Vivi’s Bubble Tea
You might do a double take when you walk into Vivi Bubble Tea on the corner of Chapel and Temple. The color scheme is overwhelmingly pink — it has to be the pinkest building in the city — and the inside is plastered with Chinese characters denoting special new flavors. The air inside feels different, too. It’s cold, in a refreshing way. The chilled breeze that assaults your face when you walk through the door wakes you up. But most assaulting (in the best, most delicious way possible) is the unmistakable scent of boba that permeates every cubic inch of the shop. The boba — sweet and chewy tapioca pearls — are what make up the “bubbles” in bubble tea. And the boba at Vivi’s is in a class of its own.
Walk into Vivi’s, and you’ll most likely behold two types of customers: English speakers, perhaps experiencing an exciting foreign treat for the first time, and Chinese speakers, maybe seeking a vestige of home. Indeed, people familiar with the drink might rejoice in the shop’s authentic representation of traditional Taiwanese boba. Vivi’s serves bubble milk black tea, which is an iced beverage sold all over Taiwan. In addition to boba, the drink contains equal parts milk and black tea; the customer can also choose whether or not to add sugar and indicate how much ice they want. While most American “bubble tea” consists of a sugary smoothie-like beverage with tapioca pearls thrown inside, Vivi’s traditional rendition of the drink — made with fresh boba hand-crafted right in front of you, actual black tea, and special East Asian flavors like taro and sweet red bean — transports customers to the streets of Taiwan, where bubble tea began. Additionally, customers can choose to have their bubble tea infused with flavors such as mango, ginger, and coconut. Patrons can also order either tropical flavored iced tea or various fruit smoothies.
In desperate need of an alternative to a night-out? Vivi’s is clearly the perfect solution. Order a bubble tea and make your way toward the eggshell sofas in the back. If you’re on a date, you might instead opt for one of the two-chair tables that line the right wall of the store, or maybe the smaller gray sofa in the front of the store. No matter what, walk into Vivi’s on any occasion, with any group of people, at any juncture in your life, and you’ll understand why their mission is “customers above all, quality above all, effort from heart.”
