Only the Good Stuff at Good Boy Boba

Cold and creamy with a satisfying sweetness, the first sip of boba tea is a welcome explosion of flavor, pinging pleasure receptors in quick succession. Next: surprise! A nugget of tapioca slides from the straw and into your mouth. Yeah, yeah, you might be a responsible, mortgage-paying adult, but this drink makes you immediately forget about all that stuff. Boba is all about delicious fun.

The youthful playfulness of boba tea started in the 1980’s, when a product development manager for a teahouse in Taichung, Taiwan, got bored during a meeting one day and impulsively added a spoonful of tapioca pudding to her drink. The novelty was an immediate hit among Taichung’s teens and exploded from there, becoming a staple of street vendors and firmly planted itself in the island’s pop culture by the end of the decade.

Flash forward to early 2019. Jack Yang was a long-time fan of boba but was frustrated by the options available in the central valley. “I loved the stuff,” explained Yang, “but I felt that a healthier version would be even better.”

In May, Yang began using the Clovis Culinary Center facilities and began the trial and error process of playing around with recipes while using all fresh ingredients. Good Boy Boba was born and, like the birth of boba itself, it became an immediate hit.

“We don’t use powdered flavoring or syrups like most other boba makers,” says Yang. “We only use fresh fruit and natural flavoring.” The result is a drink that explodes with real flavor, yet doesn’t have the heaviness that comes with artificial additives. “It’s all natural, and it shows.”

Watch for Good Boy Boba at local farmers markets, street festivals and other special events. You can also find their full upcoming schedule by following them on Facebook and Instagram.