Boba Gen

Boba Gen is yet another bubble tea shop.  They pride themselves in using premium tea leaves, and not using corn syrup (they use organic cane sugar and brown sugar).  They brew fresh tea and boba every other hour.  

"Our milk tea shop is specializing in bringing you high qualities drink, snack and dessert. All of our products come with a guarantee of the finest ingredients are being used. From our team to yours, we pay careful attention to each item. We hope you enjoy our products as much as we enjoy bringing it to you!"

The menu starts with classic iced teas (e.g. not milk teas, not ones loaded with toppings) in nearly a dozen varieties.  From there, there are fruity flavored teas and milk teas, some of which are available hot as well as iced.  Even icier is the slushies, and for those not actually interested in tea, there is a large fresh milk lineup.  In fact, their most popular drink is a fresh milk, the brown sugar boba fresh milk (available plain or with matcha), and the most enticing drinks to me were all fresh milks.  They also have a sesame boba fresh milk, a brown sugar agar and grass jelly milk, or, as I went for my first visit, a brown sugar taro fresh milk, made with taro chunks (I think the taro milk tea uses a powder instead, as photos look brightly purple).   Then there are a cloud tops, the yakult based drinks, coffee, and snacks such as eggettes, spam musubi (with your choice of seasoning - they have a dozen kinds of furikake to pick from!), curry fishballs, and a few others.

I've still yet to visit in person, or to try the savory snacks (although they look great!), as my orders have all been for delivery, via Door Dash.  My orders were quickly prepared every time, and arrived well packaged.

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Brown Sugar Taro Taro Fresh Milk. $7.50.
0% Sweet, Unsweetened Almond Milk +$1,
No Ice +$1, Lychee Jelly +$1, Sweet Cream Top +$1.50. $12 total.

Boba Gen has plenty of modifications available, although they are quite clear that many are "not recommended".  I was a rebel and picked several not recommended options.

First up, choice of sweetness.  This can come at 100% regular sweet or 75% less sweet, or, if you want to go rogue and opt for something not recommended, 50%, 25%, or 0%.  I went for 0%, really not wanting a sweet drink at the time, plus, I knew I'd be adding sweet mix-ins.  I was pleased with my choice, as it wasn't too sweet, but, I think I did actually entirely miss out on the brown sugar aspect.  I thought they'd still use some brown sugar, since it was a brown sugar drink after all.  That said, I'd get it 0% again with no qualms.

Next, choice of milk. Regular dairy whole milk is standard, but you can swap out to vanilla soy or unsweetened almond milk for $1, or oat for $2.  All of these are not recommended.  So of course, you know me, that's what I did, opting for the unsweet almond milk.  Again, I was not upset with my choice, as I like the taste of almond milk, and it gave it a more interesting base flavor. Really though, I'd want vanilla almond milk, which wasn't an option.

Then ice level: regular, or less or no ice, both of which were not recommended.  Since I wasn't planning to have it right away, I did no ice, which incurred another $1 fee.  Interesting that they don't just fill it less full?

At this point, you are done making necessary choices, although of course there are optional mix-ins.  Several kinds of boba, aloe, jellies, red bean, egg pudding, and, my favorite thing, sweet cream topping.  These vary from $1 to $1.50 each, and some are house made, unlike most boba shops.  I added lychee jellies for some sweetness, and of course the cream topping, which I asked to have on the side (and they nicely did!).

So, how was my creation?  It was exactly what I wanted, but, if you are used to sweet, powder based drinks, definitely do NOT go this route.  The drink comes entirely unblended, it literally is just fresh milk and the taro, plus my additions.  The top 2/3 was just plain, unsweetened, unflavored, almond milk.  The base was a very generous scoop of standard sweet and fruity lychee jellies, and a very, very generous scoop of mashed taro, with some chunks in there.  The mashed taro was lightly sweetened.  I loved being able to really taste the taro, and even use a spoon to just get glorious spoonfuls of it.  But, it is real, fresh taro, not sweet powder, you need to want to actually taste real taro.  The lychee jellies did give a sweetness I enjoyed.  And of course the sweet cream topping, which was thick and rich and sweet.  It didn't seem to be a "cheese foam" really like some places, no real tang to it, but it was delicious, to just eat on its own, or with the other mix-ins.  I later realized they have two kinds of cream topping, this was the plain cream top, they also *do* have a cheese one, but, oddly, it is only available on drinks that you get as part of the "Top" series, not as an add-on to others.

I ended up pouring off some of the almond milk, and adding a scoop of black sesame ice cream, and having this more like a taro/lychee sundae (and used the milk for cereal the next morning!), and quite enjoyed it.  It was just what I was in the mood for, all the ingredients seemed good quality, and portions were generous.  My creation was a $12 drink though, which is a bit pricey.

***+.

Milky Blueberry Top. $8.

Unsweetened Almond Milk (+ $1), Cheese Top, Sweet cream top (+$1.50).

"Blended blueberry with blueberry jam, no additional sugar added. This drink is blended with ice."

The next time I ordered, I got more adventurous, and went for one of the "Cheese/Cream Top" series, where all of the drinks that come by default with a cheese or cream topping.  This lineup includes a bunch of milk teas, and many of the "icy slushy" range.  I think these are equivalent to ordering a regular icy slushy, and just adding a top, but, slightly less expensive (in this case, $8 vs $6.85+$1.25). 

The drink comes with choice of cream or cheese topping, since part of the "Top" series, but I wanted to try both, so I selected the cheese top as the preparation option, but added the sweet cream top as an extra ($1.50 more), and asked for both to be on the side.  I again selected the unsweet almond milk, for an additional $1, even though not recommended.   These drinks all come with fixed sweetness, so no option to modify that.  I was really thrilled with how well labelled and sealed everything was.

I'm really not sure why I picked blueberry.  It was a last minute switch on my part, I was originally going for lychee or mango, and then, got struck by who knows what whim, and decided to go for blueberry.  Don't get me wrong, I love fresh blueberries, but, not really what I go for in drinks.

Anyway, I first took a sip of the drink.  Wow, it was sweet.  Very, very sweet.  I know I couldn't modify the sweetness, and they don't add sugar beyond the blueberry jam, but, wow, it was far sweeter than I normally go for.  The unsweet almond milk helped balance it a bit, and I think something like the vanilla soy milk would be far, far too sweet, but even so, this was just too much sweet for me (and, they were right, the unsweet almond milk wasn't a great pairing).  It was really well blended though, really fine ice.  So, great blending, but sweet and poor choice on my part.  ***.

As for the toppings, the part I was most excited for anyway, the sweet cream I had before last time and enjoyed it, and the same was true this time.  Thick, rich, lightly sweet, tasty cream.  Not fluffy whipped cream, thicker, uh, gooier, if that makes sense.  I was pleased they gave me two of both toppings, rather than just one like last time. ***+.    The cheese top was even better, more savory, light cheesy flavor, a bit salty.  I really liked it.  ****.

So, overall, this was a mixed bag for me - a well made drink, but, the blueberry was a poor choice for me, but at least I liked my toppings.

Aloe, House Grass Jelly ($1 each).

I also choose to add on two toppings, aloe and their house made grass jelly.  I didn't ask for them to be on the side, but they put them on the side anyway, which I actually appreciated, as they didn't get hard / semi-frozen that way.

The aloe was about as expected, slightly sweet, slimy, nice chew to it, more interesting that lychee jellies in that it has a more complex taste and better chew, but similar shape and size.  ***.

The house made grass jelly was clearly a notch above generic grass jelly, it came in big hunks, and tasted, well, fresher than most generic stuff.  Slippery and slimy and lightly sweet.  I liked it.  ***+.