Best Boba: Top 10 bubble tea in Orange County
Welcome to our Best Boba series! In these posts, I will be inviting foodies and bubble tea lovers from different cities around the world to give us their favorite boba spots in their city. Orange County, California, USA!
1. Cha for Tea
4187 Campus Drive, Irvine, CA
Linh and I have been in and out of Irvine for a good chunk of our lives and before the boba craze really took off, Cha for Tea was our go to for its perfectly cooked, honey boba. While Linh’s favorite is their Earl Grey milk tea, I go back and forth on their mango green tea and their peach mint refresher.
2. Tastea
Tastea is scattered all around Orange County and for a full list of locations, you can click here. All my friends from Little Saigon swear by Tastea and we get it - their fruit teas are so good!
3. R&B Teabar
9732 Garden Grove Blvd, Garden Grove, CA
R&B was Linh’s favorite boba place when she visited Vietnam, so we’re psyched to have two in Orange County (there’s also one in Westminster!). Our favorites are pretty much anything off their fresh fruit tea selection because every drink comes with chunks of fresh fruit and they all taste amazing.
4. RedStraw Teabar
14031 Jeffrey Rd, Irvine, CA
RedStraw Teabar is the latest boba shop on the scene and lemme tell you something - the two of us are obsessed with it! Between the two of us, we’ve tried 7 drinks and all of them have been bomb. What makes them stand out is that they use fresh ingredients like freshly juiced cucumbers and strawberry slices in their teas instead of syrups. It’s a healthier alternative.
5. Harmony Tea Bar
305 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach, CA / 25380 Marguerite Pkwy, Mission Viejo, CA
For high end teas, you can’t beat Harmony Tea Bar. Their teas are all made to order and we’re obsessed with their orange creamsicle matcha and their fruit teas. What makes them stand out is that they offer a lot of interesting flavor combos like strawberry basil.
6. Tea Station
15333 Culver Dr, Irvine, CA
For fast service and an extensive menu, Tea Station has got your back. Even though it’s on the more expensive side, Linh and I love Tea Station for their strongly brewed teas. A few favorites of ours include: Earl Grey milk tea, white peach oolong tea, and lychee green tea.
7. Happy Lemon
14805 Jeffrey Rd, Irvine, CA
Fresh lemon teas are one of my favorite drinks and no one does it better than Happy Lemon. I went through this phase where I drink 5 of their Freshly Squeezed Lemon Light Oolong Teas a week for about 3 months and only stopped because school started. Linh’s favorite here are their cheese foam topped teas which are also bomb.
8. DingTea
DingTea is literally all over Orange County with locations in Tustin, Costa Mesa, Westminster, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, and Santa Ana. We’re tried a large selection of their teas and pretty much everything is good there. My favorite is their Yakult green tea! It doesn’t hurt that all of their locations are aesthetic af.
9. Omomo Tea Shoppe
5365 Alton Pkway, Irvine, CA
Omomo is hitting the boba scene crazy hard in Orange County and people will drive hours to try this shop. While we’re not big on its long line, we have to admit that the drinks here are above and beyond the average boba shop. I love their Strawberry Yakult and Linh digs their Matcha Cortado, but honestly, there is no bad drink here.
10. MilkBox
2493 Park Ave, Tustin, CA
For healthier boba, we recommend RedStraw, Harmony Tea Bar, and MilkBox to all of our followers. What we like about MilkBox are their standout milk teas like their peach Oolong and Earl Grey lavender and how a chunk of their proceeds go to local charities.
About the Authors
When it comes to boba, you really can’t beat Orange County for their creativity and sheer number of boba shops. As the boba fanatics behind the Instagram page, @bobabitchess, Linh and I (Audrey) originally created the Instagram to share what we were drinking everyday with our friends. When our started taking off and we realized people liked what we were doing, our goal switched over to sharing all the hottest boba spots in SoCal and sharing honest reviews of them. Above, we share our 10 favorite spots in no particular order. To be honest, it was hard narrowing it down to our top 10 because Linh and I love frequent so many shops and have our favorite drinks at every store.
