Boba for Days!!

Boba is such an important part of my life. It seems a bit weird that a drink can have such an impact, yet it has! It’s not about the drink itself per se but rather everything surrounding it. Let me explain.

boba collage with my girl!

I first had boba when we would celebrate my birthdays at our local Thai restaurant. We only went for Thai food on my birthday and it was so much fun having my favorite food and favorite drink one day out of the whole year. Boba hadn’t spread like it is now so we only could get boba at the restaurant. My mother and I would always order it and it was our thing that we would get!

Once I moved to Syracuse for school, I was blown away that there were so many boba places all on one block!! I started going around my sophomore year a couple of times and it was so good! It wasn’t until my junior year that boba had a hold over me. My friend, Sofia, and I missed seeing each other all the time so we decided that once a week we would meet for boba for like 30 minutes. It was such a short meet up but it meant the world to me. See, we were both going through hard times in our lives. There was so much going on both in school and in our personal lives. We used these boba meetups as therapy and it healed us both. I don’t know how I would have gotten through that fall semester without her and our our Boba Thursdays. I would post every time we were together and it became such a “thing” that the one time we didn’t meetup someone messaged me and said “I didn’t see your boba post and I thought it was Wednesday.” Everyone knew about our boba sessions and it just became a part of us. It was so freeing to talk openly and just be in the present with her and some boba.

Boba Thursdays!

From 2021 with my girl, Sofia! Crazy how far away that feels!

The next semester I went to London and I didn’t drink that much boba… sadly. But I had so much fun soooo… skip to next semester… my last semester! Sofia and I started our Boba tradition again and we tried to go to our usual place. They were unfortunately closed. We found a new (nicer!) place with games and so many tables. Throughout that semester, we would meet up there so much. I would text her “Boba?” and she’d reply, “yes be there in 30!” We would go every Monday but sometimes if we needed to de-stress, we would go twice in a week. We played games, talked about what was happening in life, and just have fun! Sometimes, we would invite mutual friends, but everyone knew this was our thing. Our friends knew how much we loved this time and we talked to each other about everything. At the end of the semester, it was time for winter break and Sofia said, “I’m usually so overwhelmed and upset about all my work I have to do… but this semester, I’m not, and I think that’s because of all our boba trips.” It was true. I was graduating (early!) and the end just felt different that time. It meant so much to our friendship and our life. It was sad to not have our boba days in our life anymore.

The tradition lives on!

When Sofia came to visit London and we didn’t have time to get boba :(

I graduated early in December of 2022 and I moved back home. (where there was hardly any boba!) The universe must have known I moved back because two months later, a new boba place opened in my city. To make things even better, I got a job right next store to them! It was a new era of boba! When I first started there, I would go after work or during lunch. I started reviewing them just to have fun and keep my spirits high. I was upset about moving back home and it was a transition period. Boba always had a way of making me feel better. Once I started making friends at my new job, I started getting them to do the reviews with me! It’s now an ongoing thing and I am so happy to keep the boba tradition going. Okay, yes, you’re probably thinking, “Rowan, you could have had this experience with any drink.” Yes, I could have but it was boba that became important in my life. I’m not texting my friends about coffee or soda. I’m texting them about boba. Because boba is life! No boba shall ever left behind (in the cup.)

Maddie with her boba purse!

Reviewing some boba!

Make sure to watch on the reviews on Rowan’s Ramblings IG page!