Restaurant review: New Westwood boba shop shares its tea with great flavors and study spaces

Sorry Westwood, it’s not boba time anymore.

The city’s newest boba hotspot, Sharetea, is a promising new establishment that caters to first-time boba drinkers and boba addicts alike. The store, which hosted its grand opening Thursday, combines intriguingly flavored teas, like peach kiwi tea, with a plethora of seating options for the new perfect study spot.

[Related: Subtle Asian Traits]

Sharetea’s cozy atmosphere is accentuated by its quaint space, just around the block from Whole Foods. Bar seating at the window, indoor and outdoor seating options, and exposed brick-and-wood detailing around the store create a welcoming environment to talk with friends or study for hours. There are even stools for customers waiting in line to pick up their drinks.

While the shop does not sell food, its filling and flavorful teas are more than enough to compensate for the lack of solid sustenance. The reasonably priced menu items average about $4.75 and offer a variety of flavor options. The flexible drink options allow customers to pick their toppings, which range from traditional tapioca pearls to herb jelly and red bean.

For those unsure of what to order, Sharetea indicates its personal recommendations with a star marking the menu item – just in case the customer is still indecisive, a poster on the wall shows the top 10 recommended drinks. While Sharetea’s fairly extensive menu offers classic flavors like Thai pearl milk tea, it also gives boba aficionados the chance to try new combinations like alcohol-free mango mojitos and matcha red bean milk tea, which can also be consumed as ice-blended drinks with ice cream.

After a long day of class, the Okinawa pearl milk tea, a brown sugar milk tea, proved to be an excellent way to relax, offering a subtle smoothness with an artful hint of brown sugar. For students with a long night ahead, the passionfruit, orange and grapefruit tea’s explosive taste is a surefire way to wake up the senses. Its powerful flavor delicately balances the sweetness of the orange with the bitterness of the grapefruit.

However, there is an inconsistency in levels of sweetness. One drink ordered as a normal, or 100% sweetness, would not have the same amount of sugar as a different drink. The brown sugar milk tea needed to be ordered as a normal to be pleasantly sippable, otherwise it would be too bitter. On the other hand, the passionfruit, orange and grapefruit tea ordered at anything over 50% sweetness would be too much. Boba sippers should take caution when choosing sweetness level for their teas, and keep in mind the natural sugars provided by the discrete flavors.

[Related: App developed by students allows users to track boba purchases, unites community]

But perhaps the most exciting part of Sharetea is the tapioca pearls themselves. The boba is by far the best in comparison to any other boba shop in Westwood or on campus. Each tapioca pearl was delicate in consistency, elegantly complementing each carefully flavored tea. The incredibly high boba-to-drink ratio is every boba addict’s dream, but it might be a little too much for those who want a sip or two of their drink without pearls.

Whether you’re a boba-a-day kind of person or just exploring new caffeine addictions, Sharetea caters to the entire boba spectrum. The promising new study spot has proved itself as Westwood’s new go-to boba institution, with its modern Asian-inspired interior design, cozy atmosphere, free wifi and plenty of seating sure to satisfy any boba craving.