The Best Boba in San Diego and Where to Get it
Far past being a trend, boba, or bubble tea, is here to stay. The delicious tapioca-pearl laden tea can be found all around San Diego, but which shops are the best? Read on to find out!
SD Boba Tea
In National City, nestled among the trove of good food and drink, lies SD Boba Tea. An unassuming storefront (not to be confused with the snow pop shop with the same logo) houses one of the best boba places in San Diego.
Personally, I prefer fruit tea, and with that, I like my drinks on the sweeter side. SD Boba Tea is right up my alley because their drinks are a little bit sweeter than some and they have a huge list of different flavors.
As they allow you to mix flavors, the possibilities are endless! From hibiscus to kumquat, there is something here for everyone.
Boba Bar and Desserts
Located in National City and Kearny Mesa, Boba Bar and Desserts, San Diego, is not just a top choice for bubble tea, but rather for their wide variety of desserts. While I have only stuck to their tea here, they offer a wide variety of sweets, including ice cream and puffles – a cross between an ice cream cone and a waffle.
They have a great range of flavors, covering fruit, milk, and brown sugar teas. They even offer salted cheese cream as an option. Their dragonfruit lychee fruit tea is delicious and as far as I have seen this is the only spot with a dragonfruit bubble tea. Their fruit tea is not too sweet, and during the summer I highly recommend their slushies.
It’s Boba Time
It’s Boba Time, conveniently found right off of Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa, is one of the best boba places in San Diego. Featuring a cute and trendy interior that features walls covered in plants, It’s Boba Time has a clean interior complete with a display case with macarons.
While I have not tried their baked goods or their food, their menu is great if you need a snack, and includes acai bowls, popcorn chicken, and fries. I am personally partial to fruit teas, and where they shine is their creative and delicious flavors.
Their Peach Lemonade Mojito and Butterfly Pea Tea both rank among my favorites anywhere in San Diego. Their actual tapioca pearls are the perfect consistency and taste fresh and sweet.
Kung Fu Tea
With both a location in Kearny Mesa and National City, Kung Fu Tea is a national chain that has some of the best tapioca pearls I have had. While most places have fresh boba and some have underwhelming stale tasting boba (you know the kind – all stuck together, hard, or flavorless), Kung Fu Tea’s tastes like it was made to order.
The pearls are slightly warm, the perfect texture, and downright delicious. The one downside to Kung Fu Tea is that their flavors lack a little creativity. Unlike other spots on this list, they don’t branch out as far as fruit teas are concerned.
That being said, sticking to the basics is not necessarily a bad thing, and they do it quite well. As an added bonus, the Kearny Mesa location has a beautiful interior that will hopefully be open for indoor seating in the future!
Ding Tea
As far as the best Boba in San Diego is concerned, Ding Tea is one of the most abundant and accessible choices in the county. With locations ranging from SDSU to UTC and beyond, it is hard to be more than a few minutes away from some delicious boba.
Ding Tea boasts a variety of flavors and is one of the few places where I get milk tea. Their brown sugar milk tea, while sweet, still maintains a distinct tea flavor. They have loads of different fruit tea flavors and use their recognizable yellow boba.
I have not noticed a difference in flavor between these and the traditional black tapioca pearls, but they are never stale or stuck, so they get a thumb’s up from me.
