New Sacramento-area boba shop has ‘price-friendly’ drinks — with a self-serve bubble tea bar

Sacramento’s newest boba shop doesn’t have baristas buzzing around creating drinks for customers.

Instead, bubble tea enthusiasts browse a lineup of six flavors and roughly a dozen toppings in a self-serve bar reminiscent of frozen yogurt shops, creating a drink unique to their personal preferences.

Honeybee Boba Cafe, 6505 Folsom Boulevard next to the Sacramento State campus, is the area’s first self-serve boba experience.

Sacramento resident Anh Luu said she came up with Honeybee Boba Cafe after vacationing with her family of five and spending more than $50 on boba drinks for everyone.

Her goal with the shop’s unique concept was to cut costs for all involved.

Because she does not need to employ a large staff to make drinks, Luu said, she’s able to charge a flat rate of $6 per bubble tea drink with unlimited toppings.

“It’s student-friendly, it’s family-friendly and it’s also price-friendly,” Luu said. “Instead of people being able to afford to come up once a week, at $6 they can afford to come twice a week.”

What’s on the menu at new East Sacramento boba shop?

Honeybee Boba Cafe’s menu includes non-dairy milk teas and fruit-flavored teas and lemonades with a rotating menu of flavors.

On Thursday, the drink flavors available included Thai milk tea, jasmine milk tea, passion mango fruit tea and dragonberry lemonade. Luu most recently experimented with a toffee-flavored milk tea, which she launched Friday and said is “by far” her favorite flavor.

The drinks can be sweetened either with cane sugar or honey sourced from Sacramento honey shop The Bee Box.

The toppings available included tapioca boba, lychee jellies, strawberry popping boba, mango puddings and crystal boba.

Luu said she expects to expand toppings in the coming months to include red bean, taro bits and fresh fruits.

In addition to the self-serve bubble tea bar, Honeybee Boba’s drink offerings include Vietnamese coffee-based drinks and blended drinks.

On the food side, Honeybee Boba Cafe serves loaded waffles and musubi — rice patties topped with Spam, egg, bacon or shrimp, and wrapped in dried seaweed. All of these offerings are under $8.

Luu partners with a local supplier as well as her business partner, who owns Pegasus Bakery and Café in Sacramento, to offer Asian-fusion and American desserts including Oreo cheesecake and red velvet cake.

“There’s really no dessert shop around here,” Luu said. “It’s nice to have a slice of cake to hold you over or to inspire you to study.”

What do customers think?

Honeybee Boba Cafe had its soft opening on May 25 through May 27. Although Luu did not advertise heavily, news of the cafe traveled quickly through the community.

“We did not anticipate people nonstop coming, and we ran out of boba” on May 27, Luu said. “That day, we went through five full bags of boba.”

Andrew Thao, who works at Honeybee Boba Cafe, said the self-serve format means customers can get exactly what they want each time they visit.

“It lets them have their freedom,” Thao said, “so it lets them feel good about the drinks they’re choosing.”

Sacramento resident Liz Le and Elk Grove resident Haley Huynh were intrigued by the “innovative idea” of a self-serve bubble tea bar.

“We’re used to just being in a boba shop where they have all the options already for us, and here we can actually put as much stuff as we want in our drink,” Le said.

Thao and Luu make sure to personally greet and assist every customer who enters the cafe.

“When I walked in, the owner was super nice and cordial,” said Lodi resident Denise Ramirez, who recently visited Honeybee Boba Cafe for the first time. “I’m like, ‘Heck yeah, she’s so nice.’ ”

Thao gives newcomers a step-by-step guide to the boba bar’s offerings and gives drink recommendations and tips on how to use the sweetener dispenser and the cup sealing machine.

One recommendation? A tiger milk tea — a combination of Thai milk tea and black milk tea.

Huynh said the personalized help from cafe staff is “super helpful.”

“A lot of boba places are more like kiosk-based, where you just go in, put in your order and that’s about it,” she said. “It’s definitely nice to have that interaction.”

Despite the cafe being barely a week old, Luu said she has already begun to notice regulars.

“My first regular customer was actually a little boy,” she said. “He came in the morning with his mom, and late afternoon he came with his dad. I said, ‘Were you just here?’ he goes, ‘Yeah, but I’m back here again.’ ”

Other first-time customers said they are already planning on returning — such as Sacramento resident Rachelle Laforteza, who previously visited a different self-serve boba shop in San Jose.

“(Honeybee Boba)‘s not too overwhelming,” Laforteza said. “It’s just the right amount of approachable to want to come in.”

What’s next?

Luu also owns Cafe La Vies, in south Sacramento at the Laguna Village shopping mall, which she said provided the experience necessary for her to open a boba shop.

She said Honeybee Boba Cafe took 18 months to build from idea to opening day, due to planning, construction, and receiving permits and approvals from the county health and fire departments.

Luu plans to hold a grand opening for Honeybee Boba in August, to coincide with the return of Sacramento State students to campus.

In the meantime, she has many updates planned for the cafe, such as adding a self-serve noodle bar.

The bar will consist of various broths and toppings, such as green onion, cilantro, peppers and sriracha sauce.

Once customers choose their preferred broth, a Honeybee Boba staff member will cook the noodles and customers can then add their preferred toppings. Luu plans on pricing the noodle bar based on the weight of the bowl before it is cooked, noting that she wants to keep it as affordable as her other offerings.

“I want to make sure people can still afford to go out (for dinner), but don’t have to break the bank,” she said.

She is also striving to make the cafe a community-centered space by partnering with local nonprofit organizations to provide resources for community members in need, in particular those struggling with domestic violence situations.

“I want to be able to provide information so people can get help if they need it,“ Luu said. “I feel like in college (domestic violence is) not really talked about, so hopefully having that information there will inspire them to go get help and go to services that they need.”

At her other business, Luu has partnered with Asian Resources, Inc. and Sacramento Employment and Training Agency to connect local youth with job training programs.

“I’m all about empowering our youth and also taking care of our elderly,” Luu said.

When is Honeybee Boba Cafe open?

Honeybee Boba Cafe is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.

Luu said she and her team are listening to customer feedback to learn how to best serve their community and to make high-quality boba.

“We want to make sure this is user-friendly and a friendly place for people to come,” Luu said.

This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 10:00 AM.