When I first moved to San Diego in 2005 I would guess that Michael had consumed over double the amount of boba as I had up to that point in our lives. Now that I have been with Anh for over five years now, I think I easily have caught up with him and maybe even surpassed his sizable boba consumption count. If we decided to get boba at one place for the rest of our lives we probably could single-handedly keep them in business with the amount of boba we drink. What does this all mean for you? Basically, we all belong in the Boba Hall of Fame. Either that or “BA,” bobaholics anonymous. It’s a happy yet sad story indeed.
When we get boba in San Diego we find ourselves at Tea Station most of the time. It’s definitely one of the more expensive tea places in San Diego, but the quality and noticeable tea flavor is worth it in our eyes. Now shifting to the bay area, the place we hold on the highest boba pedestal is Sharetea in Berkeley. We haven’t had it nearly as many times as we have other places like Tea Station or Factory Tea Bar in San Gabriel. But when we had it the very first time, we saw the boba life light shining bright upon us. Their first location was in Taipei in 1992 and they have steadily expanded all over the world. Just in California alone they are due to open over ten locations in the future. And to my jubilant surprise and excitement, Sharetea opened its first location in San Diego this past Sunday on Convoy St.!
We went to the grand opening on Sunday where they were offering a buy one get one free black milk tea with boba. Naturally I did not bring my common sense stamp card that day and ordered the Hokkaido Pearl Milk tea (Caramel Toffee). I asked for it to be less sweet, but they recommended I get it at their level of sweetness because she said their drinks are not heavily sweetened and that the drink might taste funny if it was taken down a notch. After my first sip I thought to myself, “why do I always have to be right?” When my arrogance ran dry, my next thought was “I wish I was wrong more often.” Alright, truth be told I’ve been wrong about many things many times. Maybe more than the amount of boba’s I’ve sipped on. But in this one instance, I think the sweetness could have been toned down just a tad bit, at least for me. Did I still enjoy it? Hell yes. The boba was soft and pretty close to Tea Station in texture and sweetness. We are very specific with how we like our tea. And when something can be as close to perfect as can be, why not wish for it to be so? Splitting hairs, or boba’s in this case…
Our other friends got the Ginger Milk Tea, Mango Green Tea Creama, and Green Tea Creama. They all loved their drinks and were very pleased with what they got. I don’t remember ever getting this cool little plastic knife used to cut into the top of the drink to sip on the cream. If you’ve never had one of these cream drinks before you do not shake it up. I know all you Thai Iced Tea people out there are thinking that’s the first thing you are supposed to do. But for this drink it is recommended to sip on the cream from the top and drink the tea from the bottom separately.
If you can’t tell I am very happy about Sharetea opening in San Diego, I should have instead posted my smiling face when I found out about it opening. I hope to try their other drinks and have a new place on Convoy to be able to proudly take out-of-towners to. Now I must dream about boba because that is the last thought I will have before going to bed. #bobalife
Sharetea
4917 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111