Boba Guys

Boba, or Taiwanese bubble tea, went from plastic cup to mason jar when Boba Guys' artisanal San Francisco shop opened in 2011. Uniting the popular sugary beverage with an unprecedented locavore ethos, owners Bin Chen and Andrew Chau swapped processed powders and artificial sweeteners for house-made cane-sugar syrups and organic milk sourced from Bay Area–based Straus Family Creamery. Four years and two locations later, the chainlet makes an East Coast jump with this minimalist 14-seat counter hawking traditional Eastern varieties (classic black milk tea, lychee green tea) and globally influenced cups (horchata, Indian chai with ginger), all built with dairy from Battenkill Valley Creamery in Salem, New York. To complement the drinks, find Hong Kong–style toasts (buttercream, condensed milk) as well as New York–exclusive sweets like Four & Twenty Blackbirds pies and Balthazar pastries.