He couldn't find authentic milk tea in Arizona. Now his boba shop is Phoenix's best

A Hawaii-inspired coffee and tea shop in the West Valley allows its owner, 39-year-old Alvin Nguyen, to bring a taste of home to Arizona.

The walls at Aloha Tea and Coffee are painted to depict the Pacific Ocean, Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head. Two maneki-neko figurines — a Japanese cat that symbolizes good fortune — greet customers near the cashier, and ukuleles hang from the wall. A raised platform toward the back of the store houses a low table and zabuton cushions for customers to sit on the floor.

Below the menu, which features milk, fruit and cheese foam teas, smoothies and Vietnamese coffee, sits a gold trophy atop a display case. It’s the prize that Nguyen earned after Aloha Tea won the Arizona Asian Chamber of Commerce's Battle of the Boba in a popular vote in January 2020.

The win assured Nguyen that he wasn’t the only one who was passionate about making high-quality tea drinks in the Phoenix area.

“I just had the shop open for, like, four months. And nobody (knew) about Aloha,” Nguyen told The Arizona Republic. “I was like, 'Yeah, I'm on the right track.’”

For subscribers: Here's how to order like a pro at Aloha Tea and Coffee

Nguyen wants people to know what 'authentic' milk tea is

The idea for Aloha Tea was born when Nguyen couldn't find any local businesses selling good, authentic milk tea, like the kind he grew up drinking in Hawaii in the '80s and '90s.

His father had served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and was relocated with his family to Hawaii as refugees. When Nguyen moved to Arizona from O‘ahu in 2007, he sought out nostalgic comforts such as spam musubi, sushi and, of course, milk tea. After driving all over the Valley in search of his comfort foods, Nguyen was left disappointed.

“It was very hard to find restaurants, especially (good) Asian food,” Nguyen said. “That was one of the reasons why I wanted to do the milk tea, also, because I missed that so much.”

More than a decade later — after working for a bank, studying sonography and opening a couple of other businesses — he set out to make and share the milk tea he craved. In 2019, he opened Aloha Tea and Coffee at Glendale and 67th avenues.

“I tried a lot of places here, and I wasn't happy about it. It was something else; it was not authentic,” he said. “I was like, 'Why don't I just do it myself?' And, you know, get the people to know what authentic (milk tea) is.”

Aloha Tea and Coffee is worth the drive for those who love boba tea

What sets Aloha Tea and Coffee's bubble tea drinks apart is the focus on quality brewed tea.

“A lot of places, they have everything, like ice cream and bingsu and food," Nguyen said. "They're not really focusing on tea or just drinks.”

Bingsu — also spelled bingsoo — is a Korean shaved ice dessert that can incorporate a variety of toppings.

Nguyen has found a tea-loving crowd in metro Phoenix over the last several years and built a loyal customer base, even as dozens of other boba tea shops pop up across the region.

“I was very happy with that because, you know, that's what I want to do,” Nguyen said about seeing repeat customers, especially those that travel from afar.

Some repeat customers order in bulk when they’re in town and bring drinks home to Prescott and Sedona, while others drive out multiple times a week from far-flung corners of the Valley, like Chandler, he said.

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Boba is just the beginning at Aloha

Tapioca isn't the only texture added to bubble tea. Other popular toppings include aloe, juice-filled popping boba, fruit, an herb jelly made from Chinese mesona called grass jelly, red beans and egg pudding. But Aloha Tea and Coffee’s most popular drink is the brown sugar milk tea with pearls, Nguyen said.

Though he uses “boba” and “pearls” interchangeably, the chewy tapioca topping is referred to as pearls on his menu.

This category of drink — which often requires a fat straw to consume and was born in Taiwan — has different names across the globe, such as boba tea, pearl tea or bubble tea. What the drink is called largely depends on the region where it is being made or served.

For U.S. consumers, generally, the term “boba” is used on the West Coast, while the East Coast prefers “bubble tea.”

Boba can refer to the tapioca balls — also sometimes called “pearls” — that sit at the bottom of the cup or the drinks themselves, which range from teas to juices or slushies and smoothies that can contain a variety of chunky toppings.

Meanwhile, the phrase “bubble tea” is born out of the bubbles that rise to the top when the tea and milk are shaken together in a classic milk tea, which is made with black tea and milk or non-dairy creamer.

But what remains the same around the world is that these pearls made from tapioca starch should have a specific bouncy texture, called “Q” or “QQ” in Taiwan, that's similar to a noodle cooked al dente. It shouldn’t be too soft or too chewy — and this is accomplished by using a good recipe and cooking the pearls for just the right amount of time.

Making boba is ‘very difficult,’ but worth it

Many places that sell boba tea around the Valley purchase their pearls in bulk and cook them in-store. However, Nguyen makes his tapioca pearls — and some other toppings, like grass jelly — from scratch.

Though the process is time-consuming and, according to Nguyen, not as profitable as buying ready-made boba, he doesn’t see himself stopping anytime soon.

“(Making pearls from scratch) is very hard, very difficult. I guess that’s the reason why not a lot of people do that, especially in Arizona,” he said. “The pearls right now probably taste a lot better than six months before that, too. … (They’re) just getting better and better.”

Since opening, the recipe has been “trial and error,” Nguyen said. “It wasn’t so good” when they first opened, he said, and it took around six months after opening to get the pearls “just right.”

As his pearls continue to improve, his menu also continues to expand.

When the store opened in 2019, there was around a third of the options now offered. He started with tea and coffee drinks that are brewed with a blend of Vietnamese — "robust brewing" — and Italian styles, Nguyen said. After much experimentation, he now offers fruit teas and smoothies.

“I just invented more and more,” he said.

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Supply issues are hampering the boba business

Though Nguyen would like to continue making fresh pearls, his hand might be forced by outside factors.

“I still want to do it, and people love it,” he said.

Though Aloha Tea and Coffee wasn’t impacted by the boba shortage that made headlines last year, “now we may (be impacted) because even the raw material, we're not getting (it),” Nguyen said. He explained that the tapioca starch he’s been buying, which is made in the U.S., is not shipping.

“Before, I used to order pallets of starch and I could use them for a few months. But now there's nothing. I have to go to the supermarket and get box by box,” Nguyen said. “It's been very difficult.”

Between the difficulty obtaining necessary supplies and foreseeing issues with hiring staff, Nguyen is hesitant to make any rash business decisions, though he is looking to grow.

“A lot of people ask me to go to the eastside, Surprise and Avondale,” he said. “I don't want to expand so quickly and, you know, it's just going to be a disaster.”

So, for the foreseeable future, Nguyen will continue to serve his tea-based drinks in Glendale and continue to expand his menu, which already incorporates “probably 40 types of tea,” he said.

Who knows, he said: Maybe he will even introduce his secret recipe for his favorite chrysanthemum tea-based drink, which is different from the chrysanthemum oolong and black chrysanthemum oolong cheese foam teas that are currently on the menu.

“I want people to taste the original," Nguyen said. "The real tea.”

Details: Aloha Tea and Coffee, 6766 W. Glendale Ave. #140, Glendale. Prices start at $4.50. 623-934-9298, facebook.com/AlohaTeaCoffee.

More: A recipe for making Earl grey milk tea boba at home

Reach Entertainment Reporter KiMi Robinson at kimi.robinson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix's best boba shop is here to serve authentic milk tea