Boba. The magical drink, also known as bubble tea, was invented in Tiachung back in the 1980s and has since become highly popular in the Southern California region. Not a week goes by without me craving the rich, flavorful drink and in my four years at Diamond Bar High School, I have tasted so many different varieties of milk tea that they have begun to all taste the same.

While the big chains like TenRen, Half & Half, and Lollicup dominate the world of boba in our community, there exists various local cafes that offer the same beloved drink, but are just not as well known.

A regular size cup of boba milk tea costs $3.25 at the Rainbow Cafe, and was worth every cent, if not more. Everything about the drink was perfect, from the simple yet appealing design of the packaging, to the freshness of every single tapioca ball. Yes, for the first time, I almost discovered perfection existing in a single cup.

Although the black tea flavor was stronger than that of most milk teas, it only served to further strengthen the overall quality of the drink, and the gradual disappearance of my beverage left me wanting more.

In addition, the cafe itself had a welcoming, bright atmosphere, and a colorful menu filled with different fruit alternatives to the regular black milk tea flavor.

Address: 3277 Grand Ave # J, Chino Hills, CA 91709

With a price of $3.40 for a standard boba milk tea, the drink at the Dragonfly Tea Bar managed to bring out the smooth and creamy texture of milk, without losing the black tea flavor.

While the milk tea was excellent, a bit sweeter than most if I were to nitpick, the actual boba for the drink was weak in quality.

In addition to looking unappealing, since many of the tapioca balls stuck together in my cup, the taste was very bland, and seemingly lacked freshness.

This resulted in me sadly dumping most of the remains of my boba balls into the trash, a very heartbreaking action for me since I hate wasting.

However, the very spacious restaurant also offers a wide variety of alternative smoothies and slushies that satisfies the taste of those who aren’t particularly fond of drinking regular milk tea.

Address: 19208 Colima Rd, Rowland Heights, CA 91748

The classic milk tea drink with boba costs roughly $4 at Sharetea, and although the cup size is bigger than most standard boba places, the quality of the drink was quite lacking.

To be very blunt, I was highly disappointed, especially since the cup looked highly appealing.

In contrast with other typical black tea flavors, the milk tea at Sharetea seemed to taste watered-down and very bland.

The boba itself is decent, and probably even good if you are a big fan of chewy boba, but the overall lack of flavor made the boba milk tea very disappointing.

The teahouse contains a single table with very interesting cactus decorations, but would not fit more than perhaps one family of customers. Sharetea also offers a variety of milk teas, such as Ginger milk tea, Hokkaido Pearl milk tea, and Ice cream Black milk tea.

2983 Chino Ave #08, Chino Hills, CA 91709