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This was an okay place. I ordered the avocado smoothie and it was very apparent that they had put some of the shell of the avocado into the mix and I had bits and bits and bits and bits of the shell in every sip of my drink. Actually, you know what? I am not even sure if they used an actual avocado since most boba drinks are powder. So, I had no idea what I was crunching on… Crunch, crunch, crunch. I really hoped that wasn’t a bug. What I could vouch for is that they do make the drinks really fast. Superhuman speed. Well. That was more of a exaggeration but I couldn’t do any faster myself is what I am trying to say. Maybe I feel inferior to these small boba stores because… I don’t even know how to make one myself. I guess boba shops just put syrup, sugar, water, and some little “milk tea” flavoring powder into making the drink. But who knows? I can only boil water and buy milk from the store. I kind of feel worthless knowing that, but that is okay… Countless of other people are also buying boba themselves, so I feel A-OK. You know, now that I think about it, I just buy boba drinks to escape from reality. I really don’t finish these drinks at all. I just take a few sips and then become sad and depressed after. I really don’t know what I wanna do with my life. Maybe I should open a boba store. So I can have a few sips every hour. A little bit of happiness every hour. Honestly, maybe I will become fat after drinking so many… I mean, I know I will slowly become fat after I reach menopause. But that doesn’t matter, men judge me all the time of my appearance and I just feel so numb to judgement. I don’t try to argue back on anything of the matter because I know that men, specially white men, will always try to win the argument and it’s just no use anymore. Do you know what it feels like to be alone and depressed with a bad batch of boba? It feels like you don’t know what to feel anymore.

• Boba Heaven – Menu with Prices – 3112 N Jupiter Rd suite 311, Garland
• Kung Fu Tea – Menu with Prices – 2067 N Central Expy Suite 100, Richardson
• 7 Leaves Cafe – Menu with Prices – 18547 S Western Ave, Torrance
• Little Saigon Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 7016 N 57th Ave, Glendale
• Around the World Cafe – Menu with Prices – 5110 Park Rd 1-K, Charlotte
• 7 Leaves Cafe – Menu with Prices – 375 Saratoga Ave Suite N, San Jose
• Foodie and Sweetie D Market – Menu with Prices – 89 D St E, Salt Lake City
• RareTea Berkeley Menu with Prices 2440 Bancroft Way, Berkeley
• Cha Express – Menu with Prices – 46164 Warm Springs Blvd #234, Fremont
• Black Pearls Tea Bar Menu with Prices 2630 S Parker Rd, Aurora
• Aloha Tea & Coffee – Menu with Prices – 6766 W Glendale Ave Ste 140, Glendale
• Treehouse Cafe – Menu with Prices – 11450 Fourth St Suite 105, Rancho Cucamonga

Boba Heaven – Menu with Prices – 3112 N Jupiter Rd suite 311, Garland

I love me some bubble tea! I’ve always passed by this particular boba store so I thought today was the day to try it out and I am glad I did. I got my usual Thai milk tea with boba no ice. There was a good boba to tea ratio for a large. The Thai tea flavor wasn’t as strong as I’ve had it at other bubble tea places so that was a bit of a let down because I like it to be more strong, it wasn’t overly creamy, however wasn’t watery either. I would preferred it to be a little bit more creamy but the level it was at was average. What I absolutely loved was the sugar level, I absolutely HATE it when my tea is too sweet to the point where you can’t even taste the tea, but this had the perfect amount without me even asking to lower the sugar level! The boba itself was a let down, I felt like half of them were nicely cooked and chewy while the other half was undercooked and had a stale center. Overall the tea was nice to drink, but the some of the partly uncooked/stake boba was not pleasant. I got the coconut smoothie for my mom, We had asked for the avocado but sadly they were out, why not branch out she thought. I had a couple of sips to try it out. There was a very very faint taste of coconut, it almost tasted like having a very watered down coconut water. Yes I know it was in a smoothie so a solid 90% of it is pure ice but it would’ve been a lot better if it had a stronger coconut flavor. That being said the flavor that was there didn’t have an artificial/syrupy coconut flavor to it, it tasted pretty clean which was a redeeming quality. I personally thought it should’ve been a little bit more sweet, but my mom seemed to enjoy the sugar level as it was. It also had a lot of dried coconut shaving bits, we both were a bit annoyed by that since it felt rough and grainy, if the shavings were larger and more chewable the experience would’ve been better. The boba had similar consistency to the one in the Thai tea. Overall this is not drink I would get again. I would probably come back to this bubble tea shop just to tryout other drinks (one being the avocado smoothie) to see if I find anything particularly amazing. **sadly did not remember to take a pic of the coconut smoothie, but to describe it I would say it was 100% artic white with boba on the bottom, with an icy consistency **

Kung Fu Tea – Menu with Prices – 2067 N Central Expy Suite 100, Richardson

Kung Fu Tea One of my favorite Boba chains and has locations all over the US. My favorite drinks from KFT are the milk teas. The Milk Teas at KFT are my favorite because of how creamy and rich the milk tea is compared to other Boba shop chains. The inside of the place is clean and looks nice but tables can be dirty like any other boba shop. The staff can make common mistakes just like any other boba shops. Another thing is their attention to your sugar preference. Sometimes I can order 50% sweetness but it’s still really sweet at KFT. This goes for every single boba shop out their is their attention to your sugar preference that you order. The same thing applies when you ask for less ice at KFT and all boba shops can give you normal ice amount. I’ve been to many boba chains and my favorite boba chain is ShareTea for its generous serving of boba and you get a larger size for the same price as a small size at KFT. The tea creaminess of the milk tea at ShareTea is more subtle then KFT. So it’s all a matter of your preference if you want more tea and stronger tea flavor go to ShareTea if you like your tea creamy but get less tea go to Kung Fu Tea. Another thing I don’t like about KFT is that they use a lot of powder flavoring for fruit drinks like taro. My favorite drink at KFT is oolong milk tea with boba because it’s creamy and rich flavor and a nutty taste. Drinks I recommend ordering are the Matcha red bean slush, oolong milk tea, and Kung fu tea. KFT also has an app to earn rewards and points every time you buy.

7 Leaves Cafe – Menu with Prices – 18547 S Western Ave, Torrance

Based on the previous yelp reviews and all the hype about this chain, I thought 7 leaves cafe would be my new go-to place. Sadly, this place fell below expectations. The venue is small, with a long table and a bench. its mainly a grab and go place. They offer a decent selection of milk teas including Jasmin, Oolong, and Taro Milk Tea. They also serve strawberry croissants which looked good, and macarons. However, I just wanted the drinks, so I went for the Assam Milk Tea, which according to the menu is “black tea carefully balanced with real sugar and milk” and the Jasmin Milk Tea with the option “lightly sweetened with honey boba,” for my mom. the service is good, I got my drinks within minutes of ordering and then I left. But the downside is that the drinks were loaded with sugar. Now, if you are reading this and love sweet drinks, then this would be the place for you. Sadly this place doesn’t allow you to adjust the sugar levels. I tried getting both drinks with no sugar and they said the most they can do is make it “lightly sweetened” So I did that for the Jasmin Milk Tea. Sadly, the this store and I have different definitions for the words “lightly sweetened.” The Assam Milk tea was supposed to have this bold flavor of black tea, but that was negligible when doused with a concentrated amount of sugar. To top it off, I think they were out of boba and didn’t tell me or somehow confused the word “boba” with “Aloe Vera” because I ended up with a Jasmin Milk Tea with Aloe Vera instead of Honey Boba. We ended up throwing the drinks away. So, I will try and come back just for the pastries. While they offer stamp cards, I doubt I’ll be back for the drinks anytime soon.

Little Saigon Restaurant – Menu with Prices – 7016 N 57th Ave, Glendale

My husband and I had a craving for some pho. The options are somewhat limited in the West Valley though. I got the beef pho with rice noodles (#11) and my husband got the pork and wonton soup with egg noodles. Both dishes were decent but nothing special. My dish was described as having beef, medium fat beef and tripe (tendon crossed out which is one of my favorites). I’m not sure what medium fat beef is but what was actually in my pho was a meatball. The beef and tripe were cooked well and tender. The broth was very mild; mostly salted without much umami. The portion sizes were good though. Service was great and everything brought on time including refills. The restaurant is kind of cute also. Not amazingly clean but decorated. They advertise shaved snow on the menu but after we ordered (half the toppings weren’t available) someone else came out and said they don’t offer it anymore. We got a green milk tea with boba and a mango smoothie with boba. The green milk tea was very low quality, tasted like powdered milk, and the boba was over cooked. My first sign should have been the excessive froth on top. The mango smoothie was also low quality. It tasted like watered down Hi-C, very artificial and the boba was overcooked into a clump at the bottom of the cup. We’d much rather drive further and go to a better pho place like Unphogetable. Absolute worst boba drinks we have ever had. Will definitely not order those again. In all honesty, we probably won’t come back anyway.

Around the World Cafe – Menu with Prices – 5110 Park Rd 1-K, Charlotte

We stopped by this little shop for some boba tea and was pleasantly surprised by the variety and quality of both the teas and ice creams. We ordered 2 Thai Milk Teas with Boba, Strawberry Milk with Boba, Milk Tea with Boba, and Hazel Nana ice cream. The Thai Milk Tea was super refreshing and the Strawberry Milk reminded me is my new favorite drink! I wish they served something similar at boba chains that are closer to me since this cafe is more local and probably isn’t a chain. The Milk Tea was also very delicious. The Hazel Nana ice cream was spectacular!! It was the best ice cream I’ve had in a while and it’s been a few days and I’m still thinking about it. It’s the best banana hazelnut flavored ice cream I’ve had in a while. Our server was also super nice and friendly while explaining menu items. The only minor complaint I have is that some of the drink menu items don’t have prices on them but their menu is written with chalk so I’m sure they could easily add the prices. Most drinks are between $3-$5 depending on the size and the drink (the pricing is similar to Starbucks). If I’m ever in the area I’m definitely stopping by again!

7 Leaves Cafe – Menu with Prices – 375 Saratoga Ave Suite N, San Jose

Finally got to try out 7 Leaves after all the hype from my friends. I think I got the wrong drinks so this deserves a second trip and update. This is what I thought of my first experience though. Location (3/5): Store is located on the corner of a plaza that’s kind of hard to get into. Lots of cars going in and out and it’s one of the entrances that immediately curves right/left depending on which entrance you turn into. Parking shouldn’t be a problem but it was pretty packed when I went. Also, take your belongings with you or hide them in the trunk because the parking spot next to me had shattered glass from a car. Store (4/5): It’s a pretty nice looking store but it’s sort of small. If you are planning on camping out for the day, you better go early because there aren’t a lot of tables inside. I think there’s enough though if you plan to chill for like 15-20 minutes after you get your order. Service (5/5): Pretty good! No issues here. I think the store is staffed by half ABG’s which isn’t a bad thing haha. Drinks (2/5): I’m a pretty standard boba drinker. Normally love to get a good quality PMT and I’d be pretty happy. However, I went bold this time and wanted to try something special from their menu so I went for the Mung Bean Milk Tea. We also opted for the Taro Milk Tea but that’s pretty standard. 1.) Mung Bean Milk Tea – I got 50 sugar/50 ice and it still tasted hella sweet. It’s pretty thick so be prepared to feel like you are eating a liquefied green bean soup. I think letting the ice melt and slowly drinking helped but damn this drink is hard to finish. If you are a big fan of Vietnamese drinks from Bambu, I think you’ll like this more but I wasn’t a big fan. 2.) Taro Milk Tea – 50 sugar/50 ice and it also felt very sweet. Tastes pretty good though and thought it was a good take on Taro Milk Tea. **I like how the toppings are only additional 55 cents. We got boba for both drinks and they were sweet and soft just how I like them. I have to try this place again and update my review after ordering maybe an Assam Milk Tea. That’s probably going to satisfy my tastes more.

Foodie and Sweetie D Market – Menu with Prices – 89 D St E, Salt Lake City

Foodie & Sweetie The name doesn’t make sense but nonetheless is freaking cute. I am all for cute things in life and I am especially a fan of things that doesn’t make sense. If you have read some of my reviews, you know what I am talking about. I think the quirky name is exactly how I would describe the vibe and food of this establishment. If I was still a child, this place would be an ideal place I would want to frequent often. After school, head to foodie & sweetie for a snack, while looking at the plushies and random stationary items. Although, I wish they had more of a variety of snacks such as banana milk. Haha, if you watch Korean dramas, you know what’s up. But that suggestion shouldn’t even be taken seriously because one, this place isn’t Korean, and two, I’m not a child anymore and would not come here for banana milk. Anyways. I was very excited to try this place because I work close to the avenues and having a closer boba option would be nice. However, I was very disappointed in the boba. I got two drinks to try, the original milk tea with less sugar, and the fruit tea with no sugar. The milk tea flavor was fine but the boba wasn’t cooked all the way. Undercooked boba is the worst. As for the fruit tea, it tasted just like fruit infused water. I was not able to pick up any actual flavor of the tea itself. Definitely would not come here for boba BUT omg I would definitely come back for the pan fried dumplings. These dumplings stole the show, for sure. I loved loved loved the pan fried texture of the dumpling skin, it was sooo good! And usually I don’t like the filling inside dumplings but I was surprised how juicy good the meatball was in these ones. I also got to sample the braised pork, curry chicken, szechuan noodles, and spicy turkey neck. All of those items were overall good aside from the spicy turkey neck. Wouldn’t recommend that “secret menu” item because the turkey meat was super dry, it wasn’t spicy, and it was cold. -Sailor out

RareTea Berkeley Menu with Prices 2440 Bancroft Way, Berkeley

Very disappointed. Wasted money, calories, time. It is no secret, I love boba and I try my best to sample new places so I can yelp about them too!!We wanted to try a new place in Berkley and saw high stars and lots of reviews for this place so thought of giving it a go. The location has limited parking options and is best to walk to it ( from the Main Street ) or park far and walk. It is a small place which looked very make shift for some reason. The menu is limited and has been categorised well actually for ease of ordering. We got the Taro boba tea (cold) and the Coffee milk tea with boba ( hot). Both orders costs $9.00 making this not a cheap place and very comparable to other boba places. The hot drink was not hot !! Yes , it was maybe luke warm. I brought that to the attention of the staff and they microwaved it in front me. Still not hot. The flavour was so weak and the tea tasted more like water less like milk. The only good thing was the boba which by itself was actually good. The drink overall was not good 3/10. The Taro drink was better than the hot one but also lacked good flavour and was very watered down. 4/10. The boba itself had great texture but the drink diminished the boba completely. We left very unhappy and I unfortunately would not recommend this to anyone.

Cha Express – Menu with Prices – 46164 Warm Springs Blvd #234, Fremont

So thought this place was going to be good but overall the drinks are way too sweet. I went over the weekend for their grand opening buy one get one free special and tried 4 different drinks. Tried the guava and grapefruit, Hawaiian tea, kumquat lemon tea, and their classic yunnan milk tea. Ordered all drinks 50% sweet and 50% ice. The only drink that was okay was the yunnan milk tea. All the others were way too sweet even at 50% they tasted more like 125% sugar and that was without adding any toppings. If you like your boba extra sweet, this place is for you but I prefer to taste the tea in my drinks. The service was friendly but even though the line wasn’t too long maybe 20 people, it still took about 45 minutes from start to end to receive the order. Drinks are also about $5 without any toppings, a bit on the pricey side for boba. Would be worth it if it didn’t taste like straight sugar. Most likely won’t be back.

Black Pearls Tea Bar Menu with Prices 2630 S Parker Rd, Aurora

I have visited this boba place multiple times since it has first opened. Initially it was very good, they have a multitude of different drinks and have recently expanded their food menu as well as finally fixing their ice cream machine. My usual drink was the Taro Milk Tea with boba and after my visit today with my friend, I will never go here again. After a very long wait, my order was called and they had messed up my order. Instead of a Taro milk tea, which the person who took my order repeated after me confirming what I had ordered, instead when I got my drink it said on the receipt Thai milk tea. I informed them that they had gotten my order wrong and when they remade my drink it was absolutely disgusting. Taro at Black Pearl is a powdered tea that requires shaking, the person who had made it did not leave it on the machine long enough because when I started drinking it, the milk and powder began to separate almost as soon as I walked out of the door. Usually the boba at this place is pretty good quality, but today it was undercooked, making it inedible. And for the final straw, I was drinking my Taro Milk Tea with Boba when I bit down on something much harder than boba. Spitting it out, it was some sort of disgusting NOT FOOD item that was like black char/paint mixed in with the boba. Looking closer at my drink I realized that there were black flecks floating in with the drink and around the straw. Sad to say their quality and service have gotten this low. Definitely avoid this place!

Aloha Tea & Coffee – Menu with Prices – 6766 W Glendale Ave Ste 140, Glendale

I went in this morning around 11 and it was quiet. There appeared to only be one young man working the store. He was nice and friendly. I ordered a large Aloha Milk Tea with grass jelly. He made my drink very quickly and it was quite tasty. It was pretty light milk tea and not too sweet. Unfortunately, they gave me boba instead of grass jelly. I didn’t mention it because it didn’t bother me much. I’m sure if I had mentioned it, they would have offered to fix it. The boba wasn’t the best; some pieces were a bit undercooked. Overall, I’d go back and try it again. I think it’s worth a a stop and try. The tea is good.

Treehouse Cafe – Menu with Prices – 11450 Fourth St Suite 105, Rancho Cucamonga

When looking for a place to eat while in Ontario, came across the Treehouse Café. Seemed reminiscent of the boba cafés back in the 626, so decided to give it a try. Located right across from Ontario Mills in a small plaza with plenty of parking. Interior is pretty comfy with a lot of space. Since I came in the middle of a weekday, the place wasn’t too filled – several customers studying and working on their laptops. I can see the place being more busy on weekends with students taking advantage of the free WiFi. Very clean and modern looking aesthetics. There’s a brick wall with very cool looking clocks while the other walls are painted a lime green with wooden furniture to go with the color scheme. Their menu is super simple – there’s a few sandwich options (hot and cold), toasts/bagels, desserts (macarons, vegan donuts, puff custards – all made by other companies), and of course coffees and teas. Decided to give their sandwiches a try since we were already there, and judging from the many positive reviews, most Yelpers seem to really enjoy their hot sandwiches. Chicken Pesto with side salad ($8.50) – automatically came in a to-go box even though were dined in. Portion size of the salad was good – came with a vinaigrette sauce on the side. Salad had sundried tomatoes and feta or goat cheese crumbles mixed in as well. Was not a fan of the cheese at all, but I enjoyed the sundried tomatoes mixed in with the greens. As for the chicken pesto, probably one of their more popular sandwiches and I can see why. Portion wise, the sandwich was a little on the small side. Grilled chicken, mozzarella, house made pesto on top of sourdough bread. Can’t go wrong with the ingredients – the only thing lacking in the sandwich was the sun-dried tomatoes. It seemed like they had forgotten to include the tomatoes in the sandwich, so I used the bits from the salad to add to the sandwich. I really wanted to go with the Tuna Melt, but I was convinced that that sandwich is much easier to concoct at home on my own, thus I was swayed to try the Spicy Turkey Chipotle (also $8.50 with the same side salad on the side). This sandwich was underwhelming at best – came with some oven roasted turkey, spicy chipotle spread, avocado, and cheddar cheese on top of sourdough. Unfortunately the turkey just seemed like the slices you’d find in the prepackaged meats at the grocery store – no hint of it being roasted at all. The chipotle spread was not spicy and did little to add to the flavor of the sandwich, and the avocado was hidden behind the cheddar cheese flavor. The sandwich was bland and not tasty and not something I’d order again. As for the drinks – they looked very promising, so I ordered the almond milk tea with mini boba and adjusted sugar and ice accordingly to my preference. I don’t know how they made the almond milk tea, but it did not taste like the almond milk teas I’ve ever had at other boba stores. The almond flavoring they used had very minimal hints of almond flavor at all – so it was like drinking a milk tea that had been watered down. The mini boba was very mushy and had no flavor. For $4.75, I expected a lot more from the boba. We also ordered a taro milk tea; so this drink was adjusted to have no sugar. I’m not sure if that affected the flavors, but it tasted almost exactly like the almond milk tea – no hint of taro at all inside of a milk tea that was super dark and not reminiscent of what taro milk tea usually looks like. The drink wasn’t sweet, but had no strong milk or tea flavor to it either – at $4.75 for a large, this was ultimately very disappointing. Service was pretty friendly when approached with questions. Bathrooms are very clean and they have some games on the side for customers to use if you want something to do. tl;dr – Was underwhelmed by the drinks that we ordered here. Maybe coffee would have been a better choice? Enjoyed the chicken pesto, but the spicy turkey chipotle was a miss. A little disappointed in the overall visit