Creme Brulee, strawberry matcha, butterfly pea and hochija are just a few of the delicious flavors of bubble tea available at Boba Lova, Rhode Island’s first seller of hip new ‘mochi doughnuts’.

Located at 1375 Park Ave., Boba Lova held its grand opening less than six months ago in October of 2022. Those looking to take in some of the shop’s tasty treats can stop by from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Run by Soknin Ky and her brother Soeuth, the donut guy, Boba Lova works to provide customers with a unique experience with an emphasis on quality and flavor.

Mochi doughnuts, which were first crafted in Hawaii after the development of poi mochi. A mixture of mashed taro root, called poi, and mochi, a chewy dough made of high-gluten rice and water, poi mochi was first fried up by a Hawaiian resident named Charmaine Ocasek in her parents garage. From there the treat quickly grew in popularity.

Looking like eight doughnut holes stuck together into a ring, mochi donuts offer a chewy texture reminiscent of the gummy mochi, popular in Japan, with the light airiness one would expect from a doughnut. Often coated in colorful glazes and decorations, the pull-apart treat is easy to share with friends as you sip one of Boba Lova’s premium milk teas.

“For those that don’t know, boba are actually tapioca pearls,” Soknin explained. “Boba goes inside your drink. They’re usually chewy but we also serve other kinds. There are bursting ones filled with juice and we also have a couple other options. We have jellies as well. Some people don’t like the chewy balls so we serve coffee jellies, grass jellies that have an herbal taste and even a mixed fruit jelly that people love.”

Soknin said she was particularly proud of some of the new flavors of milk tea that the shop has introduced recently. Her personal favorite, hochija, is similar to matcha but is made by lightly roasting tightly rolled green tea leaves.

“I love it,” Sokin said. “It may not be for everyone but so far it’s been even more popular than I thought it would be. It seemed like an interesting flavor and I knew it had been popular in other places. Trying new things is important to us and we knew we wanted to have snacks to go with our teas and that’s when we decided on mochi doughnuts.”

Soeuth, the brother of this brother sister partnership, said that mochi is a Japanese word for something chewy. These doughnuts were an interesting idea to him thanks to their chewy and doughy nature. Soeuth said he first heard of the doughnuts from an Asian doughnut chain called Mister Donut.

“It’s basically a ring doughnut,” Soeuth explained. “Obviously their mix is proprietary. So this particular mix that we get comes from Taiwan. We make them fresh everyday in house. We don’t hold anything over and are usually sold out by 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. every day. They just have this golden crispiness with a chewiness that really makes them special.”

Whether you’re a fan of tea, doughnuts or gummy balls of tapioca that turn a delicious cup of iced milk tea into a snack in and of itself, stop in to Boba Lova for a taste of something different.