HeyTea opened a new location on Feb. 22 in Tysons Corner Center, amassing an astonishing line out of the doors of the cafe. HeyTea is a Chinese bubble tea chain first introduced to the United States in 2023, and has since garnered popularity, with the Tysons location being the first in Virginia.
HeyTea is widely known for their signature, unconventional, cheese foam topped drinks. They also serve a variety of refreshing fruit slushies and bubble teas. The store interior is pristine with a beige-white palette modernist design. Due to the popularity of the newly opened Tysons HeyTea location, the store suffers from overcrowding as well as shortages of ingredients throughout the day, with the staff running out of cheese foam at 5:00 pm on Sunday after we ordered our first drink.
Supreme Brown Sugar Bobo Milk Tea: 4/5
The Supreme Brown Sugar Bobo Milk Tea is a highlight on the menu. The drink itself is much like a typical Asian boba milk tea, with a black tea base infused with milk, a brown sugar syrup and topped with boba and cheese foam. The boba was the best part of the drink: the chewy pearls created with tapioca flour and coated in caramel-like syrup were flavorful and had the perfect consistency. The signature cheese foam topping gave the drink a silky texture that complemented the spherical chewy bubbles. However, the cheese foam was underwhelming, tasting very little like cheese and could have easily been replaced with a dense, heavy cream. The tea itself was painfully ordinary–the taste of the black tea was faint and tasted like the leaves had not fully infused when the tea was being brewed. Thankfully, the brown sugar syrup gave the favor a coffee-like undertone, providing the otherwise bleak drink a slight bit more dimension.
Brown Sugar Bobo Milk Tea: 3/5
This milk tea was a replacement for the Cloud Matcha, which they could not provide due to the lack of cheese topping. However, it was a pleasant surprise and ended up being better than the Supreme Brown Sugar Bobo Milk Tea, which did have the “cloud” on top. The Red Blossom milk tea is rich in flavor with brown sugar boba and authentic cane sugar as a sweetener. The tea maintained a coffee-like flavor, similar to its parallel. Unlike the supreme version, this drink consists of a classic combination of black tea and brown sugar boba, without the unique foam on top. Although the drink was enjoyable, it was no different than a classic milk tea from any other bubble tea store.
Milk Tea Bobo Shake: 4/5
The Milk Bobo shake is a twist on HeyTea’s classic Bobo Milk Tea. The drink was also made with a Red Blossom Milk Tea base, topped with original boba and the cheese foam. Much like the Supreme Brown Sugar Bobo Milk tea, the flavor of the tea was faint and the cheese foam tasted similar to a typical heavy cream. Again, the bubbles were freshly prepared and still warm, giving the pearls a satisfyingly tender consistency. The bubbles had the perfect level of sweetness to balance the blander tea. The selling point of the drink was its blended consistency, with the cold drink and warm bubbles giving it a unique texture. The ideal refreshment for a hot day, the Bobo Milk Tea Shake was enjoyable and had us sipping every last drop.
Mango Boom: 4.5/5
Picked from a collection of flavorful options, the Mango Boom drink is perfect for a hot summer day. Featuring small pieces of mango at the bottom of the drink, this tea is blended, producing an icy refreshment. Although we were not able to try the drink with the signature cheese foam – as it is typically intended to be enjoyed – the beverage was flavorful nonetheless. Despite the drink being a deviation from the milk teas that HeyTea is known for, the fruit drink was well-crafted with a distinct mango flavor that didn’t taste artificial, too overpowering or too sweet. For customers who want to enjoy a tropical beverage, but don’t want to miss out on the chewy bubble tea pearls, the Mango Boom has the option of add-on Boba, which complements the consistency of the drink well.
