Boba Quest: ChaHalo

As part of Boba Quest 2025 🧋, I'm trying and reviewing a new boba shop each week whenever I have time.

It's been a while since my last boba review, but sometimes you visit a new place that just inspires you to write about it. ChaHalo recently opened in Long Island City, right in between the Queens Plaza station (E, F, R) and Court Square (7, E, F, G, R) so I thought I'd give it a try with my sister, who was in town for the holidays.

My sister wanted a drink without lactose, and since they didn't have an alternative milk, she asked for a jasmine green tea with boba. The barista added the jasmine green tea to the order and then said: "I'm sorry, our computer won't let you order boba with this." Whaaaaaaaaat. And then, "But we could give you some boba in a separate cup?"

What kind of boba shop offers a drink that you can't add boba to? And not even like some practical issue, it's that their computer can't handle it.

I was able to order a jasmine green milk tea with brown sugar boba without running afoul of any software restrictions. (There were no other boba options aside from brown sugar.)

• Boba: 3/4 the brown sugar boba was actually pretty good, well flavored, maybe just a little overcooked.
• Tea: 1/4 it was...not good. It was a bit bland to the point the taste of the boba totally overpowered it.
• Bonus: 0/1 sorry, our experience didn't merit any bonus points.

Total: 4/10 honestly, if they served a brown sugar milk boba (with lactose-free options!!), I think it would be near perfect.

This story has a somewhat happy ending, in that we walked to a different tea shop across the street and my sister was able to get her lactose-free boba. Stay tuned for that review!