New boba teahouse planned for Iowa City

IOWA CITY — A small, Texas-based chain of bubble tea shops is planning a location in downtown Iowa City.

Its first Iowa site made a soft opening Saturday at Old Capitol Town Center, 201 S. Clinton St., Unit 167, according to a social media post. An opening date has not been announced.

The location will be the sixth for The Bep Teahouse, after locations in the Houston metro and Louisville, Ky. Another one is concurrently being planned in Memphis, Tenn.

With specialty boba teas, the chain is capitalizing on the Asian trend in handcrafted beverages, with boba vendors starting to pop up across Iowa cities including Des Moines and Iowa City. The Bep Teahouse’s menu offers fruit teas, boba milk teas with traditional, chewy tapioca pearls, and other smoothies.

Unlike many boba shops, they also offer a small line of Vietnamese-inspired snacks with their drinks, including fried lobster balls, fried fish balls and fried tofu.

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