URBAN RITUAL, SAN JOSE AND SAN MATEO
David Zhou’s temple of boba tea has made its way south. After launching in San Francisco in 2018, Zhou expanded to downtown San Mateo and now has opened a shop in downtown San Jose’s San Pedro Square Market.
Born and raised in San Francisco, this former nurse got into boba because he wanted a creative outlet. He started experimenting with drinks that would differentiate his place from other shops, deciding that high-quality ingredients, from house-made syrups to oven-baked creme brulee, were key.
His creme brulee milk tea — complete with crunchy, torched raw sugar to sprinkle as you sip — has become the signature drink. “We actually started playing with the idea in 2016, two years before we even opened our first location,” he says. “It took 32 iterations over many long nights to perfect our recipe — shoutout to our friends for being guinea pigs. The creme brulee was one of the first drinks in boba history to incorporate a crunchy texture. And from this concept, we knew we had stumbled across something special.”
Besides the specialty and seasonal drinks, Urban Ritual offers “everyday drinks” featuring your choice of eight black, green and herbal teas, and two coffees, one milk and dark-roasted cold brew and the other a milk tea with a shot of coffee.
THE SIPS » After you try the decadent creme brulee milk tea, check out the matcha toffee, with toffee brittle made in-house. Want something fruity for summer? Boba barista Nikolas Perez suggests the refreshing raspberry cali mojito ($5.75), with berries, calamansi citrus and mint. It’s especially good topped with lychee jelly, he says.
DETAILS » The new location is open from noon to 8 p.m. daily inside the San Pedro Square Market, 100 N. Almaden Ave., San Jose. The San Mateo shop at 140 S. B St. stays open until 10 p.m. on Friday-Saturday; www. urbanritualcafe.com.