Anthony Z.
Yelp
Updated review a year later:
Located in little England, where the shops and overall vibe within the small alley is reminiscent of London, lies this boba shop. There is a good amount of seating and free parking in the rear, so coming in to buy a drink shouldn't be a problem.
The problem was their drink itself. After sampling a few other boba shops that offer tieguanyin, the tea just tastes like syrup. Although I'm pretty sure this places does use real tea, their tieguanyin tea flavor compared to other shops that serve it just doesn't meet the expectation. The 75% I ordered was also pretty sweet, so I suggest ordering 50% sweetness for the people that usually get 75% levels. However, I do admit the XL cup is pretty unique, but their straws that fit the XL cup barely reaches the bottom.
Their boba pearls? Absolutely no. They had flavor and were chewy, but they are not fresh; at least when I went on a Sunday afternoon. How could I tell? From the fact that clumps, I'm talking CLUMPS, got stuck in my straw while trying to drink it while driving. I'm not saying it didn't happen once or twice, but possibly 3-4 times where I just saw a big clump on the bottom of my straw, and it felt like even a vacuum cleaner couldn't suck the boba pearls up. Given that my mouth is a vacuum while drinking, you could only imagine how clumped and stuck together the boba pearls are. I mean, once or twice with little clumping is tolerable, but when it's to a point where I had to pull over multiple times just to get the pearls unstuck from my straw? No thanks.
Overall, this place averages to be sweeter compared to when I last went, with their tea taste dwindling in the drinks. Similar can be said for boba pearl quality, clumping multiple times, my straw was literally flattened from sucking and still being unable to get the boba pearls up. If it's one word that appears the most in this review, let it be the same as this boba place: suck(ing).