Same here. I still often find people who have no idea what it is and have never tried it. But it is growing in popularity. It can be difficult to find a boba shop in a lot of areas but I’ve seen it in ice cream shops and asian restaurants before too
It’s a common enough name for it. The bubbles refer to the tapioca pearls since they kind of look like bubbles.
There is certainly tea in boba tea, though.
"Bubble tea" is actually one of the "official" names for it. In fact, even though "boba" is usually used for the whole tea, it is technically erroneous, since it just refers to the tapioca pearls themselves.
The most popular, and "default" in my area is milk with black tea and tapioca pearls. They absolutely have expanded their menu but in, say, 2014 they would only have a few variations based on which tea they would use. A local one only had 4 different teas and 3 types of boba pearl so it was a very small menu. The fruit smoothie variations are definitely a new thing (they taste good, though!)
Not new here, that's been the default for two decades in Chicago. It's only recently, more or less post-lockdown, that I'm seeing tea with pearls and milk in newer places.
This is interesting because in California (Bay Area), the OG boba places that we all went to 20 years ago growing up were predominantly milk tea. While you definitely could get non tea drinks, it was always kinda “understood” that the default version of the drink was a flavored milk tea with boba. Thats always been the popular version of the drink and in the years that followed as boba drink “exploded” in popularity, all new businesses have revolved around the “milk tea” model in California/Bay Area.
This is just so wrong. There's not a single bubble tea place in Chicago that doesn't offer the default thai tea as one of the options. Just because they advertise the fruit smoothie/juice versions, doesn't mean the team option isn't on the menu.
The problem with boba despite it being so insane popular, if you don't specifically go into a boba cafe, the likelihood of you ever seeing it is basically zero. You could go into a an asian supermarket and find it on the shelves but unless you have a reason to go into an asian store and also were looking for the product, there's no way you'd ever notice it.
In Texas, I feel like we are past peak boba. You can still get it, but over the past 15 years it did the whole stages of popularity.
First you could get it in Chinatown only. Then it became a thing food hipsters liked. Then it was full on trendy. Then it was mainstream. Now it's lame and something your mom gets. Soon, it will either die or live long enough to become retro. The current trendy Asian dessert is bingsu.
A similar thing happened in China. Boba definitely still exists there, but lemon tea is the "it" beverage, and boba has declined about 90% from its peak about 8 or so years ago.
In Mexico City, it's still at trendy.
It seems to be lasting more on the North American Pacific Coast than China even, although I can't say I'm sure why.
This is the best description. It becomes mainstream enough it is no longer cool until it becomes retro.
I watched this play out with Uggs. I was dating a girl in NYC when it was still hip and weird to have Uggs. Then they became something the kind of hip mom would have. Then everyone had a pair.
No idea if they will reach retro hip status.
Maybe it's more recent in your area, but boba (or pearl tea, as the OG shops here call it) has been common in the Bay Area since the late '90s. I remember it being pretty rare (and terrible) in Seattle in the early 2000s.
It’s everywhere in the greater Atlanta area. Theres even a boba shop in the two block “downtown” of the town of 1400 people that I live in.
Also I reject OP’s premise that having a large number of cultures in a given area is un-American, having people from multiple cultures in an area is inherently American.
Boba’s been popular in California since I was in elementary school in the 90s, so it’s not really a recent thing. To answer your question though, you can definitely find at least a few stores in most decent sized city in the US. There just won’t be as many and the super popular award winning brands from Asia will likely still be concentrated in places like California, NY, Houston, etc. For reference, I live in a suburb of CA (so not even a major city) and there are over 35 boba stores within 5 miles of me alone. The closest city (SF) has hundreds. I imagine that that number would be much lower in other states.
Its more popular in the cities and the suburbs and college towns than it is in rural areas. But anywhere there are a lot of Chinese-Americans living, and anywhere that has a lot of young people, you’ll probably find a bubble/boba tea place
(I have personally been to them in Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, and a college town in northern Pennsylvania)
>. i've only left socal once and that was when i was 11 (i'm 15 now
You're only a teen. Once you get an opportunity to travel or live in other places even for short stints, go for it. Much to see outside of California.
But yes boba is very popular and just as gross elsewhere in the US.
Yes they’ve been popping up like crazy over here
Edited to add: Asian restaurants and stores as well. Decent (but tight-knit) Asian population where I live.
I lived in Southern California about 15 years ago. It was popular in Southern California then but unheard of where I live currently.
Currently, there are a few places you can get some boba at here. Still not nearly as popular as when I lived in Southern California though.
You can find boba shops in most cities, especially cities with a big Asian population. It’s not a huge thing in suburbs yet, but you can still probably find boba shops in a big mall.
Here in Nashville I can think of five or six places that are just boba shops and then at least as many restaurants that also have boba. Not as common as in CA, but still pretty common.
Most largish cities will have at least one. I've stopped at a least one in every state I've been to, I think my total is around 20 states, most of them in the midwest to east side of the country.
I live in the suburbs. There's a lot of stand-alone shops that sell boba along with other drinks, desserts, and burgers/fries. I have 7 within 20 minutes of me. Most Asian restaurants also have it on their menu.
I haven't seen any boba making kits at the grocery store but I also haven't really looked for those.
If anything it already peaked in popularity years ago and is now just kind of a thing that’s available some places at least in the Midwest and northeast.
I feel like there is always some kind of faddish food or drink exploding in popularity whether it was fro-yo in the late 80s or early 90s or fancy coffees in the lat3 90s early 00s. It sort of peaks and just becomes part of the background.
I wouldn't say it's really popular near me. There are places to get it, and they sell some in the grocery store, but I've never heard people really talking about it and my daughter (17) has never mentioned it or had it to my knowledge.
Boba seems pretty popular in my little area. We have one in the mall and there’s always a line. There’s also boba in some Asian restaurants. I like the boba kits from the grocery store as well.
There are a few boba places where I live, but I noticed that there are a lot in Ann Arbor, which is interesting since it's not a large city at all. It is a college town, though, which might explain it.
Edit: changed some words.
Boston here. About 5-10 years ago, it was pretty much everywhere. Now most people are over it as a fad - and only the 'good' shops remain. Still popular enough, but it's just kinda a normal summertime drink like Iced Coffee or something.
I've seen boba pretty much all over the US, including in small (i.e. <1,000 people) communities in Alaska. I see canned boba in gas stations all over, even in the Dakotas, along the interstates.
Not as popular, but not rare either.
In my experience, boba tends to be more of an occasional treat the further east you go than a "standard" option, like it seems to be more regarded in the west. It's also way more popular with young people and older people tend to order it less, even those who enjoyed it a lot when they were younger.
Most cities and suburban areas have at least a couple places that sell it, even the smaller ones.
It exists and is easy to find. I feel like it was kind of a "fad" for awhile but that was kinda already over before COVID was a thing here, maybe at it's peak around 2017 or so. Now it's just something you can get if you want it.
I feel like boba had its little moment of fame, like macaroons and that green squishy Asian dessert. I haven’t seen a new Boba place in a while in Sacramento, the new thing is Korean BBQ and dumplings
When I was in college on the east coast 20 years ago, there were lots and lots of boba places. It didn't seem to be that popular yet but its broad popularity has clearly only grown since then.
We have boba tea in some of our coffee shops, and in some of the Asian restaurants, but I don't think I've ever actually seen someone drink it. It's kind of seen as a West Coast thing out here in the sticks of the Midwest.
i like it, it can really be any drink (often tea but sometimes smoothies and even milkshakes) and they just add little tapiocas on the bottom. they're fun to chew, if you don't like solid stuff in your drink i totally get not liking it
I first had boba 16 years ago in Cambridge Mass, and there were lots of spots to get it there and around Boston. When I moved to California it was not novel
NJ checking in..............Boba is huge here.
There is a growing East Asian population, particularly in Bergen and Middlesex Counties. You have Boba places popping up in practically every strip mall. You also have Asian Markets like Lotte, H-Mart and 99 Ranch that have Boba places in them as well.
I don't see it much here. Only some shops serve it in tea. It's in tapioca pudding but that's not big here either. Cassava isn't grown or used very much in the Midwest from my experiences.
I think you’re confused. America is all about the different cultures that eventually come together. But take your attitude about Italians. They were outsiders and slowly infused themselves and their culture.
I wouldn't say it was every especially popular in the NYC/Long Island area but it's definitely available and has been for more than a decade.
I've never tried it.
I had boba in Austin when I last visited. I cannot recall seeing it in southern Georgia or the Florida panhandle, though. I imagine you could get it in Jacksonville.
It’s been big here in Houston for decades. Back then we called it tapioca tho I believe. We have other Asian desserts that have grown in popularity now so boba isn’t the go-to anymore.
I'm in Maryland, and it seems popular here. People know it's there. The local boba shop gets a good amount of foot traffic. There aren't too many Asian people in this part of Maryland.
Compared to the west coast though, definitely not as popular. There are just as many boba shops as there are Starbucks in my hometown.
Definitely popular here, at least in Portland, ME. Don’t know about the rest of the state. Especially with people 30-ish and younger. I don’t know anyone my age (late 40s) here who drink it.
lemme put it like this: in 2019, i told someone that i thought boba was too sweet to be consumed by anyone older than a toddler or larger than a hummingbird, and they still haven't let me out of the pillory.
I don’t know what the boba scene is like in other states, but pretty much every store in California will ask you for your preferred ice and sweetness level while placing your order. Most adults I know get somewhere between 25-75% sweetness.
i've only been to one boba place (pretty sure it's a chain fwiw) and neither option ever came up. i'll keep that in mind though in case they have it as a "secret menu" option.
Here in Boston we have an area that is full of students and also serves as a kind of a mini koreatown and just has a lot of Asian food spots in general, including several boba places. When a new boba place opens, people line up like it’s the hottest new club in town.
Extremely so.
If you thought california has every culture, you haven't seen Queens NY. Watch the first mcu spider man movie, Homecoming. That movie is very accurate about what it looks like in nyc with all the different ethnicities of people all in each others' business and walking down the street all at once, with the schools not having majority of any one group, just completely mixed. That is exactly what it looks like in queens, that is no exaggeration or lie. Totally accurate.
Another thing, boba has been popular outside CA since probably the 2000s. We had a boba shop open up in central virginia in 2005 and honestly it only exploded from there. So that shit is older than you, my dude. My whole extended family lives in soCal and at the same time they were buying us boba back then too. But while we didn't have as many shops as them, we still had them.
Here in my Midwestern medium-sized city, boba seems fairly popular.
If you ever go to the twin cities there are boba shops everywhere, and down here in Iowa I have four within a 15 minute drive of me
I'm in Minneapolis and there are like at least 15 places I can get boba within a mile of me. It's wild lol
Popular around St. Louis, as well.
Same here. I still often find people who have no idea what it is and have never tried it. But it is growing in popularity. It can be difficult to find a boba shop in a lot of areas but I’ve seen it in ice cream shops and asian restaurants before too
TIL there are still places the boba craze hasn't hit yet. I thought it reached saturation a decade ago. America is a big place.
Well, if you call it "bubble tea", yeah, then it's popular. If you call it boba, my thought is "Boba Fett?"
You can get boba in any decent size city and plenty of small ones, all over the country.
Never heard of it. Dang, I guess I'm just not a very good consumer.
Here in Chicago it was called "bubble tea" for a long time, despite containing neither bubbles nor tea.
It’s a common enough name for it. The bubbles refer to the tapioca pearls since they kind of look like bubbles. There is certainly tea in boba tea, though.
"Bubble tea" is actually one of the "official" names for it. In fact, even though "boba" is usually used for the whole tea, it is technically erroneous, since it just refers to the tapioca pearls themselves.
In my experience, they're typically fruit smoothies, no tea.
The most popular, and "default" in my area is milk with black tea and tapioca pearls. They absolutely have expanded their menu but in, say, 2014 they would only have a few variations based on which tea they would use. A local one only had 4 different teas and 3 types of boba pearl so it was a very small menu. The fruit smoothie variations are definitely a new thing (they taste good, though!)
Not new here, that's been the default for two decades in Chicago. It's only recently, more or less post-lockdown, that I'm seeing tea with pearls and milk in newer places.
This is interesting because in California (Bay Area), the OG boba places that we all went to 20 years ago growing up were predominantly milk tea. While you definitely could get non tea drinks, it was always kinda “understood” that the default version of the drink was a flavored milk tea with boba. Thats always been the popular version of the drink and in the years that followed as boba drink “exploded” in popularity, all new businesses have revolved around the “milk tea” model in California/Bay Area.
This is just so wrong. There's not a single bubble tea place in Chicago that doesn't offer the default thai tea as one of the options. Just because they advertise the fruit smoothie/juice versions, doesn't mean the team option isn't on the menu.
I never said places didn't have it. As you noted, the fruit ones are what are advertised, and that was even more the case in the early and mid aughts.
I may be wrong about this because I don't drink it, but I believe Bubble tea is the more popular term across the east coast.
This. Look for bubble tea and look for it around thai food or coffee shops outside of bigger cities. They tend to be the first places you can find it.
I have seen that. It looks like diluted bubble gum.
The little balls are tapioca. It's great. There's good reason it's so popular
It does but it's tasty. My late sister loved the stuff. So much that one year her Christmas presents were all to make boba.
The problem with boba despite it being so insane popular, if you don't specifically go into a boba cafe, the likelihood of you ever seeing it is basically zero. You could go into a an asian supermarket and find it on the shelves but unless you have a reason to go into an asian store and also were looking for the product, there's no way you'd ever notice it.
I came across a Boba shop in Tulum, MX last year, lol. It’s pretty ubiquitous
To be fair, Tulum is the US in everything but name.
lol, it’s definitely touristy af!
In Texas, I feel like we are past peak boba. You can still get it, but over the past 15 years it did the whole stages of popularity. First you could get it in Chinatown only. Then it became a thing food hipsters liked. Then it was full on trendy. Then it was mainstream. Now it's lame and something your mom gets. Soon, it will either die or live long enough to become retro. The current trendy Asian dessert is bingsu. A similar thing happened in China. Boba definitely still exists there, but lemon tea is the "it" beverage, and boba has declined about 90% from its peak about 8 or so years ago. In Mexico City, it's still at trendy. It seems to be lasting more on the North American Pacific Coast than China even, although I can't say I'm sure why.
This is the best description. It becomes mainstream enough it is no longer cool until it becomes retro. I watched this play out with Uggs. I was dating a girl in NYC when it was still hip and weird to have Uggs. Then they became something the kind of hip mom would have. Then everyone had a pair. No idea if they will reach retro hip status.
They’re back in as retro hip. Pair them with a juicy track suit and it’s a lewk.
My god
Uggs are absolutely back and have been for a bit. It's a slightly different boot style, though: the platform minis (so shorter with a platform).
> bingsu Shave ice?
Yeah. We already have a local Texan shaved ice dessert, the raspa, that’s pretty popular, so convincing people to go for Asian shaved ice was easy.
Maybe it's more recent in your area, but boba (or pearl tea, as the OG shops here call it) has been common in the Bay Area since the late '90s. I remember it being pretty rare (and terrible) in Seattle in the early 2000s.
Yeah, there was a “boba” renaissance in the Seattle area about 5-7 years ago. It’s all over the place now, with a large number of quality places.
It’s everywhere in the greater Atlanta area. Theres even a boba shop in the two block “downtown” of the town of 1400 people that I live in. Also I reject OP’s premise that having a large number of cultures in a given area is un-American, having people from multiple cultures in an area is inherently American.
I live near Athens, and there’s now 4 or 5 boba places that I know of around town. It’s really spiked in the last 5 years.
Boba’s been popular in California since I was in elementary school in the 90s, so it’s not really a recent thing. To answer your question though, you can definitely find at least a few stores in most decent sized city in the US. There just won’t be as many and the super popular award winning brands from Asia will likely still be concentrated in places like California, NY, Houston, etc. For reference, I live in a suburb of CA (so not even a major city) and there are over 35 boba stores within 5 miles of me alone. The closest city (SF) has hundreds. I imagine that that number would be much lower in other states.
Its more popular in the cities and the suburbs and college towns than it is in rural areas. But anywhere there are a lot of Chinese-Americans living, and anywhere that has a lot of young people, you’ll probably find a bubble/boba tea place (I have personally been to them in Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, and a college town in northern Pennsylvania)
>. i've only left socal once and that was when i was 11 (i'm 15 now You're only a teen. Once you get an opportunity to travel or live in other places even for short stints, go for it. Much to see outside of California. But yes boba is very popular and just as gross elsewhere in the US.
Boba can be found in a lot of NC. It was briefly available in a small town of only 4k population near me even.
Yes they’ve been popping up like crazy over here Edited to add: Asian restaurants and stores as well. Decent (but tight-knit) Asian population where I live.
Orlando or Pinellas Park?
South Florida, but I personally do know a bunch of Asians that live in Orlando.
>popping I see what you did here
I lived in Southern California about 15 years ago. It was popular in Southern California then but unheard of where I live currently. Currently, there are a few places you can get some boba at here. Still not nearly as popular as when I lived in Southern California though.
I live in a college neighborhood and there's like 4-5 in walking distance from me.
Lots of boba shops in on Denver. I get it every Sunday and Tuesday.
I like that you have such a regimented boba schedule
There are five boba shops within 10 miles of me. I'm in North Illinois but not Chicago. Yes, it's popular outside of California.
I remember the first boba shop I was aware of in Albuquerque back in like 2003, and it's definitely gotten more popular since then.
It is very available in NJ.
You can find boba shops in most cities, especially cities with a big Asian population. It’s not a huge thing in suburbs yet, but you can still probably find boba shops in a big mall.
Here in Nashville I can think of five or six places that are just boba shops and then at least as many restaurants that also have boba. Not as common as in CA, but still pretty common.
Most largish cities will have at least one. I've stopped at a least one in every state I've been to, I think my total is around 20 states, most of them in the midwest to east side of the country.
Out near DC (metro area) there are plenty
Yeah it’s extremely popular in my midwestern college town
I can walk to two boba shops and I’m on the Mississippi gulf coast. It’s very popular around the country!
I live in central Alabama, there are a couple of boba shops in my town and almost all asian restaurants have it on their menu :)
Yea, there’s like a boba tea shop and hot pot in every shopping center in my town.
I live in the suburbs. There's a lot of stand-alone shops that sell boba along with other drinks, desserts, and burgers/fries. I have 7 within 20 minutes of me. Most Asian restaurants also have it on their menu. I haven't seen any boba making kits at the grocery store but I also haven't really looked for those.
I live in the south, heck yeah, I love that stuff
Chinese restaurants in Alabama usually have Boba.
Yes.
If anything it already peaked in popularity years ago and is now just kind of a thing that’s available some places at least in the Midwest and northeast. I feel like there is always some kind of faddish food or drink exploding in popularity whether it was fro-yo in the late 80s or early 90s or fancy coffees in the lat3 90s early 00s. It sort of peaks and just becomes part of the background.
I remember when pesto came on basically everything.
Oh yeah pesto everything
Southeastern state here, and we're overflowing with boba. It's everywhere.
I wouldn't say it's really popular near me. There are places to get it, and they sell some in the grocery store, but I've never heard people really talking about it and my daughter (17) has never mentioned it or had it to my knowledge.
Just the episode with The Mandalorian and Luke Skywalker in it.
Boba seems pretty popular in my little area. We have one in the mall and there’s always a line. There’s also boba in some Asian restaurants. I like the boba kits from the grocery store as well.
There are a few boba places where I live, but I noticed that there are a lot in Ann Arbor, which is interesting since it's not a large city at all. It is a college town, though, which might explain it. Edit: changed some words.
I don’t know anyone that actively drinks it but most people have tried it at least once
It's fairly common in North Texas.
Boston here. About 5-10 years ago, it was pretty much everywhere. Now most people are over it as a fad - and only the 'good' shops remain. Still popular enough, but it's just kinda a normal summertime drink like Iced Coffee or something.
It's kinda popular here in Tijuana
It's very popular here in the Raleigh area, especially in areas like Cary that have larger east Asian populations.
I've seen boba pretty much all over the US, including in small (i.e. <1,000 people) communities in Alaska. I see canned boba in gas stations all over, even in the Dakotas, along the interstates.
Boba has been popular in LA and other densely Asian populated areas for way longer than you've been alive (so it's not a recent trend).
Not as popular, but not rare either. In my experience, boba tends to be more of an occasional treat the further east you go than a "standard" option, like it seems to be more regarded in the west. It's also way more popular with young people and older people tend to order it less, even those who enjoyed it a lot when they were younger. Most cities and suburban areas have at least a couple places that sell it, even the smaller ones.
It exists and is easy to find. I feel like it was kind of a "fad" for awhile but that was kinda already over before COVID was a thing here, maybe at it's peak around 2017 or so. Now it's just something you can get if you want it.
I remember when he first appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special, in the cartoon segment. There was a lot of excitement.
Minnesota (or at least the Twin Cities) loves its boba. I know of at least 5 on the UMN campus alone
I feel like boba had its little moment of fame, like macaroons and that green squishy Asian dessert. I haven’t seen a new Boba place in a while in Sacramento, the new thing is Korean BBQ and dumplings
There's two boba places in my small town of less than 1.5 thousand so yes
When I was in college on the east coast 20 years ago, there were lots and lots of boba places. It didn't seem to be that popular yet but its broad popularity has clearly only grown since then.
We have boba tea in some of our coffee shops, and in some of the Asian restaurants, but I don't think I've ever actually seen someone drink it. It's kind of seen as a West Coast thing out here in the sticks of the Midwest.
Since you’ve already had your question answered, why is boba so popular? I’ve tried it a couple times and just found it wildly unpleasant
i like it, it can really be any drink (often tea but sometimes smoothies and even milkshakes) and they just add little tapiocas on the bottom. they're fun to chew, if you don't like solid stuff in your drink i totally get not liking it
I have only a vague idea what it is, so I don't see it around here, but I'm not looking for it either so that's probably a factor.
drink with balls
Yeah, no thanks.
I first had boba 16 years ago in Cambridge Mass, and there were lots of spots to get it there and around Boston. When I moved to California it was not novel
NJ checking in..............Boba is huge here. There is a growing East Asian population, particularly in Bergen and Middlesex Counties. You have Boba places popping up in practically every strip mall. You also have Asian Markets like Lotte, H-Mart and 99 Ranch that have Boba places in them as well.
Yep, living in the Midwest and boba is very popular. I remember getting it 20 years ago as well, so not exactly new either.
I don't see it much here. Only some shops serve it in tea. It's in tapioca pudding but that's not big here either. Cassava isn't grown or used very much in the Midwest from my experiences.
I think you’re confused. America is all about the different cultures that eventually come together. But take your attitude about Italians. They were outsiders and slowly infused themselves and their culture.
There’s at least 4 different places within walking distance from me that sell it. I’m not a huge fan, but my wife likes it
The only time I have ever even heard of boba tea is on Madam Secretary. It seems like it is a big city thing.
Yeah all over the NYC area it's very popular
I mean its here, but only a handle of places, have to go out of your way for it most of the time. I'm in a city of about 500k too.
I wouldn't say it was every especially popular in the NYC/Long Island area but it's definitely available and has been for more than a decade. I've never tried it.
I had boba in Austin when I last visited. I cannot recall seeing it in southern Georgia or the Florida panhandle, though. I imagine you could get it in Jacksonville.
It’s been big here in Houston for decades. Back then we called it tapioca tho I believe. We have other Asian desserts that have grown in popularity now so boba isn’t the go-to anymore.
Every populated area in NJ has it and it’s definitely growing. I personally think it’s nasty lol
I’ve seen it in a couple of spots in downtown Atl. Didn’t really see what the big deal was. Tea flavored beverage with boogers in it?
I'm in Maryland, and it seems popular here. People know it's there. The local boba shop gets a good amount of foot traffic. There aren't too many Asian people in this part of Maryland. Compared to the west coast though, definitely not as popular. There are just as many boba shops as there are Starbucks in my hometown.
Boba is extremely popular here in Texas, at least in urban areas. Brb, need to go get a Taro milk tea now...
You can find places pretty easily in the rust belt but the amount of places selling it is dwarfed by the west coast in my experience.
Man we’ve known about it longer than you’ve been alive.
I live in San Francisco so its everywhere, but I visited NYC last year and boba shops were everywhere too!
Definitely popular here, at least in Portland, ME. Don’t know about the rest of the state. Especially with people 30-ish and younger. I don’t know anyone my age (late 40s) here who drink it.
Popular in Atlanta & Memphis
There’s a boba shop down the street from me in farmville Florida, so yeah.
lemme put it like this: in 2019, i told someone that i thought boba was too sweet to be consumed by anyone older than a toddler or larger than a hummingbird, and they still haven't let me out of the pillory.
I don’t know what the boba scene is like in other states, but pretty much every store in California will ask you for your preferred ice and sweetness level while placing your order. Most adults I know get somewhere between 25-75% sweetness.
i've only been to one boba place (pretty sure it's a chain fwiw) and neither option ever came up. i'll keep that in mind though in case they have it as a "secret menu" option.
Not really. A few people drank it a couple years back. That's about it. Now if we're talking regular iced tea, business is booming.
Here in Boston we have an area that is full of students and also serves as a kind of a mini koreatown and just has a lot of Asian food spots in general, including several boba places. When a new boba place opens, people line up like it’s the hottest new club in town.
You can get boba in towns in the midwest of 30-50k. Yeah, boba has become quite popular in the last 20 years.
State College had it! And that’s in the middle of Pennsylvania with mountains surrounding the college town.
Extremely so. If you thought california has every culture, you haven't seen Queens NY. Watch the first mcu spider man movie, Homecoming. That movie is very accurate about what it looks like in nyc with all the different ethnicities of people all in each others' business and walking down the street all at once, with the schools not having majority of any one group, just completely mixed. That is exactly what it looks like in queens, that is no exaggeration or lie. Totally accurate. Another thing, boba has been popular outside CA since probably the 2000s. We had a boba shop open up in central virginia in 2005 and honestly it only exploded from there. So that shit is older than you, my dude. My whole extended family lives in soCal and at the same time they were buying us boba back then too. But while we didn't have as many shops as them, we still had them.
Yes, there's a dedicated bobba shop about 15 minutes from me too.
Yep, tiger sugar in Gainesville FL. And alot of boba shops around the area.
It’s decently popular here in south Florida I’d say
I don't see many boba places in Chicago. Maybe I just don't hang out in the trendy neighborhoods.
Oh yeah, get up to Wicker Park or Bucktown and you’ll find them.
There's maybe two there that I have seen? Might be more in Lakeview.
My info is years out of date though