Kung Fu Tea Now Open On Moody Street

WALTHAM, MA — Bubble Tea lovers have a new spot in town to get their fix. The international chain called Kung Fu Tea quietly opened this past weekend in the space formerly occupied by the old Cricket Wireless shop.

The grand opening was set for Friday according to an employee at the tea shop and there's a buy one get one free special throughout the weekend.

The tea shop will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., according to the employee.

The New York City-based chain was founded in 2009 after three friends had returned from a trip to Taiwan and were having a hard time finding a quality take on the childhood drink they had come to love in Taiwan.

A decade later, Kung Fu Tea has more than 200 locations across the country.

If you've never had bubble tea, here are some things to know:

Bubble tea is also known as pearl milk tea, boba juice, boba milk tea or just boba. It's a tea-based drink that was first concocted in Taiwan in the 1980s, then grew in popularity in the 1990s in Japan and Hong Kong and then found its way to the U.S. in the early 2000s.

Most recipes contain tea in some base shaken with fruit or milk. You can also get it as a slushy or a smoothie, blended with ice. There are variations that include a range of ingredients from aloe to herbal jelly, but bubbles or boba (chewy tapioca balls) are generally added, thus the name: bubble tea.

All the drinks are generally sweet, but at Kung Fu Tea you can order by how much sugar/ sweetness you're interested in.

The Kung Fu Tea website touts the business' use of Taiwanese tea leaves, brewed fresh every three hours and say they make bubbles from a combination of tapioca, brown sugar and honey every two hours to preserve their chewy texture.

Subscribe to Waltham Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Got something to add?
Sign up to post to Patch and tell your neighbors what's going on in and around Waltham. Post anything from calendar events to a column about a need in your neighborhood to a public meeting folks should know about. Our philosophy is the more neighborhood watchers the better.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/ Patch Staff. Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna)