Students in the Bay Area live within a Renaissance of boba, that modern Taiwanese take on traditional tea. In “boba tea,” a black tea is mixed with milk, sweetened and served with toppings to give the drink an unusual texture, whether it is the eponymous chewy “boba,” spheres of gelatinized cassava, fruit jellies or grass jellies.

As the upper school campus is located within close proximity of several boba tea shops, some students will walk to them after school to grab a drink. We reviewed the three stores within walking distance to evaluate and compare their drinks.

Tapioca Express

Derek Yen

Tapioca Express is the boba tea shop closest to school — just across the street.

Offering a wide array of drinks — over 75 — and a few snack foods, such as fried chicken and calamari, Tapioca Express has the most options of any boba tea shop in the area. In addition to providing multiple flavors of milk tea, Tapioca Express also sells “snow bubbles,” which are made with slush ice instead of liquid, coffees and Italian sodas.

Due to how close Tapioca Express is to the upper school campus, many students prefer it due to its speed.

“[Tapioca Express] is closer, like really closer — and we have to get back to volleyball practice,” Meona Khetrapal (9) said, after visiting with teammates. “And, it’s less expensive.”

With a price to volume ratio of 21 cents per fluid ounce, Tapioca Express stands out as the cheapest of the three stores, making it an attractive option when you’re looking for boba tea that’s easy to obtain and economical.

Teaspoon

Derek Yen

Located in Strawberry Park, Teaspoon is the farthest boba tea store students often walk to, taking customers eight minutes by foot to reach after crossing four heavily trafficked roads. Despite this substantially greater distance, some students believe Teaspoon’s quality justifies the extra work.

“My friends really like to go to Teaspoon, because they use real tea, so we think it tastes the best.” Danya Zhang (12) said. “We started out going to [Tapioca Express] at first because it was closer, so it was more convenient, but Jerrica [Liao (12)] convinced us to start going to Teaspoon. I think it’s worth it.”

In addition to giving customers the option to create their own drink, Teaspoon also offers “snow ice,” a dessert which is a cross between shaved ice and ice cream, and several “specialty drinks,” which are set drinks that are often untraditionally composed. For instance, the “grapefruit garden” combines grapefruit green tea with grapefruit juice, and the “grasshopper” combines lychee green tea and cucumber juice.

“When you go to a different boba place, they don’t really have, say, the ‘Grasshopper,’ which is a cucumber green tea we have, or like the ‘Virgin Mojito’ — you don’t see those very often,” Tracy Chao, Teaspoon’s Assistant Manager said. “I think that’s what makes us stand out for our teas.”

With its organic ingredients and unique specialty drinks, Teaspoon is an interesting choice for the boba drinker willing to pay more — 23 cents per ounce — for something different.

Matcha Love

Derek Yen

Located within the Mitsuwa Supermarket in Strawberry Park, Matcha Love offers an untraditional and rare menu focusing on drinks made with matcha, powdered Japanese green tea.

“It’s really hard to find good, quality matcha,” Brandon Tenchavez, Matcha Love Assistant Manager said. “My first job was at Starbucks, and their matcha was, I want to say, mixed with some kind of milk powder. For us [at Matcha Love], we use high-quality matcha.”

Though Matcha Love is not as frequented by students, it offers a unique selection of products not found at other drink shops. Matcha Love offers tea-flavored ice creams, traditional hot-brewed teas and provides flavors that are harder to find in most boba tea shops, such as roasted hojicha tea and black sesame.

Matcha Love’s price-per-ounce ratios are uniformly higher than the other boba tea stores but their unique product selection makes them the definitive choice for the tea drinker interested in enjoying a traditional tea in an unorthodox presentation.