More Boba Please

Earlier this year, one of my best friends and I decided to make an instagram dedicated to our appreciation of boba. We call it @morebobaplease.

What is boba?? Also known as bubble tea or pearl tea, boba is the quickest way to describe the Taiwanese tea-based drink that has become increasingly popular. The drink involves tea, different flavors of milk, or fruit, and is usually sweetened (although you can adjust sweetness as you see fit). You can also order these drinks as slushees, smoothies and coffee. To clarify, “boba” refers to those black, chewy, tapioca balls that are at the bottom of the cup. They are called “toppings”, which can enhance the drink with additional flavor, or even add texture. There are a variety of said toppings, including crystal boba, popping boba, grass jelly, coconut jelly, pudding, aloe vera, and honestly so much more. Boba is the most popular topping, which is why a lot of people usually use boba to represent the drink itself. You can order the drink without the boba, and people will still know what you are talking about. For all intents and purposes, I will refer to the drink as a whole, as boba. That is how the drink was first described to me and what all my friends call it. Asian or not.

Now that you have an idea of what boba is, just know that my friend and I are both obsessed. We were starting to see a lot of Instagram accounts from mutual friends dedicated to food, coffee and photography, so we thought why the hell not! We both were in search of a creative outlet. She was bored with her actual job in social media, and after two short conversations about it, I just hopped on board. It is always fun to jump into a new project!

My first boba experiences were in high school and college. Half of my friends are Asian, mostly Filipino, and because of them I have been exposed to many different types of Asian cuisine over the years. Delicious. I also go to church the next city over from Arcadia in the San Gabriel Valley, which has a large Asian population, with boba spots abound. In elementary, I even remember my old friend’s mom, who is Korean, would often take us to Tapioca Express near our church. I never got a drink back then, and did not even remember the name at the time. In high school, my friends and I frequently went to Boba Loca – which we now consider to be complete trash. I always ordered the same drink, essentially a chocolate milk smoothie with boba, because my friends said it was bomb (it was), and I had no idea what else to get.

I went to college, and just about doubled the amount of Asian friends I had, to the point where they called me an honorary Filipino. We got boba often. By “we” I mean “they” because at first I was not ordering boba when we would go to none other than Tapioca Express in Vallejo. Soon after I was home for break, I realized there were multiple locations, once I re discovered the Tapioca Express, or Tap Ex as we called it, by my church. Going to Tap Ex was a special treat for us, going to and from campus. Our school was somewhat isolated located on a mountain, so we enjoyed every chance we had to “get off the hill”. As much as we frequented Tap Ex, often running into fellow students who, like us, had to get their boba fix, I never ordered a drink. That finally changed one outing, and I ordered a Milk Tea (with boba) because someone said it was basic, but good. He or she was right, and from then on I was hooked.

Fast forward to a few years to post grad, when I am back home. My boba experiences have increased since college, and now my church friends and I frequently visit Tap Ex and Honey Boba when we hang out. As it turns out, they all like boba too. You really have no choice living in San Gabriel Valley.

When my friend and I started More Boba Please in February, I could list about 5 boba places that I visited regularly. But as our account has grown, so has the number of my regular spots. We have been able to try different boba places that we had always wanted to try, but never did. My taste buds have changed, and some of my old favorites are no longer my favorites, as I have tasted drinks that are so much better. I have even branched out to try drinks other than my basic milk tea, although it is still a classic and my go to when trying a new place. Some new enjoyable flavors include Taro, Matcha, Thai Tea, Earl Grey Milk Tea & Hokkaido Milk Tea. Some decent spots have even opened out where I live, which is NOT in an Asian community at all.

With so many boba places I have now visited, I decided to document my experiences on my blog in addition to our instagram account. We do not review boba spots on More Boba Please. Our bio simply states “we just really like boba”. We do not claim to be boba connoisseurs in any way, and just want to show our appreciation for the drinks. On my blog I do not plan to do heavy reviews, but just want to expand on my boba adventures throughout southern California, talk about some of my new favorite spots, eye catching decor I have seen, etc. If I have found that a particular boba spot was not to my liking, I will mention it. But you will not see any ratings or scorings for me. I just really like boba!