Boba, bubble tea, pearl tea, milk tea, etc

Hi @paranoidgarliclover,

To set expectatations it’s nowhere near as good as B Patisserie’s amazing Black Sesame Latte. :heart:

OH. Damnit. Probably not enough black sesame flavor for me then. Thanks for the heads up. :slight_smile:

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plus One Mexican… This thread is going to be like High School all over again… LOL!!

So glad this thread is already seeing some traction. I loved Boba from the time the first Lolicup opened in the Ralphs Shopping Center on Grand… It’s always been a great treat. Now I am not much into Boba itself (Unless it’s popping Boba, in which I love at Blossom Tea House in Oxnard). Much more into Milk tea and tea on it’s own… I especially love places that brew their own tea… I love that smell…

Anyway, I was in Little Tokyo Today. I regularly get Dulce’s Milk Tea or hot… the Apple Spiced one at the USC Location. But today I noticed at the OG location they had some Lemonade drinks including a Lemonade Sencha. I love matcha… but have yet to find a lemonade matcha that I really liked. Most of the time, it lends to a confusing drink… But the Sencha had just enough of that grassy note to help compliment the lemonade. The lemonade was more on the tarte side, but I like that… so it was definately LEMONADE with a hint of green tea. Quite refreshing today…

And why was I in little Tokyo… a little birdie told me the Sanrio store had the new Zojirushi colab in! I have always wanted one of these thermos, but I have never bit the bullet because at work I tended to use a small tea pot which was more than enough before it was lunch time and I would switch to an HonesT or something… But now that I am at home I don’t go anywhere. I have some swell bottles (Including a nifty mini one), but the opening is too big to really ‘sip’, especially when things stay piping hot for hours… So I was so glad to be able to pick one of these up in person! I bought the last white one…they have more black ones… they are at the check out…

Can’t wait to use it on Monday with some Rare Tea Company Chai and the Horchata Milk from Rosa Bros (I got it at Farmers Market Poultry… Ironically… across from the tea shop. )

–Dommy!

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I LOVE black sesame and found that the Black Sesame Latte from Boba Guys had great flavor and punch. I’ve never had the one at B however…

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjN45y8Bzwl/

Eitherway, I don’t believe they are currently serving it with their limited menu. Plus, they also were embroiled in their own issues about black employees and feckless leadership.

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You shall complete your collection.

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Ha!! If they done one with their top of the line rice cooker… I would have seriously consider it since the colors they are using are white and not the typical Hello Kitty Pink… But our fuzzy logic one will do for now… LOL!

touche!

Had a busy day from very early this morning, so we headed to Uncle Paulies for BEC to push us through. As usual, we ordered their great half and half… but luckily I noticed they had a new drink… Badmaash Oatmilk Chai… I love the Chai they serve at Badmaash…so I had to order it… (It was $3).

HOLY CAU. It was absolutely stunningly delicious. You could actually taste the fresh ginger. It had plenty of Cardamom flavor (One of my favorite things) and a good balance of other spices as well. Clove is one of my least favorite things… and usually this is how I deal with Clove in my Chai Tea blends…

But the level in this one was more than acceptable… It’s available at Badmaash, Uncle Paulies and Animal. Hopefully way more places too!

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My fave at the moment is Chi Cha San Chen in San Gabriel. Great fruit teas and bubble milk teas.

I tried Tiger Sugar in Rowland Heights, those black sugar milk boba are really special.

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Did you think Tiger Sugar was too sweet?

What’s your favorite tea at Chicha San Chen?

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The ice and sweetness for the black sugar milk drinks at Tiger Sugar cannot be adjusted. It’s not as sweet as it is caramelly from the black sugar. Prob one of the better brown/black sugar places I’ve tried. Of course, the best one was in Taichung, TW.

The mango or passion fruit teas are good at Chi Cha San Chen. They open at 12 noon and you should order online ASAP, they only allow online orders.

https://order.mealkeyway.com/merchant/686242584c36786f70532f4b46556b542b56754d6f513d3d/main

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On the Westside, there is Refresh, next door to Ekkamai Thai and same owner. It reminded me of this conversation and review when it first came up. I miss @bulavinaka

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Hello! I don’t live in LA but i did happen to be down there recently for a family matter and got the chance to try out a bunch of boba spots. I live in NYC so we have a lot of crossover in terms of national bbt chains. Not sure if they are noticeably different in LA but my thoughts on the chains:

  • Boba Guys: SML is one of my favorite bbt drinks ever. Their bubbles are unique and quite delicious. only good when consumed straight away though.
  • Coco: cloud black tea is my favorite “normal milk tea” of any teahouse. Other drinks are good but nothing special. Bubbles are ok.
  • YiFang: Fruit tea is yummy but quite sweet. Their brown sugar milk was all the rage before Tiger Sugar but TS is better.
  • Tiger Sugar: best iteration of brown sugar milk of all the bbt shops imo
  • Alley: meh
  • Kung Fu Tea: cocoa cream wow with milk cap is delish. everything else is just ok
  • Gong Cha: very meh

In LA I tried:

  • White and Brown: really delicious, reminds me of one of my favorite bbt spots in nyc, Moge Tee! We got the Lychee drink, grapefruit slush, osmanthus oolong cheese tea, and a black dragon cheese tea. All three were delicious. Very similar to Moge Tee. Cheese is v yummy and this style of tea shop is my personal favorite. Highly recommend osmanthus oolong cheese tea for anyone that likes cheese teas. grapefruit slush is also one of my favs and very refreshing - the grapefruit and green tea combination is killer.
  • Omomo Tea Shoppe: This was on my wishlist for a year lol. Got the Omomo Matcha and the Strawberry Green Tea. Both were delicious!! I especially liked the strawberry green tea, very strong fresh strawberry flavor balanced with refreshing green tea. I usually am not too big on milky matcha drinks but the omomo matcha was amazing and I can see why it is so popular. Wish I had time to try the Mango Tornado.
  • Hey Hey: Tried the Hey Hey and Thai Tea. Thai Tea was delicious but I don’t really like pudding topping so the Hey Hey was just ok for me.
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Been to Refresh a few times (last time was probably in Jan or Feb). I normally get the ginger lemonade (which I don’t see listed on the website). Wonderfully tart and bracing w/o being medicinal. Can’t recall if sweetness can be adjusted (I’d be surprised if they didn’t allow for that), and I don’t love boba, so I normally skip that.

Banh mi is fine, but the bread doesn’t work that well for me (texture is too soft, IMHO).

Sandwich-making can be pretty slow (not for a lack of effort on their part), so not the place to stop in for a super quick bite of food.

Still, it’s good QPR, the family running the place is super nice, and I enjoy it, if I’m in the area.

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wow, thanks for the post! Will definitely have to check out White and Brown (I actually bookmarked it a while ago and completely forgot) and Omomo next time I’m in the Irvine area.

Hey Hey is in my neighborhood and I like it. The Thai Tea is pretty good, it’s not just one note sugary sweetness. It tastes like they put other spices in it, maybe cinnamon.

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http://www.contracoffeeandtea.com/
Contra Coffee and Tea in Orange.

All nitro tap! The Sua Da and Thai Tea are very very good. It might be fun to compare their Sua Da with Phin Smith @Chowseeker1999

The Thai Tea is some of the best I ever had.

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There’s an Omomo in Chino Hills that’s closer to you and that doesn’t have the massive lines (not sure about now) that the one in Irvine has! :grin:

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@noddles @hanhgry I’d go with Chino Hills if possible as I’ve always heard the lines are better there. Irvine now has 2 locations. The original Irvine location I heard still had insane lines prior to the new one opening up. If you are stopping by Irvine anyways and want to try Omomo, I’d consider checking out the second Walnut Village one. I typically enjoy the Uji at Omomo but I don’t have many places to compare to.

Another potential place to check out in Irvine is Orobae. They are newer and I haven’t been but I have noticed a rather long line for it during grocery stops to the Mitsuwa next door. Lines are probably not as bad as I suspect Omomo would be but they are likely to be completely unshaded (though I think Omomo’s line is probably unshaded too for most of the day).

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If it matters, right now the Chino Hills location of Omomo is doing online orders only. Both Irvine locations are still doing walk-in orders (and often have long lines).

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@noddles @hanhgry I went to the Irvine - walnut village location and the line was very short at the time I went, about 5pm or so! It is walk in orders only but it moves fairly quick and there is some nice seating outside. I’d also note that their website is actually inaccurate on the walnut village hours, they are open until 7pm (not 5pm) as stated on their IG page.

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