First Taste: Kung Fu Tea

Here's a secret: I love bubble tea more than pretty much anything. I would be to absurd lengths to acquire a solid cup of bubble tea, laden with an embarrassment of chewy tapioca pearls and filled to the brim with creamy milk tea. So it was with much excitement that I discovered Kung Fu Tea in Chinatown, a bubbly newcomer to the neighborhood's tapioca-happy dining and drinking scene. 

Located on the second floor of the illustrious, energized Chinatown Square, Kung Fu Tea is a haven for comfort and leisure. It's the Chinatown equivalent of a hipster coffee shop enclave in, say, Logan Square. Filled with vibrant colors, board games, and pulsing Top 40 hits, the space feels like a junior high dance, but with less pimply awkwardness. Unlike most bubble tea shops, like Joy Yee or the new Bee & Tea spot in Bucktown, Kung Fu is ardently devoted to capturing the pop culture-chic essence of an Asian cafe. It feels and looks a little more like a Tokyo haunt than a Chinese one; like an excerpt from a Gwen Stefani video during her Harajuku era. Open all day into late night, the energy levels vary drastically. By day, it's a cute and quaint tea shop. By night, it's downright clubby, filled with ecstatic customers and employees who blatantly laugh at you when you ask what ingredients are in which drink. But it somehow comes off endearing and fun, like I'm a part of some inadvertent party. There's also a random smattering of board games throughout the soda pop-colored space, from innocent two-player options like Connect Four to anxiety-inducing Jenga. 

Now let's get to the bubble tea. It's refreshing to encounter a bastion for boba in Chinatown, as opposed to randomly selecting a restaurant that just happens to serve it (many of them do, it's a crap shoot). You come to Kung Fu Tea for bubble tea, simple enough. Although expansive, the menu is relatively straightforward and clear, divvied into sections such as Kung Fu Signature, Kung Fu Milk Strike (lol), Kung Fu Classic, Kung Fu Punch, Kung Fu Espresso, and Kung Fu Slush. For each drink, customers can adjust sugar and ice levels, which is a beautiful touch. Although the language barrier can sometimes result in laughter in your face. My go-to bubble tea is taro, here exhibited as a rich and decadent option on par with silken tuber buttercream. Good luck finishing a medium. Other less abrasively sweet options are the white gourd green tea, wherein the squash nicely balances out the heady green tea. It's like an earthy Big Gulp. The standard iced coffee beverages are nice and smooth, the saccharine qualities midigated by bitter undertones. For something straight-up fruity, pineapple sunshine tea and passion fruit slush drinks are purely refreshing and clean, like fresh fruit at its cleanest. Add red beans, jellies, or tapioca pearls to most any drink to enliven with a touch of chew. 

Amidst a sea of restaurants peddling bubble tea menu supplements, Kung Fu Tea is a welcome homage to the sweet (and occasionally silly) pastime. 

- Matt Kirouac