Aug. 12 marked the soft launch of TeaCo in the Student Union. The newest addition to UTD’s dining facilities will provide students with boba tea on campus for the first time in UTD history.  

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

“We love tea,” Huynh said. “Our daughter always said that 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 works with UTD Dining and other UT System schools to provide restaurants, food and catering services on campus. Since they began working with Chartwells, Huynh said they have grown to seven different locations across Texas, including UT Arlington, UT Rio Grande Valley, Texas State University and Abilene Christian University.  

“The transition into starting TeaCo wasn’t too difficult since our children were always asking for tea growing up, and I would be the one to make it for them.” Huynh said. “Sometimes I go days without drinking water since all I drink is my tea.” 

Huynh said she and Tran studied new ways to prepare boba tea by traveling to places such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, as well as learning from successful boba tea sellers in the U.S., specifically those  located in California.  

“After learning from others, we combined our own experience with what we learned to make our own menu,” Huynh said.  

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

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

Tang said TeaCo regularly modifies its items and menu to accommodate the population it serves. Tang said that when boba was originally developed, some shops would make one large batch of tea with a single sugar option, but today TeaCo is able to prepare the drinks at different sugar levels based on what customers want. Tang said they try to provide as many different accommodations in their menu as possible for people with dietary restrictions, such as providing almond milk as a non-dairy option.  

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

TeaCo began by selling only milk tea at their original Aubrey location, but as they began working with Chartwells and hearing requests from students, they expanded their menu, Huynh said. 

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

TeaCo’s prices match those of other boba shops near UTD. The base cost is $5.99 for tea and coffee and $6.25 for smoothies. The seven different toppings, which can be added to any drink, each cost $0.50. The pho, bibimbap and spicy noodles are $9.59 each. TeaCo also offers a seasonal menu whose current items include the K-puppy, a Korean-style corn dog with stretchy cheese inside, as well as limited-edition drinks like the “Lemonade Loaded,” “Very Berry,” “Yogurt Smoothie” and “Horchata.” For the week of Aug. 19, TeaCo is offering a buy-two-get-one-free deal on all its drinks. Students are welcome to ask TeaCo employees for sample drinks. Huynh said that TeaCo works to make samples of things students might be interested in before they actually make a purchase. 

Tran said he had been looking to open a location at UTD for some time, so he was pleased when the opportunity to move in opened up. The process of coming to UTD happened very quickly, with negotiations through Chartwells beginning in April and TeaCo opening its doors on campus four months later. Quick turnaround times are not unusual for TeaCo — Tran said other locations went from planning stages to fully operational within two weeks. 

“We are honored to be here and honored that you guys want us here,” Tang said. “We want to make everyone here happy and will do everything in our power to meet student needs. We love hearing from the student body, so if you ever have ideas or suggestions, or you just want to say hi, then come and talk to us.”