It may be easy to miss it, but it sure is worth finding. Tucked behind two restaurants on Green Street is the new campus tea café, Chatime. Grounded on traditional Taiwanese tea concepts, Chatime both makes and brews their own tea in house from tealeaves and other natural ingredients.
Chatime opened on campus this past summer. While popular among international students, it hasn’t kicked off as much with American students. This may be because American students don’t know as much about traditional Asian tea, but let’s be honest, it’s most likely because we’re all too addicted to our usual Starbucks orders. Well stop, y’all. It’s time to put down the red cups and try something new. Now, before you go running into unfamiliar territory, there are a few things you should know first. Here are my top tips you should follow when you visit Chatime.
Mousse Your Tea
Photo by Divneet Dhillion
Bubble tea became popular in the US over the past few years, but I think Chatime may have created the newest drink fad on campus: mousse tea. By adding sweet tea to savory mousse, the drink becomes a creamy creation–almost like a healthier dessert option. #winning
Cut The Sugar
Photo by Divneet Dhillion
Chatime lets you control the amount of sugar you put in your drinks so you can still get that great tea taste for way less calories. Tea-goers can choose their personalized amount of sugar from the following scale: 0% (for the day before a date event), 30%, 50%, 80% or 100% (when you just can’t study for finals anymore).
Avoid Rush Hour
Photo by Divneet Dhillion
Just like pulling onto highway 57 the Friday of any university break starts, you don’t want to pick up a Chatime tea during rush hour. If you see a line out the door, be warned, it won’t move quickly. Try to peek inside before walking in to make sure it’s not too crowded or go during classes rather than during our 10 minute breaks.