The amount of boba options we have can get overwhelming, so I’m here to make it easy.
First, I’m going to talk about the top tier boba places here in San Jose. I’ve only lived in San Jose for two years, but I spent a good amount of my time researching and trying out as many boba cafes as I can. The boba shop I highly recommend to any newcomers is Toco Tea. The aesthetic of the shop is adorable, with a smiley face star as their logo. My favorite drink there is their Brown Sugar Boba; it hits the right level of sweetness every time. I’ve mentioned this cafe before, but Breaktime is a good contender as well. Good vibes all around, good food, and good staple drinks. I can order their classic milk tea and never be disappointed. Another good shop is Teaspoon; their menu has a wide variety and fresh fruits in their drinks as well. I strongly suggest their Silky Mango, which is a mango puree mixed with milk.
As for bad grade boba shops, I’m only going to be talking about two: Pekoe and Tan-Cha. Both have good reputations, but are lacking in many areas. Pekoe used to be a San Jose hotspot; any time you go there was always a long line and a crowd inside. However, when the two owners divorced, the husband took all the drink recipes and reopened Tisane. Since then, Pekoe’s drinks have been lacking in flavor while Tisane is gaining popularity day by day. Tan-Cha is a boba chain that is popular in SoCal, and its first store recently opened up in Cupertino. When my friends and I went to try it out, the experience ruined any hope we had for the drinks. The line was extremely long, and the wait for our food was even longer. I ordered Lily Matcha with Cheese Cream and their fluffy pancakes. We waited in the store for over an hour after being told that our wait was 30 minutes. Even after getting our order, we realized there wasn’t anything special about their food. Since then, I’ve had Tan-Cha on my boba blacklist.
YUMTHOUGHTS 