Interesting read. Like many commenters have pointed out, some of the better chains are newer or known only by the true boba fanatics, and therefore may not have the rating volume for your scoring methodology. Would've been cool to see different categories such as 'Up and coming' (highest rated in the past x months) or 'OG Tea shops' (been around for more than X years)
A cool extension could also be to trace how boba shops have spread out and link to the spread of Asian diaspora. Overall, awesome job on this
I'm the developer of an app called Boba Watch and I was wondering if I could contact you somehow about the datasets you worked with as well as how you calculated these stats. Awesome read btw!!
Dismayed at the choice for Missouri because Corner 17, while it has decent food, is absolutely not best (or even top 3...) for boba. Not sure where you’re getting this data, but Yelp is definitely not the place to get a consensus on quality (chowbus would have better selections naturally..?). If anything, corner 17 is conveniently located on the loop & easy to settle with. If you actually want boba in stl/Missouri, Cube tea is by far the best
You're absolutely right - I've changed Missouri to GoCha Tea and Beverages (95 reviews, 4.5 stars) and Cube Tea (80 reviews, 4.5 stars). The reason being that this list is meant to highlight boba shops (that just sell boba) whereas Corner 17 is (as you hinted at) a Chinese restaurant that serves boba. I would also agree that Yelp data has limitations.
Thanks for the comment becca! Those look like great shops that I totally need to hit up when I'm in NYC. I can't put them in the Best Boba Shops list since they don't rate highly enough on Yelp, which just goes to show that Yelp and my methodology aren't perfect!
So, from a Minnesota standpoint, My Huong is known for their pho and has a lot of high ratings because of said pho (not the best imho). So the fact that is was listed as the best boba is absolutely false because the ratings are skewed due to this the high ratings for the PHO. You should prob filter your data more to just boba shops and not any shop that sells boba to get better results...
You're right that there are a lot of shops that don't mainly sell boba, but there is also a gray area of shops that sell, for example, desserts + boba, and they do both very well. There are also restaurants that sell good boba on the side. In these cases I do try to filter out shops that get their stars for non-boba reasons, but I'm not perfect. I also want to minimize my bias on the results, and rely on the data.
Unfortunately, Minnesota had a lot of these gray area shops that are highly rated e.g. My Huong, Waffle Bar, Tasty Pot, Jungle Kitchen, Treats are all officially listed as "Bubble Tea" (according to Yelp) but none of them are just boba shops. The highest rated "true" boba shop in Minnesota according to Yelp is Kung Fu Tea in Minneapolis with 4.0 stars on 81 reviews. I will make a note of this in the article.
Spot of Tea rates very highly with 5.0 stars on 47 reviews but it's hard to justify that over Teaism's 4.0 stars on 706 reviews. Ultimately this list biases against newer shops but maybe in time Spot of Tea will take the top spot (or I change the criteria for "best").
Brew Tea Bar is absolutely the best in Las Vegas, if not the whole country! It was also one of the fastest-rated shops ever on Yelp when it first opened. Quality product, amazingly friendly staff, and consistent products...that's what keeps their lines out the door.
I am from Georgia and many GA’s boba addicts know Boba Mocha is NOT the best one in GA. It’s actually far from the top. I guess they have more reviews because they’ve been around longer.
Here’s this list of a few in many good shops in order of my ranking:
You really took one for the team and made one of the best written article I've read in a long time
Interesting read. Like many commenters have pointed out, some of the better chains are newer or known only by the true boba fanatics, and therefore may not have the rating volume for your scoring methodology. Would've been cool to see different categories such as 'Up and coming' (highest rated in the past x months) or 'OG Tea shops' (been around for more than X years)
A cool extension could also be to trace how boba shops have spread out and link to the spread of Asian diaspora. Overall, awesome job on this
Thanks for the comment! Those are some great ideas.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.
I'm the developer of an app called Boba Watch and I was wondering if I could contact you somehow about the datasets you worked with as well as how you calculated these stats. Awesome read btw!!
Dismayed at the choice for Missouri because Corner 17, while it has decent food, is absolutely not best (or even top 3...) for boba. Not sure where you’re getting this data, but Yelp is definitely not the place to get a consensus on quality (chowbus would have better selections naturally..?). If anything, corner 17 is conveniently located on the loop & easy to settle with. If you actually want boba in stl/Missouri, Cube tea is by far the best
You're absolutely right - I've changed Missouri to GoCha Tea and Beverages (95 reviews, 4.5 stars) and Cube Tea (80 reviews, 4.5 stars). The reason being that this list is meant to highlight boba shops (that just sell boba) whereas Corner 17 is (as you hinted at) a Chinese restaurant that serves boba. I would also agree that Yelp data has limitations.
Thanks for the comment!
Would just like to say this is one of the most delightful things I've read in a while. Thanks jeff!
to all my new yorkers, specifically NYC, we respectfully disagree with Tea and Milk lol
yayas (fruity teas, yi fang (fruity teas), chun yang (fruity teas), xing fu tang (brown sugar tea), teadora (milk teas)
Thanks for the comment becca! Those look like great shops that I totally need to hit up when I'm in NYC. I can't put them in the Best Boba Shops list since they don't rate highly enough on Yelp, which just goes to show that Yelp and my methodology aren't perfect!
So, from a Minnesota standpoint, My Huong is known for their pho and has a lot of high ratings because of said pho (not the best imho). So the fact that is was listed as the best boba is absolutely false because the ratings are skewed due to this the high ratings for the PHO. You should prob filter your data more to just boba shops and not any shop that sells boba to get better results...
Thanks for the comment!
You're right that there are a lot of shops that don't mainly sell boba, but there is also a gray area of shops that sell, for example, desserts + boba, and they do both very well. There are also restaurants that sell good boba on the side. In these cases I do try to filter out shops that get their stars for non-boba reasons, but I'm not perfect. I also want to minimize my bias on the results, and rely on the data.
Unfortunately, Minnesota had a lot of these gray area shops that are highly rated e.g. My Huong, Waffle Bar, Tasty Pot, Jungle Kitchen, Treats are all officially listed as "Bubble Tea" (according to Yelp) but none of them are just boba shops. The highest rated "true" boba shop in Minnesota according to Yelp is Kung Fu Tea in Minneapolis with 4.0 stars on 81 reviews. I will make a note of this in the article.
Spot of Tea in DC!!!!
Spot of Tea rates very highly with 5.0 stars on 47 reviews but it's hard to justify that over Teaism's 4.0 stars on 706 reviews. Ultimately this list biases against newer shops but maybe in time Spot of Tea will take the top spot (or I change the criteria for "best").
Thanks for the comment!
Pleasure to read!! - tea and milk nyc!!!!!
blossom for michigan?? they don't even specialize in boba🤮
Brew Tea Bar is absolutely the best in Las Vegas, if not the whole country! It was also one of the fastest-rated shops ever on Yelp when it first opened. Quality product, amazingly friendly staff, and consistent products...that's what keeps their lines out the door.
I am from Georgia and many GA’s boba addicts know Boba Mocha is NOT the best one in GA. It’s actually far from the top. I guess they have more reviews because they’ve been around longer.
Here’s this list of a few in many good shops in order of my ranking:
1/ Tancha (newly opened in 2020)
2/ Greatea (Johns Creek)
3/ One Zo
4/ Pearl’s Tea
5/ Tea Top
6/ Yi Fang
A pleasure to read through! Appreciate the work put into creating this, good job man
This is some amazing writing and very thorough work. I’m impressed
I loved this article. You’re an amazing writer... and most of all ... you got me craving for boba big time 😬