Bubble Tea at 'The Tea Garden'

Bubble Tea isn’t something many people hear about often in the Midwest. I myself had no idea what it was until a few months ago, and even then I wasn’t aware that there are plenty of places to find it in Minnesota, especially around the Twin Cities area. One of the more popular locations for bubble tea is The Tea Garden in St. Paul. The Tea Garden is located on Grand Avenue in one of the most interesting and artistic areas of Minnesota’s capital. Located next to an arts and crafts store, a ballet studio, and an Ace Hardware store, the tea bar/café gets a lot of traffic from all different sorts of Minnesotans. But all of these people have one thing in common: they love The Tea Garden. The first thing I noticed was the friendliness of the staff. I was having a bit of trouble getting my wallet open and was holding up the line and, as a former cashier, I know how irritating this can be. However, the staff was nothing but kind to me as I struggled. They then offered suggestions as it was my first time ordering bubble tea.

There are endless options when it comes to ordering bubble tea, as you choose both the type of tea you’d like and the flavor of the pearls at the bottom. I went for a coffee flavored drink with vanilla pearls -- it was delicious. Drinking bubble tea takes a bit of getting used to. There is nothing quite like it as the pearls shoot up the straw into your mouth when you drink. The pearls are chewy and give the drink a unique texture that I found to be quite enjoyable. You can drink all the pearls as you go, or store them up and eat them when you’re done with your drink. There are no rules when it comes to enjoying this beverage! If you are up for trying something new, I highly recommend stopping by The Tea Garden and grabbing a bubble tea!   Photos via: Rance C. -- Renee Brown