iLeft my boba in San Francisco

San Francisco - I didn't, actually. Leave my boba in San Francisco, that is. And if you thought that I would EVER leave my boba anywhere unattended (especially in a city like SF, which is full of boba drinkers), you need to check yo-self!

Anyways. Despite growing up one hour south of this fine city - and going to college right across the Bay - I've never fully explored SF's boba offerings. (I blame the fog.) So, this is the beginning of what I hope will be a long and eventful journey uncovering the hidden boba treasures of the City by the Bay.

Inside iCafe

BOBA BRIEFING
Name: iCafe
Address: 1716 Irving St., San Francisco, CA 94112
Phone: (415) 665-2893
Price: $2.50-$2.95
Form: Milk tea, tea, slush/smoothie, juice
Flavors tried: Boba milk tea, mango smoothie

Background: mango. Foreground: Milk tea

Lid style: Plastic wrap. Poking needed.
Smiles:

• The tea is quite good. It has a stronger tea flavor than many other milk teas I’ve tried (which are more milky and sweet than tea-esque), which I personally enjoy.
• The tapioca balls are solid. Not literally, but in quality. Chewy - check. Soft but not too soft - check.
• The mango smoothie is really good! It’s not overwhelmingly mango-y, but really hits the spot if you’re looking for a pleasant, light, smooth mango drink.
• Wireless internet. But this also falls under the “Scowls” category. See below.

Scowls:

• It is crazy hard to find parking. Ah, the beauty of SF.

• Some yappy woman at an adjacent table would not get off her cell phone. To prevent myself from sucking up tapioca with my straw and shooting them at her, I proceeded to eavesdrop on her conversation, which spanned from jewelry to grad school to - what else? - hemophiliacs. No mention of Alexei Romanov, though.
  

• You have to spend at least $5.00 to get their wireless passcode. Being illiterate, I did not read this sign, and ended up having to buy two drinks instead of, say, a drink and a snack-sized sandwich (which they also serve, in addition to coffee and Asian snacks). Normally, this would not have been a problem, but I was supposed to meet friends for dinner an hour later, and two boba drinks is an awful lot of sugary liquid to consume right before a meal. Especially if you’re parked in a one-hour zone. This conundrum prompted the following AIM conversation with my sister:

Cat: I have a problem.

Liz: Yes?

Cat: I’m at a boba café and I had to spend $5 to get the wireless here. And I’m by myself!

Liz: How is that a problem?

Cat: I have two drinks. That’s a lot of liquid. And balls.

Liz: No one said you have to drink both of them.

Cat: But it’ll taste bad later.

Liz: Well I know. JUST LEAVE IT ALONE. (what does this mean, anyways?)

Cat: Well, I’m gonna drink it. I’m just saying…I have a problem.

Liz: No shit.

My biggest problem turned out to be this sign: No Public Restrooms.

Overall rating: 8.5/10

Playing favorites

What's the best boba you've ever had?

I get asked this question a LOT. Probably even more than "You nut, why do you have a boba blog?"

So here's my Top 3*, in order:

1. Lollicup - Guilin, China
2. Verde - Mountain View, Calif./Cupertino, Calif.
3. Waku-Waku Teahouse - Windsor, Ontario

*rankings based on taste and texture of black milk tea w/ tapioca


Your turn: What's the best boba YOU'VE ever had?

Quit Playin' Games With My Boba

I found the Boba Blast Game while browsing Boba Tea Company's Web site. When you get to the main site, just click on the wheel until you reach Play (Fun and games). You can download the PC or Mac version of the game, which - as you probably guessed - involves shooting tapioca balls at helicopters.

Since they don't include instructions on how to play, this is what you do:

• Hold down your left mouse button to reload the cannon, aim at helicopter and release.
  
• The objective isn't to shoot down the helicopter, but rather to shoot the boba up so that the helicopter can catch it, then drop it into the cup at the right side of your screen.

If you have an addictive personality, I wouldn't suggest adding this to your bedtime/wind-down ritual. It is far too intense. O_o

A BQBA DETQUR

San Jose, Calif. - I didn't mean to have boba today.

Don’t worry – this is not an imposter who hacked into my account, pretending to be me. (Although if Boba Hacker really did log in as me, he certainly wouldn’t gain anyone’s trust by writing that I, Cat, didn’t mean to have boba.)

Anyways, I really didn’t mean to. But I was at the mall picking up an engagement card for one of my best childhood friends who just got engaged (Yay congrats! And Ellen, would you consider serving boba at your wedding?! If not, I might have to reconsider my participation…), and there was a Q-Cup on the way to Hallmark and…


A cup of Q-Cup! Heh heh heh! *Twittery laughter*

…well, you can figure out the rest. If you can’t, well, maybe you should just stop reading and go to a bar.

There are many issues to address in this post.

• Some background info about the name, Q-Cup. I can only assume (though we all know that makes a you-know-what out of U and ME) that the “Q” refers to “QQ,” which is one of the many synonyms for tapioca pearls. Incidentally, QQ is also the name of a popular instant messaging service in China, not unlike MSN. My point is: props for the cute – albeit obvious, in a hit-me-over-the-head kind of way – play on words, Q-Cup.

• Apparently there is some legal controversy over Q-Cup’s franchising. Then again, my source is Wikipedia, which means I could be reading lies written by a precocious nine-year-old who has access to Daddy’s laptop.
  

• I guess there were really only two issues. Sometimes I just get a little excited.

Pros, cons, and other basic info about Q-Cup:

Pros:

• Their standard black milk tea isn't bad. Reminiscent of Quickly, it's on the sugary side. I tasted a subtle hint of coffee flavor, which should NOT have been there, but I like coffee so I have an unfair predilection for coffee-flavored tea (a weird concept, if you think about it).
  
• The pearls are pleasantly chewy.

Cons:

• The Q-Cup I went to (it's a chain, with another location in Cupertino) was right next to a children's indoor playground at a mall. Now if you know me but at ALL, you know that screaming kids are far from my cup of tea. Tea! Ha! Yeah, I don't really like kids running circles around my knees when all I want to do is sit down, do a crossword puzzle and drink/chew my boba in peace, g'dammit. A visual of why this is not okay:

Notice the proximity of small children to boba. Meh.

• Secondly, $3.50 is definitely on the pricier end for boba, especially since it was $3.50 for just regular boba, not even a slush or fancy boba that comes with, I don't know, flowers or a Dwight Schrute bobblehead or something.

One of these days, I'll bring Boba Briefing back (click here for an example) faster than Justin brought...you know...other stuff back.

Un-Super Bowl-ba

New England recently lost on two fronts:

1. Patriots
2. No boba (no-ba)

Though to be fair, Boston boba's got it goin' on. I just thought it'd be fun to make a list where I get to reuse the word "no-ba." (See origins here.)