Smoothie king deposed, boba shop takes the throne – THE MERCURY

On August 12, TeaCo’s soft launch event was held in the Student Union. The newest addition to UTD’s dining halls will offer students boba tea on campus for the first time in UTD’s history.

TeaCo Royal is a family-run tea shop that offers milk tea, smoothies, coffee, and fresh tea with seven different toppings, as well as three dishes: pho, bibimbap, and spicy noodles. Located on the second floor of SU between Firehouse Subs and Halal Shack, TeaCo replaced Smoothie King as a student dining option. Before TeaCo, the closest boba tea shops to campus were Fukuro and Ding Tea, which were located in Northside and Richardson itself, respectively. TeaCo owners Van Huynh and Doug Tran said they are excited to bring their franchise to the UTD community.

“We love tea,” said Huynh. “Our daughter always said she loved the different boba teas, and I was already a fan of the milk tea. So we decided to turn our passion into a small business.”

Huynh and Tran opened their first TeaCo location in Aubrey in 2018. Huynh said that in 2019, Tran was able to connect with Chartwells, the company that partners with UTD Dining and other schools in the UT system to provide on-campus dining, food and catering services. Since starting working with Chartwells, they have grown to seven different locations across Texas, including UT Arlington, UT Rio Grande Valley, Texas State University and Abilene Christian University, according to Huynh.

“The transition to TeaCo wasn’t too difficult since our kids always asked for tea growing up and I was the one who made it for them,” Huynh said. “Sometimes I don’t drink water for days since I only drink my tea.”

Huynh said she and Tran studied new methods of making boba tea by traveling to places like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, and also learned from successful boba tea sellers in the U.S., particularly in California.

“After learning from others, we combined our own experiences with what we had learned to create our own menu,” Huynh said.

Cindy Tang, manager of the TeaCo location at UTD, recommends students try the “TeaCo Special,” a milk tea with brown sugar, and the “Mangonada” if they prefer a unique twist on their bubble tea.

“It’s a great mango slushie that’s combined with chamoy and tajin to give it a delicious spicy note,” Tang said. “The first taste is always a surprise, but after the second and third, you’re hooked.”

Tang said TeaCo regularly adjusts its products and menu to meet customers’ needs. When boba was originally developed, some shops made a large batch of tea with a single sugar option, but today TeaCo can make the drinks with different sugar levels depending on customers’ preferences. Tang said they try to make as many different adjustments as possible to accommodate people with dietary restrictions in their menu, such as offering almond milk as a dairy-free option.

“If students have concerns or questions about a particular item on our menu, we are happy to help and do everything in our power to accommodate different diets and preferences,” Tang said.

TeaCo initially sold only milk tea at its original location in Aubrey, but as the company partnered with Chartwells and heard requests from students, it expanded its menu, Huynh said.

“Students would come to us and ask if we had Vietnamese sandwiches or pho,” Huynh said. “And because of their requests, we started offering our food options in addition to drinks.”

TeaCo’s prices are in line with other boba shops near UTD. The base price is $5.99 for tea and coffee and $6.25 for smoothies. The seven different toppings that can be added to each drink cost $0.50 each. Pho, bibimbap and spicy noodles are $9.59 each. TeaCo also offers a seasonal menu that currently includes the K-Puppy, a Korean corn dog with stretchy cheese inside, as well as limited-edition drinks like “Lemonade Loaded,” “Very Berry,” “Yogurt Smoothie” and “Horchata.” During the week of Aug. 19, TeaCo is offering a buy-two-drink deal on all of its drinks. Students are welcome to ask TeaCo staff for drink samples. Huynh said TeaCo works to provide samples of things that students might be interested in before they actually make a purchase.

Tran said he had been trying to open a site at UTD for some time, so was delighted when the opportunity to move arose. The process of locating at UTD was very quick. Negotiations for Chartwells began in April and TeaCo opened its doors on campus four months later. Fast turnaround times are not unusual for TeaCo – Tran said other sites have gone from planning stages to full operation within two weeks.

“We are honored to be here and honored that you want us here,” Tang said. “We want everyone here to be happy and will do everything in our power to meet the needs of the students. We welcome feedback from students, so if you have any ideas or suggestions or just want to say hello, come by and talk to us.”