Photograph by Allyn Suzuki
Every day, hundreds of students take to the streets of downtown Berkeley, spending countless dollars on everything from Thai noodles to tomato-less pizza to falafel, many returning to campus with a boba cup in hand, slurping shiny pearls from a brightly colored straw.
The boba tea craze at Berkeley High School (BHS) is no secret to anyone. From taro milk tea to honey boba, BHS students can be spotted with boba any day of the week.
Boba or “bubble tea” is a sweet tea drink of Taiwanese origin which consists of flavored black or green tea, usually served with a topping. The most famous topping is tapioca, squishy black balls, or “pearls,” that sit at the bottom of the drink and are slurped up through wide straws. Flavors range from grapefruit to hazelnut and mango to chocolate.
In the past few years, boba stores have sprung up across the Bay Area with five or six existing in downtown Berkeley alone.
BHS senior Emmet Holton has been drinking boba since the beginning of high school and now drinks boba once or twice a week. When asked why he like boba so much, Holton was perplexed. “I don’t know … it’s like a weird thing. I don’t really know what makes it good,” he said.
Unfortunately, boba can come at a high price, with most drinks costing around four to five dollars. “I think any drink that costs more than four dollars is overpriced,” said Holton. However, he continues to buy boba because there are not cheaper options nearby.
BHS senior Pepe Tekpa agrees that boba is overpriced. “I used to get it more often, but I don’t anymore because of the price,” he said. Tekpa’s favorite boba store is Purple Kow, and his favorite flavor is Thai milk tea. Tapioca has been a part of Tekpa’s family for generations in various forms. “My mom was really into making tapioca and using boba was a part of it,” he said. “I wanted to continue that legacy,” Tepka continued.
Recently, a new spin on boba has come to Berkeley. The store Happy Lemon opened on Shattuck serving the unique “salted cheese” boba.
The drink is made with a layer of tea on the bottom and a layer of light and fluffy cream cheese whip on the top. By sipping the drink from the top at the proper angle, the drinker is supposed to get the experience of both the tea and the cheese at the same time.
Upon sipping into the boba, some customers find the pungent cheese taste and overwhelming. That being said, they soon got used to the unusual taste.
Some think that salted cheese is very alike to a similar “salted cream” series at the nearby 85ºC boba joint. The salted cheese topping provides more flavor than simply cream and adds to a more unique taste. Much like sea salt chocolate or salted caramel, the combination of sweet and salty is a more complex flavor but is mysteriously delicious.
Although it is an innovative idea, Holton was skeptical. “That does not sound good. That sounds really gross. I don’t want cheese on my drink,” he said. However, upon trying the drink, Holton was more forgiving: “It’s just salty black tea. It’s weird, but it’s not bad.”