Flyby Tries: The LamCaf Boba

Flyby knows what our dear readers want from us: spending our money so you don’t have to. So, we went to the recently reopened Lamont Café to investigate its most ~mysterious~ offering: the boba. Often spoken about on Sidechat, these drinks are proving to be quite divisive. But we decided they aren’t divisive at all. They’re just meh.

We arrived right at opening, 3 p.m. on a Monday, and waited 20 or so minutes for them to cook the boba (!) and brew the tea fresh (!!). We were all very impressed with the freshness, but didn’t love the wait. Definitely don’t swing by for one of these between classes, because you’ll definitely be late.

Of course, no hate to the baristas. They were super nice and patient with our weird boba order! We were told “no worries at all,” when it would have been very fair of them to be annoyed with us coming right at opening and ordering four boba teas. (Five, actually — the person in front of us also ordered a boba chai PSL!)

The Boba

So, we did take the entire batch of their fresh boba. But it was pretty good! A bit inconsistent with texture, but mostly chewy with only a few clumps. Each drink had a VERY generous portion of pearls, with the wide boba straws for our drinking pleasure. And don’t make the mistake we did: the boba is what makes it sweet so make sure to mix BEFORE you drink and review all of them…

Marzipan Milk Tea

This was the first one we tried, and it did in fact taste like marzipan! It was also VERY oat milk-forward. We only realized after ordering them all with oat milk that it might have been better to use almond milk to match the almondy flavor. The boba was very fresh, and matched the marzipan vibe. Still, we don’t know that we’d choose this one next time.

Jasmine Green Milk Tea

This one is another one where you get what you pay for! We didn’t think the drink itself was very sweet. We also thought it was an “acquired taste” that “grows on you.” Did we actually want boba in this beverage? We were in disagreement. But we agreed that it would be very soothing for the average Lamonster.

Fog Milk Tea

We did not really get vanilla from this, but we definitely did get the Earl Grey vibes. We decided this drink really did need the boba for the excitement factor, but also that if you somehow got your hands on your own boba you could absolutely make this yourself in the dhall.

Pumpkin Spice Chai Milk Tea

This was definitely the strongest and sweetest flavor! We unanimously agreed this was the best of the four drinks we ordered, and perfect for the rainy, cold day that it was. To one blog writer with a ~unique~ palate, this tastes “cheesy…” But for the rest of us, it was just what we wanted, although again we were split on whether the boba was necessary for the enjoyment of the drink.

Final Thoughts

These drinks were not as bad as we’d been told—we were expecting the worst and these were fine! But also, for $7, they’re just… fine. None of the flavors were really milk tea specific (we wanted a thai tea option!), presumably because all the ingredients are used in other drinks as well, besides the boba. We decided that the boba probably wasn’t there to bring customers in, so much as to convince the customers already there to splurge on the most expensive offering. But when we thought about other things you can get with seven BoardPlus dollars — two mozz sticks! A latte and a half! — we decided we wouldn’t come back for these.

Hopefully we have saved your BoardPlus money for bigger and better things. But definitely try their pumpkin spice in something else! Happy fall!