Boba Fest Revitalizes Summer in U District

Boba tea, or bubble tea, is a unique taste experience. The drink's origins are hard to pinpoint exactly, but in fact the drink came into being in Taiwan in the 1980s when a couple of tea shops were looking for a new drink for their menus. It’s a sweet, endlessly variable, and surprisingly versatile drink. Suffice it to say, if you like tea with milk, iced tea, and/or gummy, chewy, tapioca balls, boba tea is worth a try if you have yet to take the plunge.

Boba Fest sculpture around a pole in U District

The Evergreen Echo

On July 19, the U District, which boasts over 20 boba-centric establishments, hosted Boba Fest. It was a celebration of this delicious drink and the avid fan base around it. To wander between the shops was to hear deep discussions of what kind of boba is best with what tea and what savory snack pairs well with the sweetness.

As a part of Boba Fest, the tea enthusiasts were also treated to a live entertainment stage. Throughout the day were dance crews, DJs, and a cosplay contest sponsored by Sakura Con, Seattle’s annual anime and manga convention. Of course, the DJs and dancers spun and stepped to a vast catalog of rhythmic K-pop. There was also a marketplace where local artisans sold their creations.

Because of the sprawling nature of the fest, the map provided by the information booth was invaluable. The shops are mostly on the Ave (University Way). Participating shops ranged as far south as Boba Up off 42nd St., as far north as Yifang Taiwan Fruit Tea off 50th St., and as far west as Sunright Tea Studio off Roosevelt Way NE. Walking the Ave, it was easy to spot the most popular shops from the lines out the door. People were very interested in Seattle Best Boba and TP Tea. I tried to stray a bit from the beaten path and went to the near extremes of the Ave for something novel.

Silky Thai from Yan Tea

The Evergreen Echo

The first shop I went to was Yan Tea, which shares a space with Honeybee Fried Chicken. There were delicious chicken samples available as we waited for our order and the tea did not disappoint. I went with the Boba Fest special, a Silky Thai. This is a Thai tea with a twist. It has boba and tofu pudding pieces to add extra texture. Now, you may be thinking this was a cheat, this tea being a Thai tea, but Thai tea does not traditionally have anything like boba or pudding added to it, so this was all in the spirit of the event. It was a delicious mix of flavors that I hope may be a secret menu item when I go back.

The second shop I went to was Boba Up. I was a little overwhelmed at first because this is rather a unique experience as a self-serve tea shop. They give thorough instructions, step by step, but there was a little worry that I might not like the concoction I came up with. So I stuck to the basics. I added boba pearls, ice, and a lavender milk tea, that was it. It was fast, easy, and downright delicious. The shop has a repeatability to it because you can get a near endless amount of combinations and never get the same thing the same way.

With an event like this it could have easily been a single street fair on one block in the U District, and not in the shops, yet that would take the neighborhood out of the equation. For most of the festival, the other businesses on the Ave were seeing increased foot traffic as well. When you have tea in hand and it’s a nice day outside, why not wander into Al's Music Games and Video or Magus Books as I did. Not only was this a great event for the boba community, it was a great event for the U District, which has had to claw back a lot of itself after the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the retail landscape. The Ave and the U District seemed alive in a way they have not felt in years. Even the year-round U District Farmer's Market seemed to be humming with a different energy. 

As Boba Fest hopefully grows to an annual tradition, we can take comfort in knowing that it helps to bolster the neighborhood, and the community of shops keeps the unique flavor of the area thriving.