Have you tried boba? Find this Taiwanese drink at BoBabes Bubble Tea in Stevens Point.

STEVENS POINT – A new café mixes empowerment, inclusion, friendship, connection and Taiwanese culture and tradition with its boba tea and baked treats on Division Street.

Natalie Steffen, Yvonne Chen Bluma, Moe Wai and Pei Ying Wang always dreamed of opening a café together as a group of best friends. That dream has grown to BoBabes Bubble Tea, now open at 641 Division St., in the former Cousins Subs space.

Yvonne, Moe and Pei Ying are from Taiwan, and Pei Ying said BoBabes started out because there weren’t any places locally to find boba or any other Taiwanese options. Natalie said the women would take many road trips to get boba, and their dream of opening a café slowly solidified over the years, especially when Pei Ying created a business plan for a class at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

The journey to opening BoBabes Bubble Tea stretched six years and three other attempts to open a physical location in the Stevens Point area before they found their home on Division Street. The women worked through challenges from the pandemic including rising costs for construction and projects taking longer to complete.

Despite the challenges over the last few years, the community has shown their excitement and support since the group created BoBabes Bubble Tea social media pages last April. The women said friends, family and people throughout the community have showed support and excitement for BoBabes, even stopping by to help clean up and lend a hand wherever they could.

A lot of that help and support came from another local business, they said. The women worked at Matsu Ya, a sushi restaurant in Stevens Point, calling the owners and other coworkers family. They said they learned a lot about discipline, quality standards and hard work at Matsu Ya and credited opening BoBabes to what they learned there.

What is boba?

Boba – or bubble tea – is a tea drink made with tapioca starch pearls that are chewy and sweet and sit at the bottom of the drink.

A recent Facebook post from BoBabaes Bubble Tea shared comments from friends who had the opportunity recently to try the recipe before the café opened. Their friends said the pearls aren’t too large and have a brown sugar taste. One called it a drink and snack at the same time.

Boba originated in the 1980s in Taiwan, mixing the pearls with different teas and mixes of flavors. Yvonne said the drink became popular in Taiwan about 30 years ago, and as people began to travel and trade, the drink became popular in China and Korea and then across the world.

'A lot of wisdom is shared at the tea table'

Pei Ying said that while America is centered around more of a coffee culture, Taiwan holds high standards for tea. The country is tropical with mountains and offers a good climate for growing tea leaves, and its culture values the ceremony and respect behind it. She said tea is about the ceremony of presentation, respect and patience. Both making and drinking tea is about calming one’s heart, she said.

“A lot of wisdom is shared at the tea table,” she said.

Yvonne said drinking tea in Taiwan is an experience that includes a ceremonial tea tray, and tea drinkers smell and sip their drinks.

Pei Ying and Natalie recently traveled to Taiwan and were inspired by the process of harvesting and brewing tea. They said they found a strong sense of family in the Taiwanese culture. They said the women working in the fields were the "aunties" harvesting the leaves. Pei Ying and Natalie said they also felt cared for and welcomed even as strangers visiting the country. Everyone there looks out for each other and cares for one another, they said. Pei Ying and Natalie said experiencing the process and traditions surrounding tea in Taiwan strengthened their goal to bring those traditions to BoBabes.

What’s on the menu?

BoBabes has high standards for premium tea, and the teas offered are imported from Taiwan. The menu features authentic tea-based drinks with options for customers to add their own twists. BoBabes will have a rotating drink menu and a “Royaltea” menu with trending drinks. The trending menu fits with the café's slogan, "Where's your crown?" – a phrase Pei Ying asks her friends when they feel down, reminding them of their worth.

The entire BoBabes menu focuses on authenticity and high-quality products. While there is a menu for customers to choose from, everything is also customizable. Natalie said they especially want to help customers who don’t know much about boba and walk them through their options.

Moe said customers will also be able to find lemonade and fresh fruit smoothies on the menu, which features vegan options. There’s something for everyone on the menu, she said.

Yvonne is the baker of the group. Pei Ying said Yvonne had a bakery in Taiwan and was known as the Cookie Auntie. Yvonne bakes fresh daily treats and will have daily unique specials for the café.

‘We have to be surrounded by people’

The authenticity at BoBabes is not limited to the menu. The women want BoBabes to honor the Taiwanese culture that looks out for other people, as well. Moe said BoBabes Bubble Tea is a safe and welcoming space that offers good drinks and good company.

The café’s mission statement is “to cultivate a vibrant community-driven ecosystem rooted in our values of inclusion, love and unity through the crafting of our tea and conversation.”

Natalie said the women are working to build a brand that centers around peace, acceptance, kindness, inclusivity and love where people are respectful, loving and understanding.

Pei Ying said BoBabes represents breaking free as women and minorities. They’re standing up and speaking up and empowering each other, including a women’s group they started called AmpliFem, where members share stories of healing, growing and learning.

Part of that empowerment is encouraging people to step out of their comfort zones. The café itself is designed in a way that encourages conversations and connections with other people ? even strangers. A Conversation Corner will offer games that help connect people and start conversations. The group said they wanted to take a step away from the societal norm for everyone to be secluded and on their phones.

“We have to be surrounded by people,” Natalie said.

What’s next?

Natalie, Yvonne, Moe and Pei Ying envision hosting a variety of events at BoBabes Bubble Tea, including ones that highlight women’s growth, art, music, poetry and more. The space itself is also available for events for groups, including birthday parties, book events and more.

The group said they intend to grow with the community and adjust however they can best serve the area.

BoBabes Bubble Tea is open now and will hold a grand opening celebration at a later date. BoBabes is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, find BoBabes Bubble Tea on Facebook or Instagram.

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Contact Caitlin at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @CaitlinShuda.

This article originally appeared on Stevens Point Journal: Find boba Taiwanese drink at BoBabes Bubble Tea in Stevens Point