Boba (or bubble milk tea). An increasingly popular Taiwanese drink that you can find in many shops or restaurants. It’s most often paired with milk tea and some brown sugar that you can add as an extra to make it Okinawa boba milk tea. While they might have it on their menus, does it mean they’re all good? We’re here to explore five spots where you can find the best boba around Pleasanton! The contestants of the Boba War include i-Tea, Snowflake Desserts, Honey Tea, Happy Lemon, and Westea.

1)i-Tea

Address: 915 Main St, Pleasanton CA, 94566

The Amador favorite, i-Tea has—in all of the five boba milk teas that I got—the boba with the best value as it has the biggest cup size with a great taste that can only be described as “classic”. The boba is chewy and I can find no fault in the milk tea. The taste is incredibly similar to 50 lan, a boba chain store that can be described as the OG of boba milk tea shops in Taiwan. With a box of their popcorn chicken and classic boba milk tea, it’s the perfect snack to get! (Recommend popcorn chicken)

2)Honey Tea

Address: Pacific Food Hall, 2705 Stoneridge Dr Suite K, Pleasanton CA, 94588

Honey Tea is a hidden gem that lies inside the Pacific Food Hall at the very back of the hall itself. Their boba is comparatively a tad bit smaller than i-Tea and the other shops, though it’s just as chewy. While I got their brown sugar boba milk tea that came with a generous amount of brown sugar. Since Honey tea is a fruit tea house shop, they also have a wide variety of fruit teas such as Pineapple Tea or Mango Latte on their menu to try out! (Recommend mango latte)

3)Happy Lemon

Address: 3150 Santa Rita Rd Suite b, Pleasanton CA, 94566

Happy Lemon’s boba milk tea base is similar to i-Tea with the perfect medium size if you can’t drink as much boba at once before the boba hardens. They currently have a discount called Thirsty Thursdays where you buy two and get one free from 5-8pm on Thursday! With chewy boba, changeable ice levels (I got less ice), and a classic milk tea base that no one can refuse, it’s a wonderful cup of boba to get along with many other drinks! (Recommend salted cheese green tea) 

4)Westea

Address: 4233 Rosewood Dr #9, Pleasanton CA, 94588

With their signature white dog logo, their tea is more widely known for the kind of tea leaves that they use for their drinks. The taste of the milk tea was definitely different from all the other bobas as it just tastes “healthier”. It lacked the sweet milk tea taste that most people are accustomed to, but it solely depends on your preference. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of their milk tea, their monster (popcorn) chicken wasn’t bad at all. (Recommend monster chicken)

5)Snowflake Desserts

Address: 2693 Stoneridge Dr #101, Pleasanton CA, 94588

While they’re not a tea shop, I ordered from them since they were in Stoneridge and it was near Honey Tea. But sadly, their boba milk tea wasn’t the best. The boba was hard and not chewy at the first sip, and it came with an almost watery, tasteless milk tea. Though I do have to say that drinks aren’t their main selling point but their delicious rolled ice cream that I do highly recommend! (Recommend rolled ice cream)

My ranking for the ultimate boba war in Pleasanton is as the numbered list above, with i-Tea ranking first, Honey Tea second, Happy Lemon as the third place, and the rest following suit. Nonetheless they are great shops with a variety of drinks or foods on their menu that you should definitely visit for your next drink—whether it be boba or not—during your free time!