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Popping Boba and Other Cool Summer Treats

Recently we've had a couple of really hot summer days. A couple of friends came down to San Gabriel in order to have some shaved ice, Taiwanese style, a foot massage and dinner.

Mango Snowy at Pa Pa Walk

I'd heard about Pa Pa Walk and their enormous shaved ices quite some time ago, but when I had enough people to share it with, it always got too late or we were too full.

Pa Pa Walk's fantastic sign

After the long wait, it did not disappoint. The Taiwanese style ice is shaved finer than usual, giving it that "snow" consistency. It's drizzled with condensed milk and surrounded by sweet and tart mango cubes. The fluffy, creamy, fruity concoction is a home run.

Strawberry Chip Sorbetto

Another summer favorite is Pazzo Gelato's strawberry chip sorbetto. So fragrant of fresh strawberries, gorgeously red and flavorful.

Coconut Water Slushy

And while we are in the Silver Lake neighborhood, Wat Dong Moon Lek's Coconut Water Slushy, with ribbons of young coconut floating on top, provides a cooling thirst quencher on top of being super delicious.

It washes down their spice food really well too.

SinBala - shaved ice

SinBala offers the less finely grained shaved ice where you can choose 5 flavors to add in. In this case we chose: lychees, boba, almond tofu, small red beans, condensed milk.

It's a harmonious and multi-textured combination. The shaved ice also contains sprinkles of brown sugar to sweeten it.

Bin Bin Konjac - Popping Boba poster

But there's more to the Mango Snowy story. After our snowy and foot massages, we put our names down for a table at Sin Bala, one of my Chinese food favorites in Arcadia.

At Bin Bin Konjac, the coffee/tea/dessert shop next door, we saw this poster for popping boba. I ran in to get a cup, but saw a sign at Sin Bala saying no outside food and drink were allowed.

So I planned to come back for popping boba.

Bin Bin Konjac - mango green tea with yogurt popping boba

My initial thought was the boba would have Pop Rock candy in them or something crazy.

But actually, I ended up ordering a mango green tea with yogurt popping boba. The choices are any beverages on their menu with either orange or yogurt popping boba.

Yogurt boba was supposed to work better with milk teas and orange with clear teas. But I broke the rules and got yogurt with non-milk tea, fearing orange would be too sweet.

Bobas in dish

When I got home, two pearly bobas were taken out with the big boba straw and placed into a dish for investigation.

Boba elasticity

Chewiness is the quality I most enjoy in boba, rather than the soft and mushy type which abounds. These had a lot of elasticity but they burst in my mouth before I could chew.

You can see some of that give when I pressed down on it with a straw.

Burst boba

Finally, after enough pressure is applied, the boba collapses and out squirts its filling, yogurty in this case.

The "skin" or casing has a slightly bitter taste which can be strange but once I got used to it, it sort of tempered the sweet mango.

Overall regular, firm boba will remain my boba of choice. This was still a fun and refreshing summer beverage experience.

Try it out and see how you enjoy popping boba.