QuickTake:

Plus: Enjoy the last of May with the Eugene Scottish Festival, Eugene Tea Festival and the start of Eugene Beer Week.

What do you do when your dad opens an antique mall in Junction City and offers you space to start a business?

Open a bubble tea shop with your best friend, of course.

Boba Potion owners Kelly Hambrick and Alissa Roe have been friends for six years and are avid boba lovers, while Hambrick’s dad, Raymond Hambrick, is into all things vintage. 

Raymond Hambrick encouraged his daughter to add a food or drink element to JC Emporium, his new antique mall boasting thrifted goods, refurbished electronics, and trading cards as well as kids’ toys and games from nearly 50 vendors. 

Kelly Hambrick and Roe opened Boba Potion in March — Friday the 13th, to be exact. It’s the first brick-and-mortar bubble tea shop in Junction City and the first business you see upon walking into JC Emporium.

Boba Potion offers the classic Taiwanese drink, which comprises a tea base, milk and chewy toppings, as well as fruit teas. Unique toppings include yogurt popping boba, which has a similar flavor profile to tart fro-yo. It’s one of Roe’s favorites. 

Boba Potion in Junction City offers milk-based teas and green teas with a variety of flavors and toppings. Pictured: A strawberry peach green tea with yogurt popping boba and a strawberry pomegranate lemonade tea. Credit: Taylor Goebel / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

The prices also stand out: A 16-ounce “shortie” milk tea costs $3.00, while a 22-ounce drink goes for $4.50. Tapioca, popping boba and jelly toppings each cost $.50 extra. Roe and Hambrick make their tapioca in-house. They boil it in a pressure cooker before giving it a “sugar bath,” rinsing off the starch and steeping it in a brown sugar syrup until the little balls are perfectly chewy and sweet.

Bubble tea is a versatile and customizable drink: Add coffee popping boba to your horchata milk tea. Or go for a refreshing strawberry lemonade tea with pomegranate boba. 

Hambrick and Roe are adding new options and features over the next year, including sourcing their honey syrup from a local business, adding more decaf options and offering nutritional boosts to their drinks. 

They also serve Umpqua ice cream. And yes, you can get a milk tea float. Or add popping boba to your ice cream. The world is your bubble. 

If you go: Boba Potion is located at 177 W. Sixth Ave. in Junction City and is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., daily. 

Krob Krua closes

Krob Krua joins a string of Eugene restaurants that have shuttered in the last month, after The Davis and Izakaya Meiji closed their doors in April. Krob Krua, known for its wood-fired Thai cuisine, was confirmed permanently closed via an online update on its business page. The eatery opened in 2019 and operated in a since-shuttered Eugene ciderhouse before moving to 1313 Pearl Street in 2023. The Pearl Street location also used to house Pearl Street Ice Cream Parlour, La Perla Pizzeria and Community Fermentation Union. Lookout Eugene-Springfield will provide updates on the space and Krob Krua as more information becomes available.

Eugene Thai eatery Krob Krua closed this spring after seven years in business. Credit: Taylor Goebel / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Mandy’s Diner is now open 24 hours

Mandy’s Diner, a new eatery serving fun takes on classic diner fare, announced on Facebook that it is now open 24/7. Find the eatery at 652 E. Broadway in Eugene.

Mandy’s Diner owner Amanda ‘Mandy’ Watts holds her granddaughter, Blakely Taylor, inside her new Ducks-themed eatery on Friday, May 8, 2026. Credit: Taylor Goebel / Lookout Eugene-Springfield

Upcoming Eugene events

Pod Fest
Tuesday Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., May 26, 85 E. Eighth Ave. 
Celebrate peas, legumes, okra and other pod-sprouting produce at the Tuesday Farmers Market in downtown Eugene. The Pod Fest includes a cooking demo at 11 a.m. and a pea and bean planting workshop at noon. Snack on locally grown pods at the free sampling table and enter the market’s Peas-in-a-Pod group costume contest for a prize. 

Eugene Beer Week
Participating breweries, taprooms and venues, May 29 to June 7

Celebrate craft beer culture and explore different breweries in the Willamette Valley during Eugene Beer Week. The annual event returns for its 16th year, featuring beer pairings, special releases, a brew and bike crawl, a triathlon, a pup-themed event and the Sasquatch Brewers Festival. A full schedule is available online.

Eugene Scottish Festival
Irving Grange, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., May 30, 1011 Irvington Drive

The Eugene Scottish Festival is your chance to try haggis, bangers, Scotch eggs and other classic Scottish fare. Located in the Santa Clara neighborhood, the festival highlights Celtic heritage through bagpipe performances, Irish and Scottish bands, Highland dancers and games and live herding demos with sheepdogs. More information is available online. 

Eugene Tea Festival
Eugene Farmers Market Pavilion & Plaza, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., May 31, 85 E. Eighth Ave.

Eugene Tea Festival returns for its fourth year. Enjoy sampling a variety of teas and explore the marketplace, featuring local artists and specialty tea vendors. This year, the event is free to attend, with compostable cups provided at registration. Grab a free ticket online, and learn more about the festival on the nonprofit’s new website.

Taylor Goebel covers Lane County's food and drink scene. She has nearly a decade of experience in multimedia journalism, having reported across the Mid-Atlantic on dining, food systems, education, healthcare, local elections, labor and business. She was most recently a food reporter in Washington state, where she documented a fourth-generation fishing family, covered a David vs. Goliath conflict between a national coffee chain and a small Turkish cafe, and had many culinary firsts, from ensaymadas and gilgeori (Korean street) toast to morels and black cod.