Ordering grapefruit tea with tapioca balls and lychee jelly, or a milky taro tea with brown-sugar boba, or a peach tea with passionfruit popping boba can be, after all, an early foray into ...

However, this sweet shop also offers your classic bubble tea offerings (black, green, taro), along with desserts and pastries. Go: 262 Broad Ave., Palisades Park; 201-482-4961, no website.

There’s coconut, matcha, Thai tea and more for milk tea sippers. Green apple, mango and lychee are offered for those who prefer fruit teas. Strawberry sparkling boba sounds good, too.

Almond jelly, on the other hand, is the smooth nutty yin to the tart yang of fruity teas, and lychee jelly goes well with black tea or jasmine green tea (but skip the milk for this one).

This week, we’re kicking things off with a defense of our favorite boba beverages (specifically from Whale Tea in Storrs Center). Charlotte: Milk foam jasmine tea with lychee jelly is the move I ...