Houston, Tapioca Capital of the South: A Review
The Origin of Pearl Milk Tea
Boba, tapioca, bubble tea, milk tea, pearl milk tea. You may know this hero by many names. For the purposes of this review, I will refer to it as pearl milk tea (珍珠奶茶 zhēnzhū nǎichá). Many believe that milk tea was created in the 1980s at Chun Shui Tang Teahouse in Taichung, Taiwan after its founder, Liu Han-Chieh, observed the serving of cold coffee in Japan and its product development manager, Lin Hsiu Hui, added tapioca balls to the drink. Others believe that around the same time, Tu Tsong-He, the owner of Hanlin Teahouse in Tainan, Taiwan, started to add traditional white tapioca balls, with the appearance of pearls, to milk tea. Nowadays, pearl milk tea usually consists of a black or green tea base mixed with milk, either fresh or in powdered form, and black tapioca pearls, which are made with starch extracted from the cassava root. Despite competing claims of origin, pearl milk tea became immensely popular all across Asia in the 1990s, and the craze soon made its way into Houston, Texas.
Houston, Tapioca Capital of the South
Around the time of the pearl milk tea boom in Asia, Houston-area Asian American entrepreneurs began moving and expanding their businesses from Old Chinatown located in East Downtown to the New Chinatown in the Sharpstown area, which opened in 1983. (As many locals have pointed out, a more appropriate name for the new area is “Asiatown,” as there are various Asian ethnic groups in the community.) With increased expansion into this area, the first teahouse serving pearl milk tea, Star Snow Ice, opened in 1995. Many other teahouses came and went, but it’s the early 2010s that I consider to be the beginning of a true pearl milk tea boom in Houston, when many new local and chain teahouses opened alongside established ones. I see this boom as an initiator of the recent influx of other nationally and internationally recognized institutions, such as Yauatcha, Chengdu Taste, 85ºC Bakery Cafe, and Shake Shack, to Houston by demonstrating the demand for innovative and high quality food and drink, Asian and non-Asian alike.
The Process
I visited eight of the most popular teahouses in Asiatown with some friends on a Sunday afternoon with the intention of determining the best teahouse in Houston. But while we tasted the various pearl milk teas, many clashing statements arose concerning the flavor of the milk tea, the flavor of the tapioca, and the texture of the tapioca. Everyone had different perceptions of each aspect of the pearl milk tea and likewise different impressions. Therefore, I decided not to rank the teahouses. Instead, I will attempt to describe each of their classic pearl milk teas as objectively as possible and give you the discretion to determine which you like best based off of my observations.
I chose the classic pearl milk tea to compare as it is the most well known and available at every teahouse. The criteria I have observed include price with tax, wait time after ordering, milk material, milk tea flavor, tapioca flavor, tapioca texture, and tapioca temperature. My observations are based on the order of a single pearl milk tea (22–24 oz) from each teahouse on a Sunday afternoon and may not necessarily be representative of your experience. The list below is in chronological order of arrival to Houston.
Star Snow Ice (& Teriyaki)
Drink Name: Milk Tea with Tapioca
Price: $2.75
Wait Time: 33 seconds
Located in Dun Huang Plaza and Diho Plaza, Star Snow Ice was the first teahouse to open in Houston and was founded in 1995. The Milk Tea made with fresh milk was flavorful with strong impressions of both coffee and tea with no discernible aftertaste. Though aromatic at first, the milk tea was quickly watered down by the accompanying crushed ice. The tapioca was warm and felt like a marshmallow, but also had no discernible aftertaste. As the original Houston teahouse, Star Snow Ice is also famous for its shaved ice, floats, fruit smoothies, and juices.
The Teahouse Tapioca & Tea
Drink Name: Teahouse Milk Tea with Tapioca
Price: $4.17
Wait Time: 30 seconds
Located in Diho Square and various locations across Houston, The Teahouse was founded in 1992 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and made its way to Houston with its first location inside of Hong Kong City Mall in 2000. The Teahouse Milk Tea made with powdered milk was very sweet to taste, but had some clumps of the powder remaining in the drink. The tapioca was cold and chewy, almost like a gummy bear, but had a sweet honey taste. The Teahouse may be the most well known teahouse to Houston locals through its numerous locations, longevity, and its fame as one of four images on Wikipedia’s “Bubble tea” article.
Bobazone (by Long Coffee)
Drink Name: Black Milk Tea with Tapioca
Price: $3.52
Wait Time: 3 minutes and 50 seconds
Located in Houston Saigon Plaza, Bobazone was founded in 2007 in Houston. The Black Milk Tea made with fresh milk was the perfect level of sweet and had a strong herbal tea aftertaste. The warm tapioca was chewy and also had a strong herbal tea flavor. Bobazone stands out by specializing in coffee drinks and catering to a more Vietnamese taste, but its most unique aspect is its drive-thru! A variety of fruit smoothies, slushies, shaved ice, and a special “baby tapioca” are also served here.
NU Cafe
Drink Name: NU Milk Tea with Tapioca
Price: $4.33
Wait Time: 3 minutes and 3 seconds
Located in Dun Huang Plaza, NU Cafe, also known as NU Ice & Drinks on Westheimer, was founded in 2009 in Houston. The NU Milk Tea made with powdered milk was overly sweet, tasting like the Fruity Pebbles cereal, and had an especially strong tea aftertaste. The tapioca was room temperature and sweet like honey. Interestingly, the perceived texture of the tapioca was too soft, too chewy, and just right all at the same time. NU Cafe is famous for bringing ribbon snow ice, an innovative spin on the original snow ice, to Houston.
Tea Bar & Organics
Drink Name: Classic Milk Tea with Tapioca
Price: $5.14
Wait Time: 5 minutes and 10 seconds
Located in Dun Huang Plaza and various locations across Houston, Tea Bar was founded in 2010 in Houston. The Classic Milk Tea made with fresh milk was not too sweet and had a strong tea flavor, though still slightly watered down. The milk tea comes with a lot of foam after being shaken up.* The tapioca was room temperature and chewy with the center slightly tough. Tea Bar is known for serving its drinks in glass mugs and specializing in traditional teas both hot and cold.
Kung Fu Tea
Drink Name: KF Milk Tea with Tapioca
Price: $4.87
Wait Time: 4 minutes and 50 seconds
Located in Dun Huang Plaza, various locations across Houston, and all over the United States, Kung Fu Tea was ideated in 2009 in Flushing, New York and made its way to Houston in 2013. The KF Milk Tea made with powdered milk had a refreshing tea taste with just the right amount of sweetness. The flavor of the tea was slightly overpowered by the honey infused tapioca which were both warm and chewy. Kung Fu Tea also offers a wide selection of specialty teas both hot and cold.
Sharetea
Drink Name: Classic Black Milk Tea with Tapioca
Price: $4.33
Wait Time: 2 minutes and 35 seconds
Located in Dun Huang Plaza and 16 countries across 4 continents, Sharetea was founded in 1992 in Taipei, Taiwan and made its way to Houston in 2015. The Classic Black Milk Tea made with powdered milk had a strong soy taste and was slightly watered down. The honey infused tapioca was cold and chewy. Though the Classic Milk Tea comes with powdered milk, Sharetea has a variety of fresh milk options as well.
Gong Cha
Drink Name: Milk Tea with Tapioca
Price: $4.87
Wait Time: 2 minutes and 7 seconds
Located in Dun Huang Plaza and over 1200 locations in 15 countries, Gong Cha was founded in 1992 in Taipei, Taiwan and made its way to Houston in 2015. The Milk Tea at Gong Cha made with fresh milk was especially sweet with flavors and an aftertaste of roasted vanilla and soy. The tapioca was cold, chewy, and did not have any strong taste. As a side note, Gong Cha gave the most tapioca out of all of the teahouses reviewed.
Other Places to Check Out
Other teahouses that I unfortunately did not have enough time to review but are worth a visit include Tapioca House, Gogo Ice, Twinkle, and Honey Bee Teahouse & Fast Food. (Sorry if you don’t see your favorite teahouse listed. Send me the name and I’ll go check it out!)
*Fun Fact
The “bubble” in bubble tea refers not to the tapioca balls, but to the foam that forms after shaking the milk tea to mix.
Special thanks to:
All of the owners and staff at all of the teahouses I visited for representing Asian American entrepreneurs and providing such delicious drinks for all Houstonians to enjoy!
Cici, Hannah, Hasan, Justin, Matt, Manlin, Minh, Ridge, Shaian, and Tirso for joining me in this endeavor!
Thu Nguyen and Rice Paper Magazine for funding this endeavor. Look out for this piece in print in the second volume of the magazine!
Resources
The information presented is based on my observations, my interactions with staff at the teahouses, information presented on the teahouses’ websites, and the articles listed below:
- “Is this the inventor of bubble tea?” Derrick Chang. CNN Travel. June 2012.
- “Taiwan tapioca tea on tap.” Julie Chao. SFGATE. December 1999.
- “Everything You Need to Know About Bubble Tea.” Sous Chef. July 2016.
- “Far Eastern entrepreneurs find niche in Southwest Houston.” David Kaplan. Houston Chronicle. August 2002.
