Cafe Boba — Restaurant in Kentwood

Here for those who usually get nervous when ordering or just want to know the process of it. (click to read more, it's a super long post)

These pictures are their current most consistent menus.

Here's the instructions on build your own boba menu for those need it:

First, you should choose your type of drink. Their options for non-coffee drinks are Smoothie, Slushie, Milk tea, Flavored tea, Thai tea, Chai latte, Matcha latte, Italian soda.

Next, you should choose the flavors for your type of drink (can be up to 4). The flavors for each type of drink are color coded, so you can see in the first pic, those in orange box can be flavors for Smoothie or Milk tea and those in green box can be flavors for the list specified next to it.

*If you choose Milk tea or Flavored tea, you will be asked what type of tea you want as the base. They will have Green tea (Jasmine, more floral scented), Black tea (Assam, lighter smell so if you want the flavors to "pop" out more then I recommend choose this), or decaf tea.

*If you choose anything under the Tea Latte's categories or Thai Tea, then usually you won't get asked about the flavors because those drinks are like the "default," you can tweak it but they're similar to pre-build drink instead of build your own. Again, you can tweak however you want=))) Another pretty straight forward drinks like that is brown sugar milk tea.

*They have milk alternatives too: Coconut and Oat milks. Keep in mind that the milk they use in MILK TEA is non-dairy, lactose-free and gluten-free already. And the base for their Smoothie is lactose-free.

*You can choose any flavors in the coffee section as well, just a tad bit more money.

Then, you will choose the toppings/bottoms in the blue box, can mix up to 2 flavors of boba for free, but up to 3 I think they charge the same with extra boba (not sure?).

*If you are foreign to these boba thingy, they offer 3 free small samples so you can try. It never hurts to ask and they were really nice about it to make sure I got the stuff I like and deserve the money spent!

Then you should be done!

For the coffee section, they usually guide you through it, one thing I noticed they ask for is you want 'em to be light or dark roast.

*Light roast has more caffeine in them than dark roast.

**Personal favorite/hidden gem for those who willing to try: (I also have a bit of a "grandma" taste so these might not be your style) -Red bean milk tea with green tea, extra flavor (of red bean), use oat milk with extra 1oz of it, and topping is red bean or boba of choice. -Wintermelon milk tea, black tea, half sweet with boba of choice. -Ginger bread cocoa hot. -Longan honey and vanilla milk tea, black tea, warm or cold either way are good. -Or just be adventurous and ask what the cashier ppl's favorite and go for it!

Food wise, they're all great in general, I don't eat a lot of them but my friends like the dumplings here, seem to be one of their popular offers too.

They also have something called punch card, which you'll get a punch for each DRINK you purchase and once you reached 10 punches, you'll get a free one. Punch cards are given out for free and without any need for phone numbers or email addresses so why not.

Anyways, if you actually read all of these and ended up here, man, I hope this helps...

Delicious bubble tea and they have a punch card which is always nice. Only weird complaint is that the lids don't seem to fit the cups great and I had tea leaking all over me. I've always had bubble tea with a sealed top that you punch your straw through; I'm guessing there's a little more price involved in that though and for a small business that can be tough. Overall a good experience but better sealing lids would be great! 😉

Update: I was semi-thrilled with my first experience but unfortunately after the last 6 or so visits I can say that if you are looking for the bubble tea you've enjoyed in other metropolis areas, this simply won't satisfy your cravings. The tea has some sediment in it. This is probably because the teas and flavors are mixed by hand in cocktail shakers. I also get inconsistent flavor and sweetness with each drink, despite ordering the same thing each time. The last several visits, I've come around 6-7pm and the boba is already semi-firm. My guess is they prepare enough boba for the day in the morning and that's it. I'm sure this place has strengths in many other areas, but based on bubble tea alone, I'd give them 1 star, which is disappointing considering boba is in their name. I really hope this business ups their game as I desperately want the bubble tea experience I've had elsewhere throughout the country. But for now, I won't be driving 20 minutes from home to come...

This is my favorite place for Boba in Southwest Michigan.

Quality 4.5/5 They make their boba fresh everyday and I have never had a soggy or too-hard boba. Their Korean dumplings are wonderful, I could eat 5 bowls!! The BLAT and the Mandarin Wrap are both delicious. I always have a hard time deciding because everything is so good! Quality is consistent since the newest owners.

Variety 5/5 The menu for food is small, but it never felt so big with all of the options being delicious. On the other hand the drink menu is bottomless. You get to choose a type of tea, a flavoring (if desired), milk (if desired), boba if desired and how you want it hot, iced or frozen. My favorites are: Oreo smoothie with boba Jasmine Green Tea with coconut milk extra boba half popping yogurt boba Avocado smoothie with extra boba

Staff 4.5/5 They are friendly to greet you with a ready smile and bring the food out to you when they are done.

Timelines 3.5/5 This is not a drive-thru, if you have 5 min in-between work, this is not the place to go. They are good at prioritizing orders, but it can get quite busy, especially as they usually only have only two people working.

As demand for boba is such a niche market and this location is plenty out of the way, they are quite popular and worth going out of...