Bobae Coffee & Tea

Bobae Coffee & Tea opened in Woodinville in October 2019, in a strip mall space that used to be a Starbucks. Owners Karma and Joey Lee, a married couple, have built it into a small independent brand, with Karma, a first generation immigrant from Macau, as its public face, and Bobae has since added shops in Kirkland and Issaquah.

It pours both coffee and boba, and the kitchen makes its own boba, jams and syrups, with a menu that changes monthly. Nitro milk tea is a signature, and the shop says it was the first to put bubble tea on nitro. Boba donuts arrive as monthly weekend drops alongside boba ice cream, and there is a keto line sweetened with monk fruit.

Tea is taken seriously here: loose leaf tea can be smelled before you buy it, and drinks come with notes on where the leaf came from. The shop has also taught boba making classes, and 425 Magazine readers named it Best of 425 in 2022 and 2023. It sits on the Woodinville Duvall Road, an easy stop on the way to or from wine country.