Best Boba in Northern Virginia

Jan 27

Finally, Northern Virginia has a lot of choices for bubble tea in the area. But there are so many to choose from and they’re not all equal. Here’s a guide to the different chains.

What is Bubble Tea?

Created in the 1980s in Taiwan, bubble tea combines fresh tea, milk, sugar, and soft “bubbles” or tapioca pearls (also known as boba). The pearls have a soft, chewy texture and are mildly sweet. The tea is usually served with a large straw so you can eat the bubbles while drinking your tea. The most popular drinks are often the simplest - black or Thai tea with milk and sugar.

Boba shops now offer a wide variety of teas, milks, and toppings, as well as customizing the temperature, caffeination, and sweetness of your drink.

My favorites are taro and mango. But with so many varieties, I’m tempted to try them all!

Most Omnipresent Boba

Kung Fu Tea
Annandale, Arlington, Ashburn, Burke, Centreville, Dulles, Leesburg, Lorton, Manassas, Reston, Springfield, Stafford, Sterling, Tyson’s Corner, Woodbridge

This is the OG bubble tea in the area, with multiple locations around Northern Virginia and over 250 locations across the U.S. Kung Fu Tea pioneered April 30th as National Bubble Tea day - their anniversary. In addition to traditional offerings, the menu offers vegan and caffeine-free teas, punch (tea and lemonade), slush (blended with ice), and lactaid milk teas.

Specialties:

WOW bubbles - boba cooked in caramelized sugar
Milk cap - drinks served with a thick layer of slightly salty milk

The Trendiest Boba

Kokee Tea
Chantilly, Fairfax, Springfield

Kokee means “elephant” in Korean, and is a symbol of the sociability that Kokee Tea wants to foster in its cafes. Kokee offers regular and milk teas, “cold cloud,” and ice blended drinnks.

Specialties

Dalgona Brown Sugar - get your viral TikTok boba tea here

The Freshest Boba

OneZo Tea
Fairfax

All other boba shops use prepackaged honey black boba, but Taiwanese-based OneZo makes its own fresh short shelf-life boba in house.

Most Customizable

ShareTea
Fairfax, Falls Church

ShareTea, a Taiwanese chain, is well-known worldwide, with 300 locations, mostly spread around Asia, Australia, and the western part of the U.S. and Texas. But we have two outposts here in Northern Virginia to try this international brand. The tea is shipped from Taiwan. ShareTea offers a wide range of customization from ice and sweetness level to 10 choices of toppings including mini boba, ice cream, red bean and pudding.

Specialties:

Lime Mojito
Peach Kiwi Tea with Aiyu Jelly

For Lovers of Salty

TeaDM
Falls Church, Vienna, Fairfax

As old as this makes me sound, TeaDM has a hip look to it. And it has hip drink names and combinations. Whether strawberry and lychee green tea (CosmopoliTEA) or peach tea with peach bits and chia seeds (Peach Partea) - this boba place has combos that you never thought you’d find.

Specialties:

Sea Salt Coffee
Lemonade with Decaf Blue Tea
Antioxidant

Best Boba Place to Hang Out

Vivi Bubble Tea
Fairfax

This store is the cutest place to hang out (well, post-Covid anyway) with a soda shop vibe even though the actual store is in a drab strip mall. There are adorable emoji icons decorating the cups and the store - perfect for selfies. The drinks don’t disappoint either -with Yakult boba (a Japanese sweetened probiotic milk beverage) and popping boba (they make a little explosion in your mouth when you bite them). This place offers lots of street food and tons of options to customize your drink.

Specialties

Oreo Creme Brulee
Flaming Brown Sugar Milk

Most Environmental Boba

BobaPop
Merrifield

This is the boba store for tea connoisseurs. The website even features a spectrum of teas from lightest to strongest (from Flower Green to Roasted Oolong). But the most interesting part of this cafe is that it is attempting to make itself more sustainable. Boba can be a very wasteful endeavor with plastic cups and plastic straws. BobaPop sells metal and bamboo straws and makes its tea in small batches to reduce food waste. There is still a lot of waste, but I think we can all appreciate their efforts.

Most Decadent Boba

OChaThai Kitchen
Centreville

This is a boba place but it’s more like dessert than a drink. OChaThai Kitchen also offers Thai foods, so you have to be careful that you’re ordering a dessert or a drink - because they sound just the same. Strawberry Choco Mousse or Mango Sticky Rice - dessert or drink? Often both!

Specialties

Banoffee Dessert
Thai TeaRamisu
Durian Sticky Rice Smoothie - that fruit that smells like a carcass but tastes …better