Boba tea has arrived in El Paso in a big way. If you haven’t heard, boba tea — also known as bubble tea or milk tea — is a combination of tea, creamer, your choice of flavor, and the black boba pearls for which the tea is named. Made from tapioca starch extracted from cassava roots, boba adds a chewy texture to these colorful drinks.
Here in El Paso, you can sip boba tea at local dessert hotspots and Vietnamese restaurants alike. You can even visit cafes that specialize in bubble tea, where you’ll find especially long lists of flavor combinations.
Teapioca Lounge
If you’ve never had boba before, Teapioca Lounge is a great place to explore everything the beverage has to offer. Experienced boba drinkers may want to skip directly to the “craft your own tea” part of the menu. Here you can choose your tea base (green, black, oolong, pu-erh, or white), temperature, flavor (including lychee, lemon, lavender, honey, green apple, and rose), sweetness level, and add-ons like tapioca. You can even select Teapioca’s boba bursters — colorful, flavored variations on old-fashioned tapioca boba.
Teapioca Lounge takes your boba options a bit further, offering a range of drinks you won’t find anywhere else. Their frappioca beverages combine the notion of boba tea with a frozen frappuccino. The red bean matcha frappioca is one of our favorite menu options.
Bobaba
Located inside Cielo Vista mall, Bobaba specializes in bubble tea. You should know, however, that they call their bubble tea “milk tea.” Like Teapioca, Bobaba has a bit of a DIY vibe. Choose one of their options — original, green, jasmine, oolong, or Thai — milk tea and then add your favorite flavor. Flavor options include sea salt cream, coconut, matcha, taro, and vanilla. For a small fee, you can even sip your bubble tea out of a cool, light bulb-shaped cup.
Pho Tre Bien
In addition to severing up authentic Vietnamese fare, Pho Tre Bien will quench your thirst for bubble tea. You’ll find a range of flavors on the menu, including blueberry, coconut, mango, papaya, pineapple, strawberry, watermelon, taro, honeydew jasmine tea, and coffee. Pho Tre Bien gets our vote in part because of its delicious boba tea options and in part because it’s also a great place to grab some grilled shrimp spring rolls and lemongrass beef vermicelli.
Habit@T Boba Tea Express
Conveniently sandwiched between a Costco and a Target, Habit@t Boba Tea Express helps you get your tapioca fix before your shopping trips. This boba specialist is a favorite among locals, who give its traditional milk teas excellent reviews. It might be the only boba café in town where you can experience authentic flavors like chai, brown rice green tea, and mandarin milk tea. Their taro green milk tea proudly boasts real taro.
Whether you’re a practiced boba drinker or you’re itching to try it, you’ll love what the local El Paso scene has to offer! Not only can you sip a traditional bubble tea, but you can also explore new horizons with boba coffees and frozen frappioca beverages! So, get out there and try something new!
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