There’s a lot more to boba than meets the eye.
Annie Greene, co-owner of Cha 101 in Santa Maria, taught me this. There’s a reason flavors and textures vary so widely among boba establishments—why some places’ boba is more solid than squishy, and why some milk teas come off as strikingly and nauseatingly sweet. And though Cha 101 isn’t yet 2 months old, Greene has brought to it more than a decade’s experience in cooking boba and making teas. She has perfected the art.
But let’s back up for a moment: What the heck is boba, anyway? For the longest time—for years after I fell in love with boba, even—I didn’t really know the answer to this question. But now I do.
Boba is essentially tapioca balls, derived from the starch of the cassava root. When freshly cooked, they’re soft and gummy in texture—but the longer they sit out, the harder they become.
For this reason, Greene cooks a new small batch of boba every two hours, to ensure all her customers get the fresh stuff. She also takes precautions to create milk teas that hit the perfect chord of sweetness, without being watery or giving you that instant-headache feeling (I’ve agreed to keep Greene’s secrets on how exactly she does this, but trust me, the results are worth a taste).
Cha 101 is more completely known as “Cha 101 Boba and Chicken Steak,” which probably sounds like a random combination to those (like me) who aren’t savvy to the subject of Taiwanese snacks. Greene said it’s common for traditional Taiwanese-influenced tea shops to feature small snacks on their menu, which in Cha 101’s case includes a house recipe for chicken steak. They also offer “sno ice,” a Taiwanese variation of shave ice, and Greene said she’ll be adding coffee drinks to the menu in the near future, as well.
On my visit to Cha 101, I sampled whatever I could get my hands on: milk tea with boba, flavored iced teas, sno ice, etc.
Gaby Gonzales, an intern for the Sun, accompanied me on my Cha 101 adventure, so she and I compiled a joint review of each drink we sampled.
Milk tea
Cha 101 makes all its products with non-dairy milk, but it’s no knock to the milk teas’ richness. I ordered a Thai tea with boba, which pretty much smacked me in the face with deliciousness. It was rich without being too sweet, and surprisingly creamy considering it didn’t contain any dairy. Gaby tried my Thai tea as well and concurred that it was “really good.”
Smoothie
Gaby ordered the avocado smoothie with boba, which Greene said she makes using real avocados. “I love avocado smoothies, and I didn’t think I would ever find a place in Santa Maria that would sell them,” Gaby told me, “so when I saw that as an option on the menu I was more than willing to try it.
“I’ve experienced a number of great-tasting avocado smoothies before, and this one was just as good. It tasted really fresh and had just the right amount of sweetness, and to top it off, it had great tasting boba that was easy to drink.”
I also sampled Gaby’s smoothie and I can attest that, even to someone who doesn’t particularly love avocados (me), it was pretty freaking good.
Flavored iced tea
Greene let Gaby and me sample her rose lychee tea, which somehow managed to taste like a rose (in the good way) without tasting like a plant (in the bad way). It was light and refreshing, and several other customers who took their orders while I was there also went the rose lychee tea route. I highly recommend it.
Sno ice
Greene put together some coconut-flavored sno ice topped with mochi, mango puree, and mango and strawberry flavored popping bobas. Gaby’s review: “The sno ice was super sweet and creamy, better than ice cream—or at least frozen yogurt, I think. Although, it was maybe a little too sweet for me to ever finish one that big.”
(But I’ll be real; I finished the whole thing and have no regrets about it.)
See for yourself
Cha 101 is located at 340 E Betteravia Road, unit E, in Santa Maria. It’s open Monday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Reach them at 346-1588.
Brenna Swanston is a boba fanatic, so offer more suggestions at bswanston@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2016.