The Boba Tea Project: Jamba Juice Hawaii
Olivia and I are launching an ongoing series we’re calling The Boba Tea Project. She got me into liking boba tea (bubble tea), and now we’re trying to work our way around all the boba tea shops on Oahu. We plan to be bubble tea connoisseurs by the end of this adventure 🙂 And we’re documenting our finds here. So thanks for joining us for our first boba review, which starts at Jamba Juice Hawaii. It just launched a “bursting boba” seasonal line, and we were interested in trying it so we rushed over during one school lunch break to buy the two different flavors.
The three limited time items, on sale from January 1 through March 28, include:
Lava Flow Smoothie with Bursting Boba Boost: A piña colada smoothie with strawberry and apple coulis and strawberry bursting boba. This drink was a special menu item in the past that was so well-liked, Jamba Hawaii brought it back and added bursting boba.
Fire Flow Smoothie with Bursting Boba Boost: A piña colada smoothie with mango and orange coulis and orange bursting boba.
Lava Flow Bowl with Bursting Boba Boost: This Jamba Energy Bowl™ is an edible version of the Lava Flow smoothie, erupting with strawberry and orange bursting boba.
If you don’t want those flavors, you can just buy the bobas as a boost to add to any drink or bowl.
Bursting boba is made from real strawberry and orange juice flavors, using a spherification process that creates a natural casing that bursts in your mouth.
“This Jamba Hawaii-only initiative came about by customer demand. Being able to add bursting boba to our smoothies and bowls adds on a whole new level of customization for customers by adding exciting flavors and textures to the Jamba experience,” said vice president Donna Yano. “It really allows customers to take their favorite Jamba smoothie and bowls to a whole new level of taste sensation!”
Olivia got the Lava Flow Bowl with Bursting Boba Boost and I got the Fire Flow Smoothie with Bursting Boba Boost. I apologize that my own photos aren’t amazing, but she wouldn’t wait until we got back home to try it, and with COVID-rules, there are no tables inside Jamba to put it down on, so I had to do a quick thing in the parking lot which looks all ghetto with other cars behind us. Anyhow.
We liked her smoothie flavor better, as compared to mine, which seemed more orangey (even though the descriptor says it has mango.) Could be that I chose orange bobas, which really accented the citrus. I apparently had the option to choose strawberry bobas.
As for bursting bobas, we thought it was OK, but we are so accustomed to the Asian tapioca bobas, we weren’t used to it. We generally do like Jamba Juice, so my suggestion is to go in with no expectations of traditional bubble teas. Mind you, this is not traditional mochi balls and not a tea. However, as a smoothie enhancer, it’s great. The bobas pop in your mouth as promised, and add a little zing and texture to the drink. It’s a nice, light, fruity drink for a tropical day; a fun variation to the normal smoothie.
However, Jamba Hawaii may be unrolling more bobas – the chewy kind we like – because the company said in its December 29th press release, “The smoothie and healthy snack shop is looking to 2021 as its year of innovation, with even more fun menu items to come (hint: tapioca boba fans won’t be disappointed!).” OK, we’re waiting!
Visit www.jambahawaii.com for store locations and more information.
