Boba Guys offers artisanal boba and tea. The company brews real tea leaves and never uses powder. All teas are steeped in house. They have partnered with local producers like Straus Family Creamery to use organic milk and offer Califia almond milk or organic soy milk for non-dairy alternatives. For sweeteners, the company makes their own syrups from natural brown sugar. Boba Guys also offers Hong Kong Toast made with their own housemade buttercream.
Boba Guys began in 2011 when owners Bin and Andrew worked together at Timbuk2 (another PCV company!). Bin and Andrew found they had the same upbringing despite their geographic and cultural differences: Bin from small-town Texas and Andrew from New Jersey.
They bonded over lunch runs to the local small business boba shop in the Mission. One day, it closed down. After watching countless hours of YouTube videos about making the perfect cup of boba milk tea, they decided to go into business together. They threw up their first pop-up event with their friends at Ken Ken Ramen – and they’ve been growing since!
Boba Guys primarily serves the Bay Area with two stores in San Francisco – one in the Mission and one near Union Square. Their funding from PCV will help them in opening a third store in Hayes Valley and eventually a fourth in Potrero. They’ll also use their funding to increase their operational capacity and accelerate growth in their catering – in 2015 they did 90 events including some for Square, Twitter, Facebook, and Dropbox.
Boba Guys is also committed to good jobs, paying above minimum wage, and hiring from a variety of different populations. In addition to its milk tea product, Boba Guys strives to increase access to culture through food. Part of their mission is to bridge cultures and change the way people think about boba and tea. From talking about controversial topics on their blog to offering insight on where their tea is sourced, Boba Guys wants to give all cultures the opportunity to learn about one another as well as the culture of boba over enjoying tea.