Inside the Bay Area’s Corgi Butt Boba Phenomenon | Eater SF

"Tucked in a plaza next to Santa Clara High School in a sort of suburban Koreatown, this new boba shop opened in March 2021 and has become a cult hit for its collectible mason jars decorated with corgis. Owner Vivienne Tran (who also opened Moo Bar in Seattle in 2017) developed the corgi theme while trying to avoid single-use plastic, sketching dog designs to encourage customers to reuse glass containers; the shop even has a corgi logo with a waving, fuzzy peach of a butt. The corgi cups are driving repeat visits and themed releases (the workout corgis once drew an hour-long line) that fans track on Instagram, and while the cup costs an extra $2 at the shop (specific cups can be ordered online for $8 plus shipping), purchased cups can be brought back for refills if clean and labeled. Boba Pup refuses to offer any plastic cups or straws, and the drinks match the hype: they use organic milk, fresh fruit, oat milk and other alt-dairy options, cook pearls in small batches, simmer their own brown sugar syrup, and puree fresh ube and strawberries — the most popular drink is an ube latte swirled with coconut milk and real mashed purple yams. Some customers grumble about the extra cost, but Tran says $2 is essentially production value and she’s committed to the reusable-cup concept." - Becky Duffett