Clarissa WeiBoba shops are a signature experience in the San Gabriel Valley. The San Gabriel Valley, after all, is the ground zero for boba in the United States — where the experience was started, cultivated, and proliferated. Yes, boba shops are an experience in themselves. They're the community gathering ground of the locals, and where kids hang out after school and shy teenagers go on their dates. They serve the same purpose as bars and coffee shops — except with whole leaf teas drenched in milk and sugar. There are literally hundreds of these shops in the Los Angeles and it seems that they are only getting quirkier with the years.
There's alcoholic boba, popping boba, boba in mason jars, and now — you can get your boba through a drive-thru shop in Arcadia called Boba Ave Express. Opened in April of this year, Boba Ave Express is Los Angeles County's first drive-thru boba store. They took over Shrees Dairy, a former dairy and grocery drive-thru on Baldwin Avenue and outfitted it with faux chalkboard menus and even a place for people to sit.
Signage; Credit: Clarissa Wei
This is the chain's third location and though initial reviews on Yelp have been mixed, they most definitely win points for convenience. Drinks are the typical milk teas and veer towards the sweeter side. They have a coffee section and there's soy milk avaliable as a milk substitute (a true rarity in boba stores). There's also an extensive collection of smoothies and yogurt drinks.
For return customers, the store has a stamp card rewards program: buy ten drinks and get one free.
It's ideal for the lazy, perhaps after a Din Tai Fung run in Arcadia.
1437 S Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, CA 91007; (626) 641-8090
Boba window; Credit: Clarissa Wei
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