Intro
Boba Tea, also known as bubble tea or milk tea, has emerged as one of America’s most popular liquid beverages. The number of boba tea shops in America recently reached 3,601, a 21.2% increase from 2022.
Many bubble tea establishments have found their footing in DFW; moreover, many world-renowned brands can be found across the metroplex. For this article, I’ll be evaluating my personal preferences for the best boba tea found in Dallas. But before I get into that, I’ll briefly explain the history and makeup of this iconic Asian drink.
There are two major components to bubble tea – the first is tea, of which Asia possesses a long history of brewing. Tea has been around in Asia for thousands of years, with black, green, and oolong teas being among dozens of separate varieties. Milk tea (known in China as 奶茶, naicha) – the practice of combining milk or creamer with traditional brews – was developed later on but became a stable practice by the 1980s. To be clear, boba tea can mean milk tea or regular fruit teas – personally, I have a preference for the former but they remain core staples of the genre.
Also during that time, tapioca pearls – small balls of tapioca starch enjoyed for their sweet flavor – were added into milk tea as an experimental way to sweeten up beverages. Others created boba from fruit powders and juices, that would pop when bitten. Boba eventually began its culinary conquest of the world and soon found its foothold across the United States.
Anyways, for the rankings, I will be evaluating the following:
Taste
Variety
Cost
Service/Environment
***Note: I specifically will rate boba tea chains, but I will specify their location in the greater DFW metroplex to aid my readers. Just remember that the vast majority of these shops have multiple locations throughout the United States or Texas.
#5: Kung Fu Tea at Knox Henderson
Kung Fu Tea was one of the first boba tea places I repeatedly would purchase teas from – it conveniently is located near my home, and had an excellent baseline of milk teas. Additionally, they boil their tapioca pearls in honey, making this location the perfect location to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth.
The environment, filled with small tables and stools, is a little cramped, but the service remains exceptional so it doesn’t really matter to me. Unfortunately, their Thai Milk Tea remains subpar, but their honey milk tea and oolong teas are delicious, and they have awesome seasonal drinks like their Nintendo Kurby slushies.
#4: Feng Cha at Greenville Avenue
The cheapness of the tea, combined with the highest per capita serving portions out of all shops on this list, do well to highlight the success of Feng Cha, a globally renowned bubble tea brand.
Personally, I think their tea is more strong and bitter in flavor than most others, which is probably due to the less sugar in the tea. I find that the boba doesn’t taste as good and can be overly chewy at times. They do have some unique additions to their tea, including sea salt foam and cream cheese foam on their drinks, which my brother has told me were extremely salty. The establishment’s cafe-esque atmosphere is, like most others on this list, comforting and can sit multiple people.
#3: Craft Boba Tea at Upper Greenville Avenue
Craft boba tea almost breaks to second place ahead of TP tea here, broken only by Craft Boba tea’s slightly higher prices and smaller serving sizes. Don’t be mistaken by that though – their selection of teas, especially the fruit teas such as the Mango, Lychee, or Jasmine remain of excellent quality.
They also sell select ice cream and great slushies, such as lychee, winter melon, and mango. The Craft Boba Tea website states that it utilizes cane sugar instead of artificial sweeteners for its drinks – a claim that the Roundup cannot independently verify, but one that this reporter suspects to be the reason why their drinks have a sweeter and sharper taste than most others.
#2: TP Tea – 400 North Greenville Avenue
Greenville Avenue continues its march to boba tea domination with its highest-ranking boba tea store on this list, TP Tea, or Taiwan Professional Tea.
TP Tea was founded by Chun Shui Tang, a Taiwanese businessman who claims to have been one of the first to create boba tea by pouring tapioca pearls into chilled tea. Upon entering the store’s location in Richardson, it becomes apparent that the store caters to a Chinese-speaking audience and maintains its roots in Taiwan – the store’s sign and much of its menu are written in Mandarin characters, and it resides in a prominent Chinatown off of I75.
The roots of Taiwanese tea are felt, as in contrast to the Craft Boba or Kung Fu Tea, TP Tea doesn’t go for overly sugary beverages, and instead serves it as they would across the pond.
Their Taro milk tea, for instance, doesn’t use the blended powder found in all other shops on this list but instead uses a shredded root pudding at the bottom of their drink, which is how traditionally Taro tea has been served. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s automatically better for all customers, but it would be closer to the boba tea experience you’d find in Taiwan.
#1: Fat Straws on Preston and Forest
It was extremely difficult to choose a finalist for this article, and TP Tea made a strong bolt for the finish, but mostly due to my nostalgia for this location, I have to choose Fat Straws on Preston and Forrest.
TP Tea or Craft Boba Tea could have earned their place at the top in other taster’s lists, but for me, the taste of Fat Straw’s milk tea surpasses all others. From regular black milk tea to Thai, Chai, Jasmine, or Horchata, their selections are top-notch. Their tapioca pearls are also delicious and they also have a mix of excellent fruit jellies.
They also have the added bonus of having mochi donuts (using Japanese mochi which are made from tapioca and rice starch), which certainly helps them pull ahead.
Finally, I really enjoy the atmosphere, and the location certainly doesn’t hurt – just 4 blocks from Jesuit on Forest and Preston. I’ve been going to Fat Straws since my junior year, and I’ll definitely plan on returning indefinitely.
Stay tuned to the Roundup for more food reviews!
