Thursday's Boba Bubble Burst

If you are like me and ever wondered what happened to that old Blockbuster or Radio Shack, it's most likely now a Boba Bubble Tea shop. Boba Bubble Tea, the ubiquitous milk teas with the little Tapioca balls which are seemingly on every corner and in every shopping mall food court.

Though it originated in Taiwan over 40 years ago, and to the outside observer they may appear to look all the same. Yet their minor variations change from location to location.

One of the many Boba shops in San Francisco

I enjoy them and have my usual places, but to write this I consulted my Boba Concierge, and we came up with an insider's guide to Boba in San Francisco and beyond. Full disclosure, she is a real concierge whom I work with but has an encyclopedic knowledge of Boba.

Plentea has two locations in the city and one in Berkeley. Their shop on Kearny Street, in the San Francisco's Financial District, has snacks as well and offer milk alternatives for those who are lactose intolerant. The cool part is the serve it in a nifty bottle you can take with you.

Little Sweet has multiple locations throughout the city and also offers milk-free alternatives. They also sell coffee, smoothies, and a variety of toppings you can add to your preferred beverage. One of her concierge recommendations is for the White Gourd Tea and Green Thai Tea. It's pretty sweet by her standards, but you can order it for 50 to 75% sweet if you like.

Happy Lemon has three locations in the city, and are stand-out from the rest by her estimation. They are famous for their salted cheese foam, which is basically a sweet and salty and thicker version of cold foam. Some of the drinks are made with a soy alternative, but the one recommendation she has is one that I couldn't even conceive of: black tea with cheese foam and egg waffle. The trick, she tells me, is to drink any drink with cheese foam at 45-degree angle so you get both drink and foam.

There are even Boba places worth mentioning due to their award-winning status, which are beyond San Francisco’s city limits. Chi Cha San Chen has two locations, one in Berkeley in the east bay and one in Cupertino down the peninsula. They are a recipient of an ITI (the International Taste Institute) rating. The International Taste Institute is the equivalent to a Michelin Star rating. A quick Yelp search revealed that there are long wait times there, so that must be some Boba.

Xíng Fu Tang in Milpitas claims to be Taiwan's number one Boba, though I don't know what metric that is measured by. Be that as it may, it claims it status due to the ingredients exclusively shipped over from Taiwan. Their notoriety comes from their handmade brown sugar Boba, which is made hourly and right in front of you.

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