Handmade Boba – One Zo

You might have seen One Zo somewhere online because of their main selling point: they make all their boba fresh in house with different flavors, and the stores display all the fancy equipment. None of that popping “boba” BS, their other flavored boba is actually boba. Yes, I was very hyped the first time I watched a video with One Zo in it, and I was very excited when I heard they were opening a location local to me. What’s there not to love about the concept?

The first time I went, I thought the overall quality was pretty good, but the boba (Honey) was, just, good. Nothing much stood out about the taste. Don’t get me wrong, it was good boba for sure, but in the back of my mind it was missing, something. The next time I went, I ordered the Chrysanthemum Milk Tea and matched the boba (the flavor intrigued me after my friend from college got me into Chrysanthemum!). It was definitely unique, and the boba (Chrysanthemum) had actual petals in it, but that was about it. Of course, I hadn’t gone back in a while, and with all these boba shops popping up lately, maybe I’m just starting to get picky. As a side note, another reason I hadn’t gone back for a bit was because once I got a regular milk tea for my mom, and she wasn’t a fan and had some kind of negative reaction to something in it, which is a little weird, but what can I do? (Psst, while I’m not a fan of sesame, my dad sure is, and One Zo has a sesame drink and sesame boba.)

When I did recently start to go back, I actually quite liked the boba (honey) taste and texture, though it is not chewy enough for my mom. Their menu does have quite a variety of drinks, so there’s bound to be something for everyone there! They also have milk tea and latte versions of a few of their tea drinks, which I find interesting.

Chain? Yes. I’ve only been to the Irvine location.

Drinks Tried: Uji Matcha Latte, Chrysanthemum Milk Tea (great Chrysanthemum flavor and rare for boba shops), One Zo Green Milk Tea, Wintermelon Tea Latte, Green Tea Latte, One Zo Fruit Tea, Roasted Rice Milk Tea, Honey Green Tea

Boba: I’ve tried the Honey and Chrysanthemum boba. Boba itself is good, but I’d like to go back and try their other flavors. Mmm, maybe not the sesame, I’m not a big sesame person, but my dad is. It’s soft and chewy in a soft way, not super sticky and bouncy like most other places. Definitely unique and a selling point! I do find it weird that their brown sugar boba is limited to the brown sugar drink, and supposedly they have coffee boba limited to their dalgona drinks. I’m not a coffee person, but still…

Price: It’s not bad for the size you get. They don’t overcharge you that much either like other places. I noticed there’s a sign that said they were slightly increasing the prices to pay their employees better, and I don’t mind the current price, so good on them, I guess.

Size: Medium vs Large, and that small round cup you see used for brown sugar drinks and other specialty driks. Regular sizes are decent, but not as big as other places, but it’s good for the price. The regular is nice for a treat, but the large is not too big.

Interior: For the Irvine location, pretty spacious if there’s not a huge crowd, and there’s a single bench inside. Also a cute bunny statue that’s probably their mascot (which isn’t on their logo?).

Wait: It really depends. Maybe because I went when the hype was still big in my area, but sometimes it was really busy and other times you can walk right in and not wait at all. Afternoons are a gamble, but if you want to skip the line, go in the morning when they open!

Sell Food? Yes. They do that Hong Kong style egg waffle thing and ice cream. Looks good but haven’t tried it.

Reward System? I don’t think so.