Written by Ethan Wang and Jenna Nouri
The Barefoot Times has created a comprehensive rating of the most popular boba shops around Pasadena and La Cañada, evaluating their most popular boba tea by the following five categories: taste, texture, cost efficiency, serving time, and overall appearance.
Sunright Tea Studio
16 W Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105
The Barefoot Times visited Sunright Tea Studio located in Old Town Pasadena. The most popular drink is the Matcha Oolong Milk Tea; a regular size (24 oz) was $6.50. The serving time (for both drinks) was about 7 minutes, which was pretty long, as the shop wasn’t very crowded.
The shop’s interior is a nice, cozy area with plenty of seating. To order, simply tap on a touchscreen, which is quite convenient. As for the drink itself, it was very well balanced; the matcha flavor wasn’t too overpowering, and the drink had just the right amount of sweetness, while the oolong flavor was a subtle background note.
Rating: 8.5/10
Boba Boba
965 Foothill Blvd Suite A2, La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011
Although Boba Boba specializes in serving teas that easily satisfy the palate, they also have a wide variety of snacks and foods to choose from.
The most popular drink is the Brown Sugar House Milk Tea, which was relatively average, at least compared to Sunright Tea Studio. The shop had one universal size (24 oz) of boba and each tea cost around $6.50. The serving time was about 5 minutes, even though there were a few customers before us.
In terms of decorations, the indoor setting is thriving with music and merch. However, the overall size of the shop is surprisingly small. The parking situation can make it a bit of a hassle to find, but it’s worth the search.
Overall, the drink had flavorful boba and a moderate balance of tea and sugar.
Rating: 7.5/10
Proleće Tea
19 S Fair Oaks Ave, Pasadena, CA 91105
Proleće is also located in Old Town Pasadena. Its most popular drink is the Jasmine Milk Tea, which is overall a refreshing drink for a warm day. A regular size (24 oz) was about $6.50, just like above. The serving time (for three drinks this time) was around 5 minutes, which is pretty good.
The shop itself was pretty cramped, and there wasn’t much space to sit. With that being said, the setup was quite inviting and the decorations added a plethora of character. The tea was decent overall; we couldn’t taste the jasmine very much and the flavor was mostly overpowered by the sheer sweetness.
Rating: 7/10
Tea Spots
1443 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91106
Upon entering Tea Spots, one is immediately greeted with a massive interior featuring plenty of chairs and tables for the customer’s pleasure. This shop features both boba and traditional Taiwanese food.
Tea Spots’ most popular drink is their Honey Lavender Milk Tea, a cool and refreshing drink. Ordered at a regular size (24 oz), it costs $5.50 without tax. The serving time for two drinks was two minutes, which was highly impressive. The shop was relatively crowded, so we were expecting to wait at least 5-10 minutes for our order.
As for the tea itself, the base tea flavor was fairly strong, and the supposed lavender flavor wasn’t very prominent in taste, largely due to the overpowering sweetness. The Barefoot Times would like to note that there was an option to get the drink at 75%, 50%, and 25% sugar, so this was not a defining factor within our rating. The brown sugar boba itself was quite chewy. Overall, the drink was rather unbalanced, with a lack of the supposed flavor (lavender) and an excess of sweetness.
Rating: 5/10
