Many students may think of Kung Fu Tea or Gong Cha when the topic of bubble tea comes up, however, TBaar is the latest bubble tea shop in the WCHS area.

TBaar is a bubble tea shop rooted in New York, but one has recently opened up in North Bethesda, a close range for WCHS students. They are well known for their delicious drinks.

The shop is located at Montrose Shopping Center, right next to K-Pot, a Korean restaurant, and Kung Fu, a karate dojo. One thing students do not need to worry about is parking. There are many parking spots outside, so it is convenient for people to come and go. 

They open from 11am-10pm on Sunday to Thursday and 11am-11pm on Fridays and Saturdays. This is convenient for students as these hours are perfect for during school lunch time and even when you want to go for a late night snack. For students who prefer ordering online, TBaar offers delivery services with applications such as UberEats, DoorDash and BiteSquad. 

For their grand opening, TBaar had a “buy one get one free” sale of buying any drink. Some, if they were lucky, were given a card for 10% off of their order as an extra promotion.

They sell an assortment of fresh smoothies and fresh juices that use 100% real fruit with no added water or sugar. They also sell bubble tea made from milk tea, green tea, and fruit tea. They also have milk foam teas which are rare in places like these. Milk foam is a topping that is placed on top of the drinks that makes it salty and sweet. People would usually get it with green tea and mix them together. All of these drinks can come with many different toppings of tapioca, lychee jelly, aloe, pudding, red bean, white pearl, and even protein. 

What makes TBaar so special is the fact they use fresh fruits for their drinks. As many know, many bubble tea places use powder and frozen fruits to give it the fruit flavor, but TBaar actually juices and blends their fruits so that customers can get that real and authentic fruit flavor. 

Some of TBaar’s most popular drinks would be the brown sugar bubble milk tea, Mega C smoothie and a TBaar specialty: the Amazing Lemonade. The brown sugar bubble milk tea drink comes with brown sugar bubbles and brown sugar around the sides of the cup and has been extremely popular. Black milk tea is in the middle of the drink. Altogether, it gets stirred so that customers can enjoy the sweetness and chewiness of the combination of bubbles and brown sugar. The Amazing Lemonade is a favorite as well because of its uniqueness: no other store has it. The Amazing Lemonade consists of lemon, orange, lychee, and cucumber. Although it sounds very odd, the ingredients all together give off an unforgettable sweet and sour taste. The Mega C smoothie is also well known because of its freshness. This fresh blend has no added sugar or water; it solely consists of pineapple, grapefruit, mango, orange, and banana. 

TBaar also sells crepe cakes. they only had two options which include mango and matcha crepes, it is still a must try. The mango crepe cakes come with toppings of diced mango and even includes chunks of mango in the cake. These crepes have layers, hence the name “thousand layer cake,” so that you can enjoy all the layers as it slowly melts in your mouth. One drawback, however, is the price. One slice of either cake is nine dollars and a whole cake costs 80 dollars. This to many people would be seen as expensive. Since they have just opened not too long ago, there is definitely more to come whether it be drinks or desserts. 

The interior consists of five tables in the front with black chairs and benches. However, if you keep walking towards the back there are more tables for big parties to enjoy their drinks together. During the spooky season, the store is decorated with Halloween themed objects such as pumpkins and cobwebs. There are many decorations all around the store so that it does not look boring. They have lights hanging at the front of the store and objects such as the Bearbricks, a collectible toy designed by a Japanese company and even Supreme brand measuring cups. The vibe of the store is very relaxing and they have all types of music blasting on the speakers. They are still innovating, so the walls are still white but, they might eventually add a mural.

Like most bubble tea places, TBaar has games of all sorts for customers to play with when coming with friends. They have games such as Connect 4, Jenga, Uno, Cards Against Humanity and Exploding Kittens. This way, customers can enjoy both drinks and have entertainment when waiting for their drinks. 

TBaar has an Instagram account called @tbaarnorthbethesda to inform people on social media what is new to the story and what they have to offer. If someone were to post on their story and tag the TBaar account, they would also be featured on TBaar’s story. 

Next time you’re craving bubble tea, take a drive down Montrose road and try TBaar– you’ll be glad that you did.