Our daughter is the resident boba milk tea expert. Her taste buds were set to Volcano on Sawtelle, since they were one of very few boba places in the general area. She has tried just about every boba place she has come across (Westside, some in K-town, SGV) and still considers Volcano as one of her favorites.
KC Crepes in Westchester has really good boba (the actual tapioca pearls) and good milk tea. She has tried Ekkamai Refresh three times so far and says their boba pearls are at least as good as KC Crepes (excellent taste and consistency). The actual tea used by Refresh is different too - Assam tea - she likes the deeper richer flavor profile of the actual milk tea part.