Pop In: Liquid Lab & Studio Shares Boba Tea in Akron

On the wall of its Northside Marketplace micro shop, Liquid Lab & Studio displays a world map to educate customers about the origins of tea. Owner Paige Reeher likes to point out that boba tea was developed in Taiwan in the 1980s — but that tapioca boba pearls are made from the cassava plant, which originated in Brazil thousands of years ago.

“We want to share the geographic, cultural and historical aspects of our ingredients, and hopefully that will help connect our customers to the beauty and diversity of the world,” says the Ecological Society of America-certified ecologist and tea enthusiast, who also holds Liquid Lab workshops on the world of tea.

Opened in Northside in late 2024, Liquid Lab started as a concession trailer that same year. Patrons can usually choose from nine milk teas, four fruit teas and six specialty teas, along with limited specials and various loose-leaf green and black teas. Customize the boba in any drink, choosing from brown sugar tapioca or popping boba, along with crystal boba, jellies and aloe vera varieties when available. Reeher sources organic teas whenever possible and uses fresh, high-quality brown sugar boba. She recommends newbies start with simple almond milk tea — Assam black tea, milk, sweetener, almond flavor and brown sugar boba. From a variety of house-made fruit teas, try the Peachy Keen, with herbal sencha green tea blend, peach puree, sweetener and peach popping boba. For even punchier flavor, opt for Tropical Bliss — herbal sencha green tea blend with mango, peach and passion fruit purees, sweetener and kiwi popping boba.

“Tropical Bliss is a combination of sweet and tart,” says Reeher. “Passion fruit is naturally a very sour, very tart ingredient. … The passion fruit shines through, but the mango and the peach help tame it down.”

Unique specialty teas are packed with flavor, including the Adeni chai, featuring Assam black tea steeped with cinnamon, cardamom and clove, house-made brown sugar syrup and brown sugar boba. “It’s deliciously spiced,” she says.

To experience more of Liquid Lab’s global flair, order the ube milk tea, featuring sencha green tea, milk, house-made ube syrup and brown sugar boba. “Ube is from the Philippines, and when you add sugar to it, it has a very nutty vanilla kind of flavor,” Reeher says. “So that’s a delicious treat of milk tea, and it’s naturally vibrant purple, which is even better.”

21 Furnace St., Suite 404E, Akron, 330-442-8399, liquidlabandstudio.com