0 CommentsLove Boba? So do we. That’s why Bwoggers Lori Luo and Eunice Bae sacrificed their bodies for the sake of investigative journalism to bring you Bwog’s most comprehensive report of boba places around Columbia yet.
“Bubble tea is like a meal. Because you drink the tea and you chew on the bubbles and you eat them.” – Eunice
Over a span of three days, Lori (who gets headaches when she has too much sugar and mildly lactose intolerant) and Eunice (who is lactose intolerant) hit up a grand total of six (6) boba places in the area. At each establishment, Lori and Eunice took turns getting a basic item (aka black or green milk tea) and a *special-tea* (get it?). Today, they’re spilling HALF the tea– their findings may surprise you.
All places are within a 7-10 minute walk.
Before we begin, here were our anticipated rankings for this article, all based on what we had heard/tried beforehand:
- Mellow Tea
- Gong Cha
- Culture Tea
- Tea Magic
- Wu+Nussbaum
- Cafe East
As you will discover, this list simultaneously proves to be right and wrong. As Selena Gomez once said: “Everything is not as it seems.” The order of listings in this article is arbitrary.
Tea Magic
Tea Magic’s menu has such a large variety that it’s almost overwhelming, but stick with the milk teas and you’ll be fine. They have a rewards program that gives you three dollars off after you buy 10 drinks. There’s a $6 minimum to use a card and most small drinks fall just under that, so make sure to bring cash with you if you’re not planning on switching to a medium like Eunice did. Unlike most boba places though, they have 3 sizes – small, medium and large. The small cups seem almost too small, but it’s just the shape– it’s definitely enough tea. Toppings (including boba) are 75 cents each and they offer individual to-go bags to carry your drink if you can’t finish it on the spot.
At this store, Eunice got the standard green milk tea (with 25% sugar and less ice) while Lori got the French Vanilla Milk Tea. Both drinks were ok: the french vanilla didn’t really taste like french vanilla and more like very sweet milk tea and the green milk tea tasted like tea and wasn’t too sweet. The boba was on the chewier side, but the size was perfect.
Tea Magic also measures their sugar levels in intervals of 25 (which makes a lot more sense than the typical 30/50/70 but go off I guess)– the 25% is borderline bitter, so if you like your tea on the sweeter side, you might want to stick with 50%. Overall, Tea Magic was better than we had expected.
BTW, they have a “back-to-school” promotion until the end of September– get 2 stamps on your stamp card for each drink you buy.
Location: NE corner of 112th and Broadway
Hours: Su-Sa 9:30 am – 11:30 pm
Prices: French Vanilla (s)- $5, $5.44 w/ tax, Green Milk Tea (m)- $5.75, $6.26 w/ tax
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Gong Cha
Gong Cha has a wide selection of drinks, and is also generally considered Columbia’s favorite boba place™. They have a fairly standard rewards program that gives you one free drink after nine purchased. As a global franchise, Gong Cha’s reputation precedes it. Just know that they have negative seating. You do get to stare at a wall with lots of college logos on it though, which makes for great entertainment.
Here, Lori got the standard green milk tea with pearls, 30% ice and 30% sugar, and Eunice got (for research purposes since it was the weirdest!! drink on the menu) Lemon Wintermelon Basil Seeds with pearls. The green milk tea was fine, a bit more milky than Lori would’ve liked, and it also wasn’t very sweet. The pearls were good: chewy and a bit sweet (50 cents extra to add them).
Lemon Wintermelon Basil Seeds was a mistake. A nightmare that literally looked like a science experiment gone wrong. That shit was bitter. It was filled with things that weren’t boba, which made enjoying the boba extremely difficult to do. You take a sip and you get lemon peel, what Eunice assumes is wintermelon, and basil seeds. If you look at the photo below, basil seeds look like frog eggs, which is not what you want to be thinking about when drinking something with basil seeds in it. Triggering my trypophobia and shit.
As of two weeks ago, GC was hiring. They also deliver.
Overall, good boba but stick to the drinks you know (and love).
Location: East side of Bway between 108th and 109th
Hours: Su-W 10:30 am – 11 pm, Th-Sa 10:30 am – 12 am
Prices: Lemon Wintermelon Basil Seeds with Pearl (m)- $5, $5.44 w/tax, Green Milk Tea (m) – $4.25, $4.63 w/tax
Rating: 4/5 stars
Wu+Nussbaum
Oml. Ok. We know that Wu+Nussbaum is close to campus and the food looks and smells (we have yet to taste) amazing, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT GO FOR BOBA. You WILL cry. The seating and general vibe of the place is nice, but that’s seriously it.
There were four or five options that all seemed fairly normal. Here, Eunice got the Milk Tea and Lori got the Honeydew Green Tea. There’s no charge for boba, but honestly if you paid for that shit you would feel SCAMMED– this boba was clumpy af and looked lowkey sketch. Seriously– they use iced coffee cups for boba. No sealed lid to poke through, nothing. Just your standard plastic iced coffee cup. Sucks all the fun out of the experience.
The Honeydew Green Tea was not the worst. It tasted like melted Honeydew Melona ice cream bars (if you know you know), but nothing like tea whatsoever. The Milk Tea, however, was literally the worst thing ever. It tasted like “stale air” according to Lori. Nasty af. In her notes, Eunice wrote, “omigosh why did i do this.” Basically sums up our boba experience at Wu+Nussbaum. If you really need boba that bad, just walk to literally anywhere else.
Overall, a very disappointing experience that we regret very much.
Location: SW corner of 113th and Broadway
Hours: Su-Sa 7 am – 10 pm
Prices: Milk Tea and Honeydew Green Tea – $4.50, $4.90 w/tax
Rating: 2/5 stars – only for the atmosphere
That concludes the first half of our report. Stay tuned for the finale tomorrow.
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