A Two Hour Wait for Tea? Meet the Taiwanese Tea Craze in Carrollton

The McLaren of tea shops, CHICHA San Chen, opened in Carrolton in January, and so we stopped by to try their world-famous bubble tea drinks.

CHICHA San Chen is a Taiwanese brand known for its hand-crafted drinks, which are made using award-winning tea leaves. Founded in 1998, the chain has blended traditional tea-making techniques with modern innovation.

All of the teas are hand-picked only twice a year at peak times and brewed using a patented "teaspresso" machine called Lion. This process allows them to brew all of their tea to order, as opposed to the instant powders and batch brewing most commonly used at other tea shops.

CHICHA teas have been awarded two and three stars from the International Taste Institute (iTi), as well as a Crystal Taste Award. It's very similar to what a Michelin star would be for a restaurant, but the iTi evaluates individual products and not the dining experience as a whole.

Bottom line, these are some bougie, high-quality teas.
We knew the opening of this bubble tea shop was a big deal, but we were taken aback by the organized chaos we encountered on a Sunday afternoon: The line snaked through the store and every seat was taken. We were in there for at least an hour, and there was a constant influx of people keeping the line long.
It took us about 45 minutes from the time we ordered to having both teas in our hands. When they first opened, people waited over two hours, so I'd say we had a quick and seamless visit compared with most. Lucky for everyone, the shop has a few things in place to help curb the wait, including two massive digital monitors displaying order numbers and a tea demo at the back of the store.
For this interactive demo, you can pick one of five types of oolong tea to try, and they'll show you how it's brewed while sharing important details of the tea; then, you have a hot cup to enjoy while you wait. If you enjoy it enough, you can buy some.

The menu is the same as any other bubble tea shop: You can choose from ready-to-order bubble tea combinations or customize your drink with a variety of teas, flavors, toppings and sweeteners. Either way, you get the award-winning oolong, black, green and other teas.
We tried the Bubble Volcano ($7.25) from the done-for-you menu. It's made with milk, brown sugar and boba. Although the menu doesn't specify, we believe it's black tea-based.

For our next drink, we chose green tea with cream ($6.50). Since this green tea earned three stars from the International Taste Institute, we wanted something simple, and we didn't want to overwhelm it with anything too sweet.

This is a completely different experience than a regular bubble tea shop. The taste and quality are superior.

Because the tea is brewed to certain specifications and is such high quality, you actually taste the notes of the tea. With other bubble tea places, the tea flavor is usually one-dimensional and very strong due to their brewing processes, or lack thereof. At CHICHA the teas are delicate and dynamic.
Their green tea is made with 120% fresh jasmine flowers and original tea leaves. (We don't know how something can be 120% fresh, but that's what the website says, and after trying it, we're not arguing.) Combine that with cream, and you get a lovely, slightly sweet little drink boasting strong floral notes. This was our favorite of the two.

The Bubble Volcano leans more toward the general boba tea drinks. We didn't alter any sweetness level, and it was just right: creamy with supple boba.

Many of the shop's low-scoring reviews complain the tea tastes "watered down," but in a way, that's the point. If you're looking for a super sweet concoction like you're used to from other shops, you'll be disappointed here.

Tea lovers, however, will rejoice.

CHICHA San Chen, 2225 Old Denton Road, Sunday - Thursday, 11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Friday/Saturday, 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.