Annie's Excursions

[This is a cross-post from my boba blog! I figured since it’s still Japan adjacent I’d put it here as well.]

In my opinion, clearly. If you’d like to challenge my opinion, feel free to leave me a comment or a message, or just try these places for yourself :). I basically moved to Hokkaido in summer of 2022, and went from a place with too much boba to basically no boba. To put that in perspective, my hometown list has 20+, and this only has 5. To be fair, this doesn’t mean that Japan as a country is short on boba (I had quite a few good ones in Tokyo!), but Hokkaido really needs to step up the boba game. According to some research I’ve done, there used to be a few others, but they’ve since closed before I got to try them. Now I’m sure there’s more boba than these, but the ones I’ve tried are more Sapporo central, where it’s within reasonable commuting distance for me. If I try others I’ll add to the list.

Now without further ado, on with the ranking!

1. Shin An Ju: The best quality by far. Has great flavored and chewy brown sugar boba, and their menu is pretty varied with some unique items as well.
2. The Alley: I liked The Alley in America, and I think it’s pretty good here. I’d like some of the American items here, but Japan has some exclusive menu items that are pretty cool too. No ice is free here, which is a big plus.
3. The Tea: A local chain store. Their drinks are ok, but they also sell Taiwanese snacks. The boba is nice and chewy. No ice is also free, and all the drinks come with a topping.
4. Gong Cha: An international chain, some items are general while others are more Japan-specific. They also have seasonal teas and drinks monthly, which have been pretty interesting to try out. Boba is fine here
5. Mister Donut: The quality is pretty good for being a non-boba place. They only have two items to choose from though, in terms of boba drinks. Donuts are good though, ha!