Hong Kong-Style Milk Tea Chain Cuppa Tea Makes A Splash In Flushing

How a lot have you learnt about milk tea, actually?

You’ve in all probability had it at your native boba spot. A sugary concoction that may, at its worst, serve much less as a drink in and of itself and extra as a tapioca supply system.

The factor is although, that sort of milk tea is Taiwanese fashion. It’s a wildly common model, however milk tea isn’t initially from Taiwan.

Milk tea is a Hong Kong invention. And now, Hong Kong-style milk tea chain Cuppa Tea – a well-liked model with over 800 places worldwide – is making its US debut in New York’s Flushing, Queens and Baltimore’s School Park.

Hong Kong was a British colony for 99 years, and there are few issues that each Chinese language and English folks take as significantly as tea. When these cultures collided, they inevitably got here up with new methods of consuming it.

In Hong Kong, milk tea is severe enterprise. In accordance with Julie Li, grasp franchisor for Cuppa Tea’s first US places: “As a way to drink genuine Hong Kong-style milk tea, it’s important to undergo a sure boiling course of, and the pull tea course of and the brewing course of. That’s why it takes a very very long time. That’s why we promote out. As a result of we’ve to have at the very least half-hour to arrange one pot. Often in a single pot we are able to put together six or seven milk tea drinks. However lots of people need it chilly. In order for you it chilly, we’d like time to chill it down. And to chill it down with out ice takes longer.”

I interviewed Li at Cuppa Tea’s Flushing, Queens location, and he or she mentioned that as a result of their brewing course of is so concerned, it severely limits what they will provide to clients. Their tea store has solely been open a couple of months, however they’ve strains out the door and promote out of tea every single day. She needed to put aside a bottle for me to verify I may strive it.

Li instructed me that they initially tried to maintain up with demand, however ultimately needed to set a cap on how a lot anybody buyer may order to maintain the store from promoting out “in an hour.” As a result of they do the whole lot from scratch, and are located in a closely Chinese language neighborhood, individuals are clamoring for his or her tea.

Strains out the door are an incredible downside to have, however for Li, they’re nonetheless an issue: “We do love good enterprise, however it’s truly put us right into a bind.”

The continued strains of the COVID-19 pandemic imply that, “It’s so exhausting to order from sure suppliers.. and the pricing will be loopy. I keep in mind once we simply began the pricing for one container [of tea] was round $3,000. Proper now they’re reaching $30,000.” Li has needed to restrict her meals menu on account of provide chain points, has had a tough time ordering the whole lot from syrup to cups, and is presently solely serving a couple of of snacks that may normally accompany Cuppa Tea’s drink choices.

Opening within the midst of COVID was an extra impediment, since staff are fleeing the hospitality business in droves. Early on, Li, the shop supervisor, and her husband spent as much as 14 hours a day at Cuppa Tea to compensate for the shortage of expert workers who may sustain with the demand.

However regardless of this, they’ve by no means let high quality slip. I visited Cuppa Tea with a buddy who has household in Hong Kong, and each of us had been impressed with the milk tea, which he mentioned was higher than a lot of what he’s tried there. We had been additionally explicit followers of the curried fish balls, that are exhausting to seek out within the US.

To maintain up with demand as a lot as potential, Li has labored carefully with different bubble tea companies, significantly at their School Park location close to the College of Maryland: “We attempt to assist one another as a lot as we are able to, see whose shipments get in first, and perhaps may help one another… No matter uncooked materials you want, let’s say the syrup or the tapioca, something we have to make from scratch.”

That cooperative spirit and a chilly bottle of sturdy tea is all you’ll be able to ask for generally.

Cuppa Tea Flushing is situated at 37-12 Prince st, Flushing, NY 11354, contained in the Tangram constructing.