Good boba in (or close to) San Francisco
I'm currently in a phase where every time I want bubble tea, I trek all the way across the city to Wonderful Foods. My favorite is #4 - Green Milk tea w/ tapioca - nice and simple. The boba is consistently a good texture - not too chewy, not too soft - and they have a variety of teas and juices, as well as good tea-eggs. However, sometimes I wish I didn't have to go so far for bubble tea.
So my question is: Where else can I get good bubble tea, especially in neighborhoods other than the Sunset and the Richmond. Anywhere else in San Francisco would be great, and San Bruno/Millbrae/Daly City/S.S.F. recs could also work potentially. I wouldn't want to go farther south than that though.
Any ideas?
Dave MP
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Wonderful Foods Co
2035 Irving St, San Francisco, CA 94122
By Dave MP
on Sep 30, 2008 08:59 PM
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Don't think you're going to find anything else in or near SF comparable to Wonderful. Broadway Bistro in Millbrae is OK. I like Sweetheart Cafe in Chinatown, but I've never gotten past the soy drinks, so I don't know how the conventional stuff is.
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I like the boba at Eggettes best - and in fact often prefer it to Wonderful Foods. I go to the Eggettes on Noriega in the Sunset, but the one in Glen Park might be good also.
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I was thinking about Eggettes - I haven't been to the one in Glen Park, but that's definitely closer than Wonderful Foods. I'll give it a try sometime soon and report back.
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There's also another Eggettes which my husband loves that's in South San Francisco around El Camino and Westborough.
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I haven't found anything comparable to that block of Irving (Double Rainbow used to be very good too and Ten Ren uses decent tea as a base) or out on Balboa a block west of Simple Pleasures.
There's a place at Japantown that's not bad, in the middle building by the courtyard (it has ice cream and candy too).
Many places I would not recommend the tapioca, from Quickly by the Castro Theater to Tea Garden on Mission.
BTW if you like milk tea, be sure to ask if they use milk rather than non-dairy alternatives (mostly soy but often powder).
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I think the Japantown place you are referring to is Murata's Cafe Hana. I'm not a boba or sweets connoisseur generally, but this place is a gem on many levels, and open late enough to go to after the movies.
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Murata's Cafe Hana
1737 Post St Ste 368, San Francisco, CA 94115
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Yes, that's the place. Sometimes they have homemade mango mochi, or warm cookies. The boba isn't out on display either, so I tend to forget it's there. As you'd expect, this is a good place for green tea.
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I love Cafe Hana's Geisha Float -- green tea granita with chunks of mochi, a slice of lemon and a maraschino cherry. So refreshing, and not sickly sweet.
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You're right, the problem with most places is that they used powdered milk instead of real milk. Wonderful Foods uses real milk. When I go to Quickly, I often get green tea w/out milk. If I ask them to make it not too sweet, it's usually pretty good, but the tapioca isn't as good at Quickly usually.
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Actually I suspect it's something worse like non-dairy creamer.
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Yup, they use non-dairy creamer and they're now unafraid to admit it. The chain boba shop in the Daly City 99 Ranch Plaza (is it Quickly?) was advertising that it was safe to buy drinks there despite the Chinese milk powder scare.
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Rainbow Bobas1 kilogram package on sale at Ranch 99 $2.69. Make your own drink.
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I made my own boba once, and it was HARD! So I definitely appreciate good boba when I find it because I realize that it's pretty tricky to make well. I'll hopefully try Eggettes some time this weekend or next week, and I'll report back.
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FWIW, the vacuum packed semi-dry boba is a cinch to make and cooks in 10 minutes. The completely dry boba is definitely a chore.
Semi-dry boba is almost the color of cooked boba. The completely dry kind is a lighter brown, like the color of a latte.
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Cool, I don't know if I've seen this. Where can I buy this in SF?
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Most markets have it. I've purchased it at Mei Wah on Clement, and I'm 99% sure 99 Ranch would have it. Look where the dried things are, like the tiny tapioca balls, beans, almond jello powder, etc. It's in a small rectangular package sort of like the cheaper ramens, but it's clear so you can see all the boba balls vacuum packed together.
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I finally made it to Eggettes in Glen Park this past weekend! I ended up staying for a few hours doing some work - the tables aren't super for working on, and the football game was on very loud, but otherwise it was a good spot for getting some work done - there is free wireless, and there are lots of good snack options.
I had a green milk tea with tapioca. It was not as good as Wonderful Foods, but it wasn't bad, especially the tapioca which I was most worried about - pretty firm, maybe slightly too firm, but no crunchiness inside. So pretty good. My tea was a bit sweet but that can be fixed by asking for less sugar next time.
I also had a snack of rice noodle rolls - these were served in a plastic container (I don't think they have actual plates/silverware) and small toothpicks - the noodles were covered half in sesame sauce, half in soy/hoisin sauce - pretty tasty, though certainly a very "packaged" snack.
When a trip to Wonderful Foods is too far, this is certainly a decent option and it's better than Lollicup.
Dave MP
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Eggettes
2810 Diamond St, San Francisco, CA 94131
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Oops, I meant to mention Quickly, not Lollicup. Eggettes is better than Quickly.
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Anyone have recommendations in Oakland Chinatown? I have no idea where to start.
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