone unfamiliar with azuki beans might be put off by the combination.

I hope I can find boba tea all over the place in Seattle, too.

Boba tea is ubiquitous in Seattle--you'll find almost as many boba-tea places as teriyaki joints.

I believed bubble tea was first introduced in Hong Kong or Taiwan in the early 1990s... And was a big hit all over Asia in the late 90s... It is amazing to see it generating interests/discussion on here now... :)

And I was a big fan of it... Now, i get one once in a long long while... I bought one in SF's Chinatown recently... Not the best but it was decent... Shared it with a friend from SEA... And he wasn't impressed at all... I doubt he would get any in the future... :(

As mentioned on an earlier post here, the drink is great.. just too unhealthy.. especially if u are watching your waistline... Few years ago, shops in SIN (likely in other countries as well) have been offering aloe vera chunks as replacement of the pearls... Something healthier if u matched that with green tea w/o milk...

But drink unhealthily, u will die.. and drink healthily, u will still die... So i choose to eat/drink what i enjoyed the most before the day comes... ;)

In Tainan City, there is a tea shop that boasts that they were the first tea shop in the world to introduce bubble drinks to the world.

And have to agree with lin821, the Taiwanese knows how to make bubble tea. One of the few things I have become addicted to living here.

I am in Taipei right now. Last trip, just over a month ago, my host offered up large boba drinks to our group who hadn't experienced them before. Long story short most went untouched, including my own. Just wasn't sure what those little balls were! Now that I'm more enlightened I may have to try one again - with a bit more of an open mind. :)

My advice . . . . . Just don't eat the tapioca pearls.

If they are offending, you can drink around them. Or, better yet, do what I do and order the drink without the tapioca and enjoy drinking a tasty smoothie from a cool fat straw.

We've had a couple local places (one Japanese restaurant, another Vietnamese restaurant) who offered bubble tea/boba tea for several years now. i really enjoy them, and they are a fun game as well as a drink :)

Bought one for my boss a few months ago. He too was a bit apprehensive initially, but is now hooked.

Some of the stores not only sell the boba pearls but also other drinks such as slush, custard and jello. Mix and match, be creative.