In recent years, boba has become a worldwide phenomenon, rising in popularity due to its unique taste, adding the sweet and savory flavor to drinks. The chewy, honey coated pearls have grown to be a go-to drink for students. In San Diego, there are many shops with high quality boba. To widen the spectrum of the best hotspots for boba lovers here my top five boba shops in San Diego. 

1. WUSHILAND BOBA (OO Tea)

OO Tea has two locations in San Diego: Convoy, and will soon be opening in UTC in La Jolla. The small, popular boba shop attracts many customers due to its flavorful tea complementing the chewy boba within the drink. Popular boba shops like these have an immensely long line due to the shop’s high popularity. The drinks have a creative twist to them, the menu having drinks such as Yogurt Green Tea and Jasmine Green Milk Tea. The amazing thing about this place is that customers have the ability to choose the size of their boba, instead of the standard sized boba typically seen in other boba shops. OO Tea has a 4.6 star rating on Yelp.

2. Meet Fresh

Located in Mira Mesa, Meet Fresh is a widely popular destination for boba and dessert lovers. Meet Fresh customers have the ability to order drinks of all different flavors along with different toppings included. One of the top selling drinks is the Milk Tea with Boba and Lychee Jelly, which gives a sweet and flavorful taste to your taste buds. Meet Fresh has become a hotspot for many boba lovers and despite being a little far from our hometown Carlsbad, the drive is worth it. Prices range from four dollars to six dollars, a pretty decent price for a large, one size cup. Meet Fresh has a rating of 4.1 based on the reviews on Yelp.

3. Gong-Cha

Gong-Cha, residing in Convoy, San Diego is an extremely popular boba shop, becoming one of the top destinations after eating out with friends and family. Founded in 2006, Gong-Cha offers drinks ranging from the typical Pearl Milk Tea to the most extravagant drinks such as Milk Foam Green Tea. Prices of the drinks range from four dollars to around six dollars and the size of the drinks are either a medium (16oz) or large (22oz). Gong-Cha has a 4.5 star rating based on reviews from Yelp, attracting many boba lovers around the world. 

4. Kung-Fu Tea

Kung-Fu Tea’s closest location to Carlsbad is in San Marcos. With a 4.5 rating on Yelp, the shop creates innovative drinks, aiming to create a wide variety of high quality refreshers after a long day. The Kung-Fu Tea family steals the hearts of millions of boba lovers all over the world with their milk tea and fruit tea drinks. The Washington Post deemed the boba franchise “as the Starbucks of bubble tea.” 

5. ShareTea

Sharetea, having multiple locations in San Diego is a hotspot for boba fanatics with its affordable pricing and tasteful flavors. Drinks include not just milk teas, but also brewed tea, fresh milk and fruit tea. Having over 500 stores in 18 countries, ShareTea has many stores with a different look and feel as well as different sized servings and menus. With a 4 star rating, ShareTea is widely popular all over the world. 

Boba serves as a savory topping in all kinds of drinks: milk tea, plain tea, smoothies and more. The increasingly growing popularity of boba appeal to students like you and me who want to digest something with immense flavor and overall tastes unique and different than drinks such as soda or juice.