We, your favorite local boba fanatics, love going to the same go-to boba locations. Looking for a new change, we were elated at the prospect of trying five different boba places around town — our definition of milk tea heaven.
To ensure a fair and consistent rating, we made sure to order a brown sugar boba — made of black tea, milk and brown sugar — at every store. We chose less sugar and light ice for the drinks if they were offered at the location for free.
Our evaluation focused on the texture of the boba, the quality of the tea, the sweetness level and the overall presentation, ensuring an unbiased review for each location.
On a Sunday afternoon, we took a trip around Cupertino and Saratoga to find the best brown sugar milk tea from lesser-known boba shops. After Jane swallowed her Lactaid, we were ready to embark on our adventure.
- QQQTea (Location: Saratoga Plaza Shopping Center)
We were most disappointed by this experience. Grace had yearned to sip this boba once again, recounting nostalgic childhood memories of drinking $3 boba each week after Chinese school. But after sampling a $4.50 black milk tea with boba, we were bewildered.
The chewiness of the pearls (living up to the QQ texture, meaning the ideal texture of many foods — soft and chewy, but not mushy) was on point, but the overall bitter taste of the pearls and the tea threw us off.
We both gave it a 2 of 5 Falcons.
- Ceré Tea (Location: Westgate Corner)
After Jane discovered this Saratoga cafe in June, she was excited to take Grace and hopes were high, especially after looking at the extensive menu.
We ordered a tiger boba milk tea for $5.95. The drinks didn’t disappoint, especially with the cheap(ish) price. Although the boba was a bit too chewy and hard, the milk tea wasn’t bad — albeit a bit too sweet for our taste, even though we ordered 50% sugar.
However, we loved the quick service and the cozy ambience of this shop, and Grace thoroughly enjoyed her additional strawberry matcha.
Jane gave this cafe a 3.5 Falcons while Grace gave it 3.
- Mr. Sun (Location: 20950 Stevens Creek Blvd.)
Mr. Sun was the first boba tea we tried. The boba was quite chewy. Grace enjoyed the chewiness while Jane thought it was too chewy for her liking. However, the milk tea was way too sweet for us (also considering we got 50% sugar), with less than a hint of the actual tea taste.
For a price of $6.35, it wasn’t bad, but not up to our standards for expensive boba more than 10 minutes away from school.
Jane rated it 3.5 Falcon while Grace gave it 3.25.
- TaoTaoTea (Location: 18472 Prospect Road)
Right next to Ceré Tea, this was another convenient location for us, and the final boba we sampled during our adventure. The “Tiger Boba Milk Tea” was a bit pricier than Mr. Sun at $6.75, but the online order was ready within a couple minutes and we were pleasantly surprised at the warm boba that tasted freshly prepared.
The best part was its amazing chewiness — the epitome of delicious pearls. The additional salted cheese foam added a kick that elevated the overall drink.
Still, like many other shops we tried, we were disappointed at the lack of tea taste coming through, which was instead replaced by the flavor of plain milk.
We both gave it 4 Falcons.
- Yi Fang (Location: 1147 De Anza Blvd.)
Coming in at a strong first was Yi Fang, a cute little shop next to H Mart and 85 Degrees Bakery. We got the small brown sugar boba for $6.25, but a size similar to the other drinks we purchased would have been $7.25, a bit pricier than we would have liked.
Unfortunately, unlike other boba tea stores, Yi Fang didn’t allow us to get light ice. When we received the drink, the boba was also freshly prepared and warm, with a strong taste of brown sugar. The milk tea taste came through stronger than all of the other drinks combined and overall, we loved this drink.
The only detrimental aspect of our experience was the straw poking — because the cup was so full, it took a couple tries to poke our straws through, and it also led to some spillage in the car.
Still, we thought this was the best boba we tasted. We both rated it at 4.5 Falcons.
With our mission of going to five boba shops in one afternoon accomplished, we resisted falling into a boba coma afterwards, and we definitely had our dairy intake for the week, but we thoroughly enjoyed (most) of the heavenly brown sugar pearls.
