Photos by Melody Yip

Seeking shelter from the unbearable heat and humidity? Crank up your AC and cruise over to any of these boba stops on Bellaire Boulevard in Houston’s Asiatown. There are about a million different combinations you could make from the ingredients offered at these tea shops: Choose your tapioca, dairy or dairy free milks, fruit, tea, coffee, beans and more.

SHARETEA

9889 Bellaire Blvd., E213, 832-730-4899 (and other area locations)

Sharetea, a transplant from Taiwan, began as a business selling classic black milk tea with tapioca pearls. Now their menu has expanded to a wide range of flavors, including the QQ Happy Family (milk tea layered with grass jelly, lychee jelly, tapioca, egg pudding and red bean) and the Hawaii Fruit Tea (a tropical juice filled with real chunks of orange and pineapple). Sharetea has more than 450 locations around the world and imports ingredients straight from Taiwan.

GO GO ICE

9188 Bellaire Blvd., 281-902-9298

Go Go Ice’s reputation stems from their fresh fruit smoothies – they use real produce, none of that powdered nonsense. The tapioca balls have a nice, tender, chewy consistency. The best part is the bang for your buck: a 20 oz. smoothie (with two fruits) is just $3.25 ($4 for three fruits). Pineapple, strawberry, durian, lychee and mango are just a few of the colorful options available.

KUNG FU TEA

9889 Bellaire Blvd., #222, 832-831-9288 (and other area locations)

Kung Fu Tea, born in New York, has multiple locations in Houston and its surrounding areas. They are known for using honey boba (tapioca steeped in syrupy honey for an enhanced taste) that swirls beautifully in milk tea. They’re also known for having WOW milk drinks, a similar concept to eating cereal. Lactose-free milk is the base while toppings such as red bean, mung bean and herbal jelly serve as the “cereal.” It’s all slurped through a fat straw.

TAPIOCA HOUSE

9104 Bellaire Blvd., B, 713-272-6468

Opened in 2002, Tapioca House caters to Texas only, with locations in Houston, Austin and Dallas. The milk tea tastes more robust than other places, and some coffee beverages, such as the sea salt caramel coffee, include espresso shots. Tap House (as it’s fondly nicknamed) offers a taste of Taiwan with boba drinks, bento box meals and street snack foods, e.g. salt and pepper chicken nuggets, fried tofu cubes and fried calamari.

TEA BAR AND ORGANICS

9889 Bellaire Blvd., E211, 281-888-0400 (and other area locations)

Tea Bar has evolved much, with a new location sprouting in Rice Village this past year. It’s a sit-down restaurant, boba destination and study nook all in one. (Note that the Westheimer location has recently closed.) Similar to Tapioca House, the Chinatown location offers Taiwanese snack foods, entrees and desserts. They use organic teas and tall plastic beer tankards to hold “for here” drinks.

GONG CHA

9889 Bellaire Blvd., C318, 713-591-5383

Gong Cha, another Taiwanese transplant, translates to “tribute tea fit for an emperor.” The dark red theme within the interior drapes the whole space in a serious, rich look. You can get classic milk tea with red bean, tea lattes, slushies and “mustache” drinks with a layer of milk foam on top. In fact, there’s an actual guide as to how to drink these milk foam beverages – you can drink it as it is or shake the whole thing to create a mixed creamy concoction.