Taiwanese bubble tea chain 朝茶 TSAOCAA will be opening its first Pittsburgh location in Squirrel Hill on June 28. It will be located at 5871 Forbes Ave. (map), most recently home to Kidz and Company. According to building permits the future occupants also run the New China House in Monroeville.
The Tsaocaa Tea website provides its backstory:
Bubble tea, invented in the 1990’s in Taiwan, was always made with powdered milk . As bubble tea shops travelled west, many kept with that tradition. However, we broke the mold with freshly brewed tea recipes at Tsaocaa.A menu is available online, via its website:
Each loose leaf tea is brewed fresh to order in an espresso-like machine, which sets Tsaocaa apart from any other shops in America. The staff then puts the tea concentrate out to cool it down. Once cool, the tea is mixed either with organic milk, almond milk, soy milk or coconut water and shaken until the namesake “bubbles” rise to the top.
“I wanted it to be a healthier, more real take on a dessert drink,” TSAOCAA founder told the Standard. “When I came up with it, I wasn’t just frustrated with the drinks. It was that people didn’t care about it, like they care about specialty coffee. With bubble tea, it was like ‘anything goes.”
