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Unbelibubble Tea House

The Ultimate Guide to Boba in Atlanta

From local Atlanta bubble tea shops to nationally and internationally recognized boba chains

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Boba, also known as bubble tea, is a tea-based drink traditionally served with tapioca balls at the bottom, though most boba chains offer an assortment of toppings like lychee jelly, sago, red bean — anything that gives the drink a “QQ” texture, a sort of tactile onomatopoeia in Taiwan to describe a chewy bounciness.

The true origins of boba remain shrouded in a rivalry between two popular Taiwanese tea house chains: Taichung’s Chun Shui Tang and Tainan’s Hanlin Tea Room. Chun Shui Tang claims that in 1987, its employee, Lin Hsiu-hui, created the first pearl milk tea when she poured a mixture of lemon black tea and iced milk tea over her favorite childhood snack, tapioca balls. Hanlin’s version of the story has its founder mixing translucent tapioca balls and milk tea in 1986.

Regardless of who created the first pearl milk tea, the resulting litigation the two companies embroiled each other in prevented any kind of trademark on the drink, allowing tea houses across Taiwan to sell their own boba. Though boba has been in the United States since the 1990s, first serving a primarily Taiwanese-American population in California, it wasn’t until the late 2000s that the treat took off across the country. The Atlanta area is no exception, now home to several dozen boba shops. Here are the essentials to check out.

Is this map missing a great boba spot? Send Eater Atlanta the details to atlanta@eater.com for consideration on the next update.

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Unbelibubble

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Since opening its first location in Duluth in 2018, Unbelibubble has spread across Atlanta with additional locations, including a stall at Chattahoochee Food Works, the Underwood Hills food hall. Popular items include the rose black milk tea, Unbelibubble fruit tea, and various crushes, fruit purees topped with a milk cap. Unbelibubble also offers a latte flavored with ube, a purple sweet potato popular in Filipino desserts.

Unbelibubble Tea House

Tea Corner

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A short walk from the campus of Georgia Tech, Tea Corner offers a selection of boba tea and coffee and a make-your-own option using a base of black tea, oolong tea, green tea, or coffee flavored with a selection of fruit flavoring and milks. Tea Corner also offers a croissant topped with a house-made brown sugar milk tea cream and boba. 

Teamo tea cafe

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A green tea with a fruit mixture of blueberry, dragonfruit, lemon, mango, strawberry, pineapple, and kiwi, the Supreme (this shop’s best seller) lives up to its name. Another tea-forward boba shop, try the ceremonial-grade matcha and cheese teas here. Teamo also offers a selection of six herbal tea blends, each with a specific purpose, from detoxification to digestion. 

Sharetea

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Originating in Taipei in 1992, Sharetea is nearing its 30th year in operation, with over 450 stores across the globe, serving boba lovers in Dubai, Sydney, and in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Along with the classic fruit and milk teas found at most boba places, Sharetea also offers mojitos (non-alcoholic) flavored with lime, mango, peach, or strawberry. 

Honey Bubble

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Located just down the street from Ponce City Market, Honey Bubble tries very hard to be a local bubble tea shop, and it succeeds. Expect a selection of milk teas (offered with dairy substitutes) and snowcap slushies here.

Tea Leaf and Creamery

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On the edge of the Emory University campus, Tea Leaf and Creamery is known for its signature smoothie teas with flavors such as avocado, black grape, and red dragon fruit. Along with its smoothies, Tea Leaf and Creamery offers various tea infusions with ice cream or yogurt. A second location on Buford Highway opened in 2021.

Tea Top

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TeaTop takes its tea seriously. The tea in that cup isn’t just a vehicle for boba, it is something to be enjoyed, to be dwelled upon. The shop uses high-mountain tea leaves, grown in the mountain ranges of central Taiwan. Try the signature alpine green tea or Sun Moon Lake black tea, both offered hot and cold.

4.0 Ice Cream & Drinks

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Tucked away in a far corner of Doraville’s H Mart Plaza, the presence of 4.0 Ice Cream and Drinks is muted by its more recognizable neighbors, Tea Top and Meet Fresh. Now operating as a pick-up window, 4.0 features one of the more extensive, borderline intimidating, boba menus in metro Atlanta, with toppings such as mochi and chestnut (both $1.00). Customers are met with a storefront collage of posters for new limited-time specials, of which the mango sago slush and mochi sesame milk tea are stand-outs. 4.0 also offers milk teas by the gallon.

Sweet Hut Bakery Cafe

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A map of essential Atlanta boba shops isn’t complete without Sweet Hut Bakery. First opened in 2012 on Buford Highway, the Asian bakery and cafe has become a cornerstone of Atlanta’s boba scene, with four additional locations in Midtown, Duluth, Buckhead, and Marietta. The reliable line-up of milk teas here tend to lean toward the sweet side at 100-percent sugar, so order accordingly. 

Tan-Cha

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Compared to boba shops with sprawling lists of toppings and flavors, Tan-Cha’s menu might seem limited. A more accurate word might be “curated.” Located in Doraville, the Los Angeles-based chain is known for its fresh fruit teas and its brulee milk tea, best enjoyed with an inch and a half of sweet foam on top. Said foam comes in three flavors: matcha foam; tiramisu puff cream; and cheese foam (a cream cheese-based foam that gives the drink a cheesecake edge.) The shop often hosts food pop-ups, too.

Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea

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Named for founder Kei Tzu-kai’s grandmother, Yi Fang prides itself on freshness and authenticity in a flavor born on Tzu-kai’s family pineapple farm in Taiwan. If ordering one thing here, get the Yi Fang fruit tea, a jade tea made with golden pineapples, passion fruit, and slices of apples and oranges. 

Pearl's Tea - Doraville

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With multiple locations throughout the northern Atlanta suburbs, Pearl’s Tea features both milk teas and loose leaf teas on its menu. Try the brown sugar or mango jasmine milk teas. Or, for taste of Georgia in the summer, order the white peach boba tea. Pearl’s also serves slushies and matcha lattes.

Pearl’s Tea

Bubbly Boba

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Sustainability is central to Bubbly Boba in Alpharetta, offering fair-trade tea and vegan milk. In addition to traditional tapioca, the shop also offers a soft tapioca boba, “for those of us who don’t like chewy,” the menu reads. 

TIGER SUGAR

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A more recent addition to Atlanta’s boba scene, Tiger Sugar in Duluth and Kennesaw offers a limited selection of drinks sweetened with cream mousse and the shop’s signature brown sugar that streaks down the side of the cup like tiger stripes. The staff at Tiger Sugar advises people to shake the drink 15 times to fully incorporate the sugar. As part of a recent summer menu, the Taiwan-based boba chain served a tiger mango sago in limited daily quantities.

Unbelibubble

Since opening its first location in Duluth in 2018, Unbelibubble has spread across Atlanta with additional locations, including a stall at Chattahoochee Food Works, the Underwood Hills food hall. Popular items include the rose black milk tea, Unbelibubble fruit tea, and various crushes, fruit purees topped with a milk cap. Unbelibubble also offers a latte flavored with ube, a purple sweet potato popular in Filipino desserts.

Unbelibubble Tea House

Tea Corner

A short walk from the campus of Georgia Tech, Tea Corner offers a selection of boba tea and coffee and a make-your-own option using a base of black tea, oolong tea, green tea, or coffee flavored with a selection of fruit flavoring and milks. Tea Corner also offers a croissant topped with a house-made brown sugar milk tea cream and boba. 

Teamo tea cafe

A green tea with a fruit mixture of blueberry, dragonfruit, lemon, mango, strawberry, pineapple, and kiwi, the Supreme (this shop’s best seller) lives up to its name. Another tea-forward boba shop, try the ceremonial-grade matcha and cheese teas here. Teamo also offers a selection of six herbal tea blends, each with a specific purpose, from detoxification to digestion. 

Sharetea

Originating in Taipei in 1992, Sharetea is nearing its 30th year in operation, with over 450 stores across the globe, serving boba lovers in Dubai, Sydney, and in Sandy Springs, Georgia. Along with the classic fruit and milk teas found at most boba places, Sharetea also offers mojitos (non-alcoholic) flavored with lime, mango, peach, or strawberry. 

Honey Bubble

Located just down the street from Ponce City Market, Honey Bubble tries very hard to be a local bubble tea shop, and it succeeds. Expect a selection of milk teas (offered with dairy substitutes) and snowcap slushies here.

Tea Leaf and Creamery

On the edge of the Emory University campus, Tea Leaf and Creamery is known for its signature smoothie teas with flavors such as avocado, black grape, and red dragon fruit. Along with its smoothies, Tea Leaf and Creamery offers various tea infusions with ice cream or yogurt. A second location on Buford Highway opened in 2021.

Tea Top

TeaTop takes its tea seriously. The tea in that cup isn’t just a vehicle for boba, it is something to be enjoyed, to be dwelled upon. The shop uses high-mountain tea leaves, grown in the mountain ranges of central Taiwan. Try the signature alpine green tea or Sun Moon Lake black tea, both offered hot and cold.

4.0 Ice Cream & Drinks

Tucked away in a far corner of Doraville’s H Mart Plaza, the presence of 4.0 Ice Cream and Drinks is muted by its more recognizable neighbors, Tea Top and Meet Fresh. Now operating as a pick-up window, 4.0 features one of the more extensive, borderline intimidating, boba menus in metro Atlanta, with toppings such as mochi and chestnut (both $1.00). Customers are met with a storefront collage of posters for new limited-time specials, of which the mango sago slush and mochi sesame milk tea are stand-outs. 4.0 also offers milk teas by the gallon.

Sweet Hut Bakery Cafe

A map of essential Atlanta boba shops isn’t complete without Sweet Hut Bakery. First opened in 2012 on Buford Highway, the Asian bakery and cafe has become a cornerstone of Atlanta’s boba scene, with four additional locations in Midtown, Duluth, Buckhead, and Marietta. The reliable line-up of milk teas here tend to lean toward the sweet side at 100-percent sugar, so order accordingly. 

Tan-Cha

Compared to boba shops with sprawling lists of toppings and flavors, Tan-Cha’s menu might seem limited. A more accurate word might be “curated.” Located in Doraville, the Los Angeles-based chain is known for its fresh fruit teas and its brulee milk tea, best enjoyed with an inch and a half of sweet foam on top. Said foam comes in three flavors: matcha foam; tiramisu puff cream; and cheese foam (a cream cheese-based foam that gives the drink a cheesecake edge.) The shop often hosts food pop-ups, too.

Yi Fang Taiwan Fruit Tea

Named for founder Kei Tzu-kai’s grandmother, Yi Fang prides itself on freshness and authenticity in a flavor born on Tzu-kai’s family pineapple farm in Taiwan. If ordering one thing here, get the Yi Fang fruit tea, a jade tea made with golden pineapples, passion fruit, and slices of apples and oranges. 

Pearl's Tea - Doraville

With multiple locations throughout the northern Atlanta suburbs, Pearl’s Tea features both milk teas and loose leaf teas on its menu. Try the brown sugar or mango jasmine milk teas. Or, for taste of Georgia in the summer, order the white peach boba tea. Pearl’s also serves slushies and matcha lattes.

Pearl’s Tea

Bubbly Boba

Sustainability is central to Bubbly Boba in Alpharetta, offering fair-trade tea and vegan milk. In addition to traditional tapioca, the shop also offers a soft tapioca boba, “for those of us who don’t like chewy,” the menu reads. 

TIGER SUGAR

A more recent addition to Atlanta’s boba scene, Tiger Sugar in Duluth and Kennesaw offers a limited selection of drinks sweetened with cream mousse and the shop’s signature brown sugar that streaks down the side of the cup like tiger stripes. The staff at Tiger Sugar advises people to shake the drink 15 times to fully incorporate the sugar. As part of a recent summer menu, the Taiwan-based boba chain served a tiger mango sago in limited daily quantities.

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