Boba Quest 2025 🧋
By Kunal MehtaI'm a big fan of boba aka bubble tea aka pearl milk tea aka tapioca. Aside from it tasting good, I enjoy all the different varieties and unique combinations you can get depending on where you go.
Unsurpringly New York City has a pretty rich boba scene, especially in the areas with a higher Asian population. There are at least five boba shops within five minutes walking from my apartment; it's wonderful.
Over the past three years I've halfheartedly explored a bunch of new boba shops, writing informal reviews in a note on my phone, but never properly kept track.
So this year, I'm officially kicking off Boba Quest 2025 🧋: trying and reviewing a different boba shop each week, totaling 50 new places over the year. I've published boba reviews before, but I'm going to do it a bit differently this time.
Boba shops will be graded on a 10-point scale:
- 4 points for the boba, both texture and flavor
- 4 points for the tea's flavor
- 1 bonus point for having something extra, like a privacy-perserving stamp card system or nice ambiance, etc.
The tenth and final point is for consistency: if a place earns a 9/10 on the first visit, I'll go back and if it's fantastic again, then I'll bump the score to a perfect 10/10. While it won't be part of the rating system, I'll also try to call out when places provide accomodations like lactose-free milk.
I prefer milk teas, usually going for a jasmine green milk tea. I'll probably order something like that, but may choose to order the shop's specialty, if it advertises one.
One important point is that I am not explicitly trying to find the best boba in NYC (though I expect I will); I want to have accurate and usable ratings for a large number of places. Crucially this also means trying bad places, which I will do.
If you have recommendations for places to try, let me know! I'll prioritize those, and then mom & pop shops, and then the various chains. I'll also try for some geographic diversity too, as I've yet to have boba in The Bronx or Staten Island. The first review will drop tomorrow, stay tuned.