"It's better to be too soft than too hard"

Birmingham, Mich. - I didn't want to set the tone of this blog with a dirty joke, but what else would you have me do with an 800-pound gorilla in the room?

The reference, of course, is to the consistency of the boba at Sy Thai Cafe, which serves surprisingly (but not unpleasantly) soft tapioca balls.

BOBA BRIEFING
Name: Sy Thai Cafe
Address: 315 Hamilton Row, Birmingham, MI 48009
Phone: (248) 258-9830
Date visited: Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007
Goes by: Bubble drinks. They call the bubbles "Tropical Tapioca Pearls." How bold!
Price: $3.25
Form: Fruit smoothies, but you can ask for tapioca in Thai iced tea
Flavors: Mango Breeze, Strawberry Surf, Watermelon Wave, Green Apple Mist, Pineapple Sunrise, Lychee Splash, Peach Sunset
Hot/cold: Cold. Can you imagine a warm strawberry smoothie? Eeeshk.
Flavors tried: Thai iced tea, Mango Breeze
Lid style: You gotta poke a hole in a hard plastic lid (only if you get it to go - it comes in a glass if you're dining in), but it's already halfway punched out for you. None of the silly plastic wrap that gives boba rookies so much trouble.
Smiles: I was very impressed with the mango! Very smooth, light and tasty. Its uber-mangoness is not for mango-haters, though. The Thai iced tea is pretty standard-tasting. The tapioca is VERY soft and chewy, which I personally like, but others may frown upon.

Thai iced tea+tapioca = :)


Thai iced tea


Mango Breeze

Scowls: Perhaps a demi-scowl to the fact that the tapioca was still slightly warm when the drinks came. Also, call me old fashioned, but I still think boba should come in its purest form, milk tea. Which they don't do.
Most memorable bo-ment: My partner in crime, roommate and fellow Free Press intern Sarah Welliver, made an egregious error: she attempted to take my boba from atop my car as I was trying to lock her out of my car. Or perhaps because I was trying to lock her out of my car...Interesting. I sure showed her!

Sarah and Mango Breeze

Overall rating: 8/10