Sweet Reef in Morro Bay encapsulates one man's journey from gold mining to boba crafting 

Former geologist Jared Squire described his old office as an underground gold mine in Nevada surrounded by dust and diesel fumes.

Working early mornings and late nights, he realized he couldn't sustain that pace for the rest of his life. Squire's way out: opening Sweet Reef, a boba shop in Morro Bay.

"We opened in April, and well, Morro Bay needed boba. I just started learning about it, especially how to make the recipes, and learning about other boba places that are around," he said. "My girlfriend likes boba a lot, and I've always been drinking it. I found out that the quality isn't that good in SLO County or in some of the bigger chains."

For 30-year-old Squire, boba featured frequently in his jet-setting childhood. Thanks to his parents' work, the native Canadian moved to the Santiago, Chile, when he was 12. Then, at 15, they moved to Australia where he first tasted boba from the bubble tea (what Australia and other countries call the drink) store near a bus station in Perth. From there, Squire traveled across Southeast Asia, living in countries including Thailand, Singapore, and Cambodia that gave him a deeper appreciation for boba, chai, and Thai tea.

"Some of our customers have described boba in the best way: It's like drinking and eating at the same time. Boba itself is the balls. But in America, people also call the whole drink boba. So that's the very confusing part," Squire said. "In Asia, they call it bubble tea because the tea has the bubbles [or balls] in it."

The true origins of boba are contested. Some recorded accounts debate the source to be either the Chun Shui Tang tearoom or the Hanlin Tea Room, and both are in Taiwan. Inside Sweet Reef, however, a signboard on its wave-printed wall states that boba was discovered when a Taiwanese street vendor accidentally spilled tapioca pudding into tea.

While these accounts may differ, they're all united on one thing: Boba pearls come from tapioca, and at Sweet Reef, Squire and his staff make them using starchy tapioca powder.

"The boba pearls, which I call similar to rice because you have to use a lot of water to cook it, and it takes a decent amount of time for it to absorb and get the right texture. They're called tapioca pearls and they're made out of the cassava root," Squire said.

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• Photo Courtesy Of Jared Squire
• GRANDMA'S LOVE As a young boy, Squire loved making waffles with his grandmother, and his current taiyaki batter is inspired by her longstanding recipe.

There's alchemy to boba making. Squire adds earth-colored and crumbly tapioca pearls from a packet to a pot of boiling water. Over roughly half an hour, the sunken pearls absorb the water and darken. When they're ready, the pearls bob to the top, squishy and glistening black. Squire then transfers the drained pearls to a rice cooker where they're steamed for a while longer in a secret flavoring solution. Finally, they're ready to submerge in Sweet Reef's plethora of drinks.

Squire told New Times that perfecting a solid Thai tea recipe was important before opening the shop. It's a Sweet Reef mainstay and can be enjoyed on its own, or with splashes of milk (dairy or oat), and definitely with boba. Squire expanded the menu with other drink options like Mango Slush, a Korean-style Banana Milk, or Strawberry Milk tea (all made with freshly puréed fruit). Thirsty patrons can also enjoy the pinkish gold jasmine green tea, strawberry and lychee jelly concoction called the Morro Bay Sunrise.

Coffee lovers can rejoice too—Sweet Reef offers a line of boba-filled drinks called bobaccinos. They come in flavors like salted caramel, cookie butter, and chocolate and peanut butter. Squire said they listen to community feedback too, and incorporated matcha drinks on the menu after some customers suggested it.

"We're getting ready for cold weather, so there'll be more hot teas. We'll focus on fall flavors like pumpkin spice. Eventually, we'll go into the Christmas flavors like chocolate and peppermint. We're really getting established and trying to keep everything fresh. We're constantly doing different things with our waffles," he said.

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• Courtesy Photo By Patricia Sandoval
• LIKE A FISH The Nutella-stuffed taiyaki is a popular choice, though Sweet Reef owner Jared Squire initially had to convince some customers that the waffle is not an actual fish.

Waffles, specifically taiyaki, are the other Sweet Reef staple. Taiyaki is a Japanese fish-shaped cake made using waffle batter and traditionally stuffed with spreads like red bean paste and sweet potato. Sweet Reef's version comes with the red bean option, along with Nutella, Oreo, and cookie butter.

My favorite is the taro cream cheese taiyaki. Squire dished out the golden brown and perfectly defined treat brimming with the purple goo. It's a great play on temperature, as the creamy filling cuts through the warm, doughy crust. It tastes like the best digestive biscuit you've ever had, and there's boba tea to wash it down with.

"The batter for the waffles is made from my grandma's recipe. It's been in my family for a very long time. I adjusted it a little bit for taiyaki because it needs a crispy outside and a fluffy inside," Squire said. "I've never tried it anywhere else."

In fact, the inspiration to incorporate taiyaki came from Squire's business neighbors upstairs. Sweet Reef shares a building on the Embarcadero with a Japanese restaurant called Umi Sushi & Sake. Its owner recommended Squire try making taiyaki, but his daughters were skeptical about its reception in Morro Bay.

"They're Japanese and Korean, and they thought people in SLO wouldn't understand. They might think it's an obscure kind of food. People always think it's an actual fish. That's some of the struggle we've had. We have to tell people it's not a fish but a waffle in the shape of fish," he said with a laugh. "But once they try it, they're always coming back asking for new flavors."

Community spirit is alive in Sweet Reef, and Squire is happy to show gratitude for his new life. Squire wants to help the local Morro Bay High School through a fundraiser at his store. He told New Times that some of his staff members told him the school athletics team could do with more supplies and equipment if they had the money. Once a high school athlete himself, Squire wants to give back. It's the reason why he named his shop Sweet Reef.

"It comes from my time in Australia and there are a lot of reefs over there," he said. "The idea is that we have a variety of drinks in different colors, like a reef. It's rooted in community. If we work as a reef, everyone plays a part in it. We're here to help each other and work together." Δ

Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal is slurping boba and munching on taiyaki in Morro Bay. Enjoy the Embarcadero with her at [email protected].