By: Kianna Cheuk, Staff Writer
Do your thoughts bubble with the thought of bubble tea? The sweet refreshing drink that seems to have the kids craving for more. Boba is not limited to just tapioca balls but lychee jelly, grass jelly, red beans, and much more. Boba has taken over our Millbrae community more than we know. Millbrae has or had Eggettes, T4 You, Mochi Factory, Tiger Tea, Tasty Pearl Cafe, YiFang, Search tea, Quickly, La Matcha, Chatime, Honeyberry and Bambu. In total, we have twelve boba shops with eight still open. As displayed, teens at Mills have many options, but too many options may prove to be harmful towards the community than otherwise intended.
The seven boba spots closest to Mills, just within a few blocks of each other include Bambu, Eggettes, La Matcha, Tasty Pearl Cafe, Tiger Tea, T4 You, and YiFang. Tiger Tea and La Matcha are across parallel El Camino, Tiger Tea to T4 You, T4 You to Bambu, Bambu to YiFang, you get the gist. If you’re just looking for a quick fix to your boba craving even if it’s not the best quality, then go to T4 You. If you’re looking to indulge a little and blow off a couple extra dollars, then head over to YiFang.
Although the selection and pricing are around the same from each shop, the quality of tea differs. Each shop uses different types of tea and you can taste the difference. La Matcha and YiFang though a little more on the expensive side does taste good and feel fresh. Eggettes, Bambu,Tasty Pearl Cafe, Tiger Tea and T4 You are all around the same price range, but they do differ in quality. Tasty Pearl Cafe and T4 You are, in my opinion, the worst out of all in this category. The tea isn’t satisfactory and the sanitation in T4 You could be better. Many have stated that their popcorn chicken, a popular snack purchased, was undercooked and one customer even reported getting food poisoning from it, according the freshman Abigail Sun. Paying the same price as Eggettes, Tiger Tea and Bambu, T4 You is not one of the tastiest cafes out there, but it is more of something you get out of convenience. While the excess amount of boba shops is unnecessary, the boba quality and tea does differ based on the cafe you’re at.
These seven boba spots have become teen hangouts. Teens go to these boba shops as a default when they don’t know where to go after school or they simply do not want to go home. The surplus amount of boba shops in Millbrae does add to the spaces available for teenagers to go after school. Although, the more space you have in a boba spot, the more tables, chairs, and games included, and therefore more teens will go. I feel T4 You is very popular because it can accommodate bigger groups. You can have around eight friends sitting around in one big table play Jenga or have a study session. Even the dynamic of T4 You feels lively and open, compared to other boba spots that feel like once you get the drink you have to go.
However, spending money on boba and drinking it almost every day feeds into their addiction to these sugary, refreshing drinks. Many teens like Leo Schroeder used to/ still do drink boba everyday. Boba in itself has almost the same amount of sugar as soft drinks (roughly 30 grams), so if you think we killed soda addiction amongst Millbrae teens, think again. These teens switched to a new addiction. So if you think teens around Millbrae have switched to something more beneficial to their health as sodas you are awfully wrong.
Not only do these drinks have almost or just as much sugar as soft drinks, but the number of times that teenagers get boba may be unwise, regarding price. Let’s say you get boba 5 times a week, that’s about 20 dollars per week, or a little over $1000 per year. Not to mention, that Millbrae’s limited supply of customers simply cannot support all of these boba shops. In other words, if there are too many boba shops, and not enough people buying boba, it is impossible to support all your local community’s boba shops.
With these eight boba shops in Millbrae, it leaves the teens hungry, indecisive, broke, and with a fueled addiction. Teens simply do not have the money to support all eight of these boba shops. Teens mostly who mostly use allowance money from their parents can’t support their addiction. Nor do these teens have a job, hence they wasting their last five dollars on boba :/ THE END!
