If you’re in the mood for bubble tea, then you’re in luck. Gong Cha, a bubble tea chain popular in New York City, has officially opened its first Hoboken location this week at 527 Washington Street.
Gong Cha isn’t just a big deal across Manhattan. The bubble tea chain has made a national name for itself with locations spanning California, Massachusetts, Texas, and of course, New Jersey. Gong Cha has been serving Jersey customers elsewhere in the state including Edison and the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus.
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The new space, located between 5th and 6th Streets in midtown Hoboken, offers all the usual staples of your typical bubble tea places, plus more. With menu selections of the brewed tea, milk tea, panda, yogurt, creative mix, mustache, and slush varieties, plus individual tins and tea sets available in stores, the new Gong Cha location is a tea-lover’s dream.
Gong Cha comes from humble and authentic origins. Founded back in 2006 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, “Gong Cha” translates to “tribute tea for the emperor.” The franchise promises freshly-brewed tea every four hours, tapioca pearls {known as the “bubbles in bubble teas} freshly cooked every four hours, and tea sourced from Taiwan’s finest tea estates.
While the bubble tea market has become pretty saturated in recent years — including in Hoboken, the US Gong Chas have become widely recognized for their “milk foam,” an innovative, rather unconventional take on tea drinks. The milk foam is a slightly salted cream topping that sits atop any freshly-brewed tea flavor of your choice.
Speaking of tea flavors of your choice, there’s a lot. Seriously, a lot. Gong Cha has myriad “series” of flavors, including oreo, mustache, panda, yogurt, hot and spicy, maple, and tea latte series. For all you brew-lovers out there, Gong Cha also offers a few coffee options, including coffee milk tea, milk coffee, and milk foam black coffee.
See More: A Guide to the Coffee Shops of Hoboken
{Photo credit: Instagram}
Teas that fall under Gong Cha’s “creative mix” series include a matcha milk tea with red bean, lemon ai-yu with white pearls, lemon wintermelon with basil seeds, taro tea, and a caramel chocolate drink. Love Oreo-flavored everything? Gong Cha’s “oreo” series includes four different types of drinks, including a milk foam Oreo green tea.
Gong Cha joins a small list of other bubble tea brands in Hoboken, including Vivi Bubble Tea downtown {at 117 Washington Street} and Kung Fu Tea {just down the street at 536 Washington Street}.
In April 2014, Gong Cha USA opened its first franchise store in Flushing, Queens (New York). To this day there are 17 outlets total within New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas ( and many more opening soon!).
Will you try the new Gong Cha Tea place on Washington Street? Comment below!
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