Boba in Berkeley!

Helloooo everyone!!

I hope all of you are well and are enjoying summer as much as I am! Speaking of summer, one of my favorite beverages to drink during this hot season is bubble tea or boba. For those of you who are unfamiliar with bubble tea, let me give you a quick introduction!

Boba was first invented in one of Taiwan's tea shops around the 1980s and has skyrocketed in popularity since then. Bubble milk tea is a sweet tea base mixture typically accompanied by milk or fruit. Tea flavors can range from the classic black to green/jasmine to Thai etc. Milk tea can be served hot or cold and can have different consistencies depending on what toppings you put into your drink and if you have a fruit flavored tea vs a milk tea. Most of these teas are also accompanied by small, chewy and sweet tapioca balls otherwise known as "pearls" or the name we mentioned earlier, "boba." The best part of all? Most bubble teas and tapioca are gluten free! I must confess that these drinks are a guilty pleasure of mine- chalk full of sugar and calories but oh so delish... :)

This post will be your guide to discovering the world of boba and all the selection we have in Berkeley I have personally tried or want to try! Enjoy!

The Classic Pearl Milk Tea

Bubble Tea Sample Menu      
1) TEAS*
Black
Green/Jasmine
Thai 
Fruit flavored tea (pomegranate, passion fruit, peach, mango, strawberry etc)
Coffee/Mocha
Taro
Almond
Lavender 
*Powder or brewed tea. Most fruit flavored ones contain syrup.

Tapioca balls

2) TOPPINGS
Pearls (tapioca balls)
Small pearls
Fruit flavored jellies (apple, mango, rainbow etc)
Coffee flavored jellies
Pudding 
Sweet red beans

Rainbow jellies!!

BERKELEY BOBA
1) Moccaccino Cafe
A great place if you're first starting out drinking boba. The drinks are cheap especially if you get the drink special of $3.15 for 2 drinks. With this place, you get what you pay for- cheap drinks have a more watery consistency, less tea flavor and a lots of sugar. But considering the price, if you love it you will think its a steal, if you hate it, then you wouldn't have wasted much money. It's a win-win.
Rating: 2.5/5

2) Honeyberry
Famous for its boba bar and freshly baked roti buns (a type of sweet Asian pastry-not gfree though..), Honeyberry can stand as a competitor against Moccaccino. The featured boba bar allows you to load up on toppings while paying a standard price. The drinks are a decent price but definitely more than Moccaccino's. I like the concept of the boba bar, but since the toppings are left out they get somewhat dry and hard. Not my idea of a good boba. Also, the teas are a bit artificial tasting although not watery. I would only come here if you like toppings more than tea. If that's you, look no further!
Rating: 2.75/5

3) Quickly's
Quickly's is a chain store so their tastes are very chain store like. Their milk teas sell at a decent price (around $3), but Moccaccino stands on top with the lowest prices in Berk for milk teas. Quickly's uses a soy based powder that makes their drinks taste a bit funky if you're not into soy flavors, but the creamy taste is not objectionable. Quickly's is another Berk student favorite for those late night boba cravings.
Rating: 2.75/5

4) Sweethearts
Let me just say, I can't give a non-bias review for this place because my experiences here were just dreadful. On two separate occasions, my friend and I somehow got dead insects in our drinks (flies and ants) and the lady who worked the front register tried to convince us it was tapioca or a tea leaf. Since then, I have never gone back and I have told everyone not to give them your business. Unless you're in dire need for some protein in bug form, then by all means, I won't hold you back. But, just so you know, there are cleaner ways to fulfill your protein needs.
Rating: 1/5 (I want to give it a zero, but I guess the tea was bearable).

5) Lotus House
This is a Chinese restaurant that sells boba as a part of a drink special for ordering one of their meals. The drinks are as terrible as their food. I can't believe this place is still running (no offense to those of you who dig this place). The tapioca is hard as hell when you let it sit even for 30 minutes. The tea is unspectacular and clearly, not memorable.
Rating: 1/5

6) Sheng Kee Bakery
Ahh, Berkeley finally came to their senses and built a Sheng Kee right in the heart of student activity. I mean with the school housing more than 50% Asian, you know that this was a right move when you see hordes of Asians lining out the door enticed by the familiar scents of sweet Asian pastries. Unfortunately, Sheng Kee does not offer any gluten free products (save for naturally gluten free foods), BUT they do serve boba that is not half bad. The tea is pre-made, dispensed out of containers and you have an unlimited choice of toppings but the amount of the toppings is left up to their discretion. SK boba is a bit too sweet for me and the ratio between tea and boba is 3:1 so I always end up drinking all the tea and have a mountain of boba left on the bottom of my cup. For the price of $2.99, and some interesting tea blends, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and leave by saying their boba is not too shabby.
Rating: 3.5/5

7) Tea Fever
If anyone who comes to Berkeley asks me to recommend good boba places, I'll tell them to go to Tea Fever. Tea Fever ranks among one of the top boba places in my book to have a pleasant tasting boba for a relatively pleasant price. Their boba sells for around $3.15 and they offer some fun flavors like almond and lavender for example. They don't have different jellies but their tea is the highlight, not the add ins.
Rank: 4/5

8) Ucafe
You know, I'm starting to see a trend of pretty average teas for high prices. Ucafe does not escape this description. Their teas are pretty watered down and unspectacular as far as I can tell. They sell Asian pastries too, but at this rate, I'm almost positive that Sheng Kee will take them down unless they can step up their game.
Rank: 2.5/5

9) Asha Tea House
The one place everyone tells me to go to, but I haven't gone yet. I've been dying to try this place out because I'm a huge fan of authentic and strong teas and I heard that they really deliver in this department. If the tapioca is good, then that's another plus in my book. Let me know if any of you have tried this place and what you recommend!
Rating: TBD

And that's it! I hope this guide to Berkeley boba was helpful and I really encourage everyone gives this list a try except for the ones that got a 1 star rating. Those I would religiously avoid.

Treat yourself to this delicious Asian drink during this summer and keep one piece of advice in mind: when you're drinking boba, calories don't exist! =) Have fun boba drinking!

~Kris

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Gfree in the City: Berkeley Adventures Day 2!

Hello everyone!

I hope that all of you were able to read up on what the three of us did on Day 1 and more importantly, what yummy gfree food we ate! Needless to say, at the end of Friday, we were exhausted from all the walking around, but we were certainly happy and very full. :) 

Now onto Day 2! 

Waking up and seeing sunshine on Saturday morning already put us in a cheerful mood to explore more of what Berkeley had to offer! 

On Saturday, we had an additional friend come along to visit (actually, my sister's boyfriend) and so we decided to take a drive down to the 4th street shopping district. The shopping district was simply charming with all its small boutique shops and eateries! Here, the streets are crowded with more dogs than people and the air was less polluted than in the city. We stopped by a couple shops that piqued our interest, including the one that is shown below of us holding some cool mini succulent plants! 

After perusing through the shops and snapping some pics, we were all feeling like it was time to grab lunch! Now here's where the food adventure begins!

Berkeley has many unique ethnic restaurants that are an absolute must to try if in the area. One such restaurant is, without a doubt, Brasil Cafe. 

Brasil Cafe is a small space (and by small, I mean you walk in and it's literally a square!) Despite the small space, the flavor is certainly not small in size! When you first walk in, the atmosphere makes you feel as if you have been transported out of the city and into a colorful, vibrant Latino world. Paintings of parrots and rainbow tablecloths adorn the room making you feel as if you really are in some part of Brazil! 

Since I've been here before, I already knew their signature dishes, in particular, their tri-tip. Per my suggestion, our table ordered the tri-tip rice bowl, a chicken rice bowl, and a pork carnitas rice bowl. (So much rice!! haha). We also ordered something extra special called, pao de queijo, which are these deliciously crispy but soft cheese puffs made of tapioca flour, that are, you guessed it, absolutely gluten free! 

Pao de queijo- cheese puffs!

Brasil cafe, besides being well known for its delicious tri-tip, is also known for its creamy cilantro dipping sauce which is in virtually every dish. To me, it really helps to accentuate the flavors in the already very flavorful food and adds that extra kick, if you know what I mean! 

T's chicken rice bowl with grilled onions, creamy cilantro sauce, and ricotta cheese  sitting on a bed of  rice. 

My very flavorful pork carnitas rice bowl! 

If you are interested in trying this place, I would double check with the chef or waiter about the sauces if you are very sensitive. T and I didn't seem to have any major problems after eating it, but you should always exercise caution, like I always say!

We are happy campers! :)

Lunch was super filling and rich and so we were definitely up for some exercise to burn off some of that food!

Find more information at
http://www.findmeglutenfree.com/biz/brazil-cafe/10120206

Our next destination was to get dessert! I had heard of a gourmet bakery in the Gourmet Ghetto area called, Masse's Pastries. (For those of you confused as to why we have a district called Gourmet Ghetto... it's basically an area that is filled with gourmet shops and eateries of all kinds. As to why they call it a ghetto is beyond me, especially since it is quite the opposite!) Of course, when we got there, the bakery was so full that the line was practically out the door! (If this isn't an indicator as to how good these desserts are, then I don't know what is!) 

If there was any downside to this bakery, I would say that it's a bummer that not all of its baked creations are gfree. However, there are still options that us gfreer's can enjoy and hopefully if more and more people request for gfree items, they may start making more! 

Out of all the baked items that they had, the only gluten free desserts were the pistachio sandwich cake with wild strawberries and pistachio flavored cream, a flourless chocolate cake, and the macaroons (made with almond flour). The macaroon flavors included cool flavors like salted caramel, pistachio, raspberry, and violet! We ended up ordering everything except the chocolate cake since we had tried something similar to it before.
For more reviews check out:
http://www.findmeglutenfree.com/biz/masses-pastries/10106408

They had ribbons!! 

Here are pics of what we ordered! Oh it looks so good even now as I'm typing this!

MACAROONS! taste the rainbow :)

Pistachio cake with wild strawberries and pistachio cream!

Aerial shot of desserts

In terms of price, Masse's can get expensive especially if you're on a budget. I was overzealous and was won over by all the pretty colors that I had to just try one of each macaroon and the pistachio cake. The macaroons were $1.25 each and the pistachio cake was $5.50. Pricey, definitely; but the taste was worth it and that's what counts!

After Masse's, we decided to head back to the apartment but we were stopped by the urge to drink bubble tea. Darn, these food cravings! We decided to go to this great bubble tea place I know called, Tea Fever, to get some refreshing cold drinks for the walk back. As you all know, bubble tea or boba, is a very popular drink among Asians and if you're in Berkeley, chances are you'll probably see lots of people carrying this drink. Boba, if you don't already know, are basically tapioca balls that are seriously addicting. It's both chewy and sweet if you go to a good quality place and it of course accompanies whatever flavored tea you get. Of course, most boba is naturally gfree; just stay away from any barley milk teas and what not! 

T's Lychee green tea w/ tapicoa! That white thing is a whole lychee! YUM! 

I seriously have tea fever when I walk by this store. Thus, I presume it is appropriately named.

We bought drinks and of course, instead of walking straight back to the apartment as planned, we ended up taking a tangent to the weekly Farmer's market where they sell all sorts of fresh produce and also, if you look around, lots of gluten free items. I highly encourage everyone to check out the Farmer's Market here for gfree items as well as cool little trinkets they have on sale!

And that pretty much concluded our weekend gfree adventure! It was so much fun and I hope that T can come down again and we can try even more gfree places. We would love to hear from people who know of any gfree places in Berkeley or the Bay that we can try out or if you've tried any places and would like to share your experience, we welcome your comments!

Until next post,

Kris

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