Boba Junkie
Fun tea drinks with plenty of boba and jelly options, plus Lava drinks with sour and spicy bits mixed in
When we visited Boba Junkie in Santa Ana – currently one of four locations – there were plenty of common milk tea, fresh tea, coffee, and horchata drinks to enjoy with a collection of 14 jellies, bobas, popping bobas, and puddings, plus cream foam, vanilla ice cream, and Oreo crumbs. You can also choose slushes in mango, pineapple, watermelon, lychee-strawberry, and lychee-passionfruit flavors, any ideal for a hot day in Orange County.
But what stood out to us on the menu and signage was Boba Junkie’s “Lava” drinks, effectively spicy iced non-alcoholic mangonadas fusing Mexican and Asian ingredients. Available in mango, passionfruit, pineapple, guava, and watermelon versions, Lavas are slushies that use tajin spice and “flowing chamoy” (apricot hot sauce over lychee jelly) to produce beautiful red, orange, and pink highlights with unique flavors.
They aren’t just an acquired taste – we found them to be less than refreshing thanks to the tajin and chamoy, which counterbalance the sugar and ice in ways some people may actively dislike. As spice fans, we were able to tolerate them, but we didn’t love them.
There may be food options at a Boba Junkie, though that appears to depend on location. When we visited, we found an alternative to Yogurtland for serve-yourself frozen yogurt, though this appears to be only available at certain locations. And only the Rancho Santa Margarita location offers fried snacks.
We’ve visited Boba Junkie twice, and would go back again, as much to dive into the wide array of bursting boba (blueberry, passionfruit, pomegranate, strawberry, and mango) as anything else. This is a place where drinks can be fun, assuming you order correctly, and we hope to have another chance to check it out.
Stats
Price: $
Service: Counter
Open Since: 2018
Addresses
1200 W. Warner Ave., Unit B
Santa Ana, CA 92707
657.358.0724
Additional locations in Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley + Rancho Santa Margarita
Instagram: @thebobajunkie