650 Restaurant Roundup: SF udon hotspot brings its noodles to Mountain View
By: The Six Fifty Staff
Tags: Bay Area, Restaurant Business, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Foodies

Wanpo Tea Shop is set to open in Palo Alto next month. (Image via Facebook)

Two popular Taiwanese boba chains headed to the 650

Two notable Taiwan-born bubble tea companies are opening local outposts this fall: Wanpo Tea Shop at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto and Tiger Sugar in Cupertino.

Tiger Sugar’s first Bay Area location is set to open in October at 19620 Stevens Creek Blvd. #180, said General Manager David Chang.

Tiger Sugar, which started in Taichung, Taiwan in 2017, has become known for its brown sugar boba streaked with syrup (which look like tiger stripes, hence the name). It’s made with a proprietary brown sugar syrup, organic milk from Straus Family Creamery and tapioca.

“What really makes Tiger Sugar unique is not just the taste … but also the presentation, visually, the way they put (the drink) together,” Chang said. “It really catches a lot of people’s attention. That’s why you see so many social media images of the drinks everywhere.”

The brown sugar boba isn’t mixed before it’s served to preserve the visual appeal, so it’s key to shake the drink — at least 15 times, Chang said — to avoid getting a sip of mostly milk or mostly syrup. (Signs at a Southern California outpost urge customers to first “take a creative picture and upload to Facebook and Instagram” then shake the drink up and down 15 times.)

Customers can order the brown sugar drink with regular boba or smaller tapioca pearls. Tiger Sugar also serves other kinds of milk teas and seasonal toppings.

Chang claims Tiger Sugar created the brown sugar milk tea trend, which has spawned imitation brands and drinks — to the point that Tiger Sugar social media posts warn of “unauthorized and counterfeit” products using its name.

Tiger Sugar now operates more than 40 locations worldwide, with more on the way, Chang said. He said the company chose Cupertino for its Bay Area debut partly because of requests from people who live in the area but are from Taiwan originally and are familiar with the Tiger Sugar brand. They plan to open more locations throughout the Bay Area.

Tiger Sugar comes to Cupertino. (Image courtesy of Tiger Sugar)

Tiger Sugar Cupertino has a large indoor seating area but given local public health mandates, will only open initially for pickup.

Signs for Wanpo Tea Shop, meanwhile, recently went up in the space between Taro San Japanese Noodle Bar and The Shade Store, on the Sand Hill Road side of the El Camino Real shopping center.

The master franchisee for Wanpo Northern California gave a simple reason for bringing the tea shop stateside: “Because Wanpo it [sic] is currently the most popular in Taiwan.”

Wanpo founder Peter Chang first opened in Taichung, Taiwan, a military village at the time where he was born and raised, according to the Wanpo website.

The company has since expanded to Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Australia, Indonesia and London. According to the website, a location is also planned for New York City.

The franchisee said Wanpo serves both “old-fashioned” and “innovative” bubble tea. The menu in Taiwan includes a variety of teas, from black tea and oolong to lemon winter melon.

Wanpo is slated to open in Palo Alto in October.