Hochaya

Fun place. Very customizable boba teas...cheese foam sounds very strange if you've never heard it before, but actually taste pretty good on the teas I've tried.

I went in the other day for the first time with a friend and my sister. I ordered the Thai tea with lychee jelly which is my favorite bubble tea item to order anytime I order tea. Mine was delicious! However, my sister asked the staff their opinions on what was good, she ordered based on their suggestions and when the drink came out it was a watery milky brown that immediately didn’t look right. We tasted it anyway and it tasted exactly how it looked. Watered down milk with no flavor. We asked to swap to a smoothie because it didn’t taste right, which I was very polite when I asked and explained the drink didn’t taste good. And their response was “we have a no refund/no turn policy so the best we can do is offer the smoothie for 50% off.” Really lame policy….while I loved my drink, my sister reuses to go back. Wasted $8 on a watered down, flavorless drink.

Best boba in Santa Barbara area. Boba and teas are fresh and made with real ingredients, not flavored syrups like other places in town.

This tea store has excellent authentic products. I find the menu to be very similar to what I would have found in Taiwan. I think that it is definitely worth it. My personal favorites include the sesame foam and the sea salt foam with black tea. They only sell brown sugar boba after 4:00 p.m. They also have non-dairy milk tea for those who are lactose intolerant. If you're paying with a credit card there are touch screen registers. The registers are extremely slow and lag quite a bit so the line can be slow moving. You can talk to an employee if you have any questions or are paying in cash. You can order online through multiple online ordering services that you can find on their website so your order can be ready when you arrive. It's always a bit warm inside with only a few tables so it's not the best area for indoor seating especially since they use most of the store for storage. I believe the taste of their products more than make up for the lack of ambiance. There is ample outdoor seating and Wi-Fi available.

Wow! Hochaya makes delicious drinks. I got the beach tea which came loaded with fresh fruit. You can decide how much sugar and ice you want in your drink.