This shop in a large Spring Branch strip mall doubles as teahouse and refresqueria. Customers can buy mangonadas alongside the Boba City milk tea, which has a subtle tea flavor, or opt for a fruity slush such as green apple or lychee. Smoothies and coffee are also part of the drink options.

The Ellington neighborhood in southeast Houston is a hot destination for good boba. A must-visit is Bobarista, where the tea is fresh and fragrant, and the menu features Thai teas, fruit teas, matcha drinks, coffee drinks, smoothies and sodas alongside its milk tea lineup.

Friendly staff and an Instagram-worthy faux-foliage wall greet customers at this cute Energy Corridor spot, which opened just before the COVID-19 pandemic. The boba pearls’ spot-on texture makes this place a hit, particularly when ordered in the dirty milk tea (also known as brown sugar tea) with milk foam on top.

Driving past pastures of cows and horses to a small gas-station strip mall in Cypress is not your typical boba trip, but Formosa Bubble Teahouse is worth the mileage. The teahouse’s regular milk teas are subtle yet floral, but some more adventurous drinks, such as the winter melon milk tea, pack a flavorful, sweet punch.

A seating area with a comfortable couch, large houseplants, miscellaneous knickknacks on a round shelf, a painting and black-and-white photographs of Parisian scenes add to the homey décor. The menu is simple: cream teas that come in flavors such as chocolate, caramel, mint, taro and honeydew.

This Taiwanese company recently expanded with its first stateside location in Houston. The cute shop is on Bellaire in Asiatown, in the same strip mall as Mala Sichuan Bistro. At Fuji Tea, it pays to branch out from the usual sinkers.

Gong Cha is an international chain, but its consistency and quality are hard to beat. The Asiatown location is filled with chattering families even on weekday afternoons because the boba pearls are among the best in town, boasting a perfect bounce and Q-ness that leaves your teeth wanting more.

Hella Bubble is undeniably the best boba shop inside the 610 Loop. The small spot on the western edge of River Oaks is decorated with beautiful illustrations of its top-selling drinks and toppings. If you want to fully commit, order the Hella Bubble Deluxe milk tea, which comes with regular boba, mini boba, egg pudding, lychee jelly and red bean.

JTea leans into its Southeast Asian roots. In an Alief strip mall, the line is often out the door for the signature Thai green milk tea, which is available to drink immediately and in bottles to take home. The shop offers three tweaks to the classic milk tea with pearls.

A boba shop with a drive-thru is the easiest way to our Houstonian hearts. In the picturesque Saigon-Houston Plaza, Long Coffee has been around since 1983 and specializes in coffee drinks but also serves a few milk teas and other specialties. Go for frozen ca phe sua da — an iced Vietnamese coffee sweetened with condensed milk and blended with ice cream.

MTea is our pick for some of the best tea drinks in Sugar Land, a suburb boasting a large Asian American community that takes its boba seriously. The black sugar milk tea, although quite sweet, has a nice, strong tea flavor with slightly floral notes, which is complemented by boba pearls that are textbook Q.

If you find yourself in need of a sweet treat while in Pasadena, try Sweet Lemon, which specializes in a few different flavors of lemonade. The brown sugar milk tea with boba has all the taste of treacle with none of the cloyingness.

The shop does the traditional milk tea with boba very well, pairing soft and chewy pearls with fresh tea that isn’t too sweet. Add egg pudding for extra textural fun. Fruit lovers will have a blast ordering from the list of flavors.

Dun Huang Plaza is home to nearly a dozen tea shops; Yumcha is the most recent addition. The name, Cantonese for “drink tea,” refers to what this spot does best, although it also serves freshly made desserts including cookies and tiramisu.

The toppings here are stunners, ranging from a generous serving of red beans at the bottom of each cup (try it with the matcha milk tea; thank us later) to gently sweetened boba pearls. On the rare occasion you want a warm drink in Houston, the hot longan milk tea is the way to go.