Do you have that sudden urge for some creamy milk tea and those awesome pearls? Miss those little boba shops from back home? Don’t know if anything in IV will make up for it? Here are some boba places that you can try to help satisfy your boba cravings and to help you make a more “informed” decision when choosing where you can get your boba. You’re welcome. ;)
PS: The places are not ranked in any order. They are just ranked on a scale of one to ten pearls. (Hehe, get it? Because there’s pearls in boba drinks. Ok, bad joke. Moving on!)
PPS: Milk tea and boba are interchangeable. It’s actually supposed to be called milk tea and the balls are called pearls. Boba’s actually not the right word for it.
Hana Kitchen
o o o o o o o – 7/10 pearls
Hana Kitchen is the most obvious place that comes to mind when people want to get boba in IV. The pearls are the best part of the drinks, because I don’t really like the honey taste of the black and green tea. If you want to change it up, there’s options of ordering a slushie! So you can choose from options of mango or guava slushies and get boba with it.
Fire and Ice
o o o o o o o o – 6/10 pearls
If you haven’t heard of Fire and Ice, it’s the new place that opened up in place of Pita Pit right in front of Naan Stop. Fire and Ice is meant to be a shop mainly for milk tea, so obviously it’s meant to have quality boba. I didn’t particularly enjoy my first experience with the boba because I didn’t think the pearls were that soft or sweet, but I would be willing to give it another chance because they have some pretty unique and innovative flavors. My friend tried the horchata milk tea with pearls and that’s apparently a big hit so make you try that if you end up going!
Spudnuts
o o o o o o ½ o – 7.5/10 pearls
I know! Spudnuts has boba?! But honestly, it’s actually pretty good! The pearls are pretty soft and the milk tea is sweet and has the right amount of tea. I really recommend trying it out!
PHO Bistro
o o o o o – 5/10 pearls
The boba is extremely chewy, and the drinks taste like they’re made from some kind of powder. Not exactly the best place to get boba if you know good boba from back home.
Naan Stop
o o o o o o – 6/10 pearls
I didn’t expect Naan Stop to have good milk tea since it’s a place that sells Indian food. But it was surprisingly not disappointing. Pearls could be better and the flavors could be stronger but it satisfies the craving.
Hope this guide helps! I mean hey, none of these places are going to match up to the Half and Half or the Tpumps or the Gong Chas we have at home, but they can satisfy the craving while we’re here! From a fellow milk tea connoisseur, enjoy!