An unusually buzzy tea idea from Taiwan is now brewing in Houston. Referred to as Chicha San Chen, it opened with a splash final week in Chinatown at 9750 Bellaire Blvd, the place it is drawing traces of followers keen to attend two hours to attempt their exactingly brewed teas and boba teas.
Chicha San Chen began out in 1998 as a humble tea store in Taiwan’s Taichung Metropolis and has gone on to develop into a world sensation, with places in a number of nations in addition to U.S. places in California, Utah, New York, Georgia, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington state.
Whereas many boba tea outlets have opened in recent times, Chicha San Chen stands out for its finicky concentrate on tea leaves and preparation of tea. They’re well-known for his or her “tea-spresso” machines — much like a espresso espresso machine in that it makes use of a high-temperature pressurized extraction technique that makes every drink to order. This units them aside from most outlets that pre-brew their tea within the extra standard pour-over method and serve it from a container, or that use instantaneous powder.
Their packaging can also be distinctive. While you get a number of drinks to go, the drinks are positioned in a cardboard sleeve with a twine string connected, which serves as a provider. It offers the tea a artful contact.
With their finicky strategy comes the next worth: drinks begin at $5.50 for a primary brewed tea and high out at $7.50 for a milk tea with chewy boba tapioca pearls.
However the costs don’t appear to discourage an viewers prepared to understand the nuances of a well-brewed tea with a distinctly Asian-influenced menu. The preferred choices are inexperienced tea and osmanthus, a floral, fruity tea with hints of apricot and apples.
There may be additionally a spiked Wonderland drink with Bailey’s Irish cream, oolong inexperienced tea, White Gourd tea, and vodka.
The store gives a tea-tasting expertise the place guests are launched to freshly roasted Taiwanese Li Shan oolong tea, a aromatic, fruity selection, with 5 roasting ranges to focus on the tea’s distinct traits.
In contrast to nearly all of tea locations that focus totally on to-go, Chichu San Chen places have spacious eating rooms with pale trendy decor and seating for as much as 80. Staffers wearing pinstripe shirts with ties and khaki aprons convey a way of seriousness.
Bringing the model to Texas are companions Chloe Weng, Vera Pei, and Jinjing Weng, who met whereas in school in Austin. After visiting a location in Los Angeles, they opened their first retailer in Austin in 2023, adopted by the Dallas suburb of Carrollton in January.
“Tea is our go-to drink like espresso is for different individuals, it is part of our lives,” Chloe says. “We selected this model because it measures all the things out at every step, for an ideal drink each time.”
