Boba tea shop Honey Bee Tea opened its fourth location at 5658 Telegraph Road, Suite A, in Oakville in mid-December 2023. Owned by Hai Tang and his wife Moon Duong, the couple opened the first shop at 429 Lafayette Center Drive in Manchester in early 2022 and expanded the business to include shops in St. Charles, at 2039 Zumbehl Road and at 8558 Eager Road in Brentwood in early 2023.
According to Tang, the Oakville shop is the largest to date, coming in at 2,600 square feet with seating for around 40 guests, making it over twice the size of the other stores, which are around 1,200 square feet or less. In addition to the extra space at Oakville, the offerings have also expanded to include a larger selection of desserts, baked goods and rotating food choices that range from finger foods to full meals.
“We sell Vietnamese food that varies each week: sometimes it’s street food and other times it’s a main meal, like pork chops with rice,” Tang said.
The Oakville location’s bakery-style offerings include fruit tarts, cake pops and various cakes, such as a layered ube cake. Other treats include a soft-serve style ice cream that features made-from-scratch recipes like matcha, ube, durian and taro flavors.
Another menu item exclusive to the newest location is a unique kind of freshly squeezed juice that’s often paired with various fruits. “We’re also offering fresh sugar cane juice and serving it in a few variations including with kumquat and durian,” Tang said, adding that the sugar cane juice can be served on its own or with any of the shop’s available toppings, like boba and jellies in various flavors.
Inside, the color scheme is similar to the other three locations, with gold tones and black accents, a nod to the bee in the business name. Behind the counter, black subway-style tiles greet guests, and a golden hue adorns the walls throughout. Guests have places to pose for selfies, with a pair of large angel wings that line one wall or opt to stand next to an oversized, boba tea light feature.
Guests can expect the same boba tea and desserts that are found at the other three locations, including Hong Kong waffles, available with toppings such as boba or syrups. And, of course, the full lineup of drinks are available, like the signature Okinawa milk tea with toasted crème brûlée and tiger sugar boba tea made with crème brûlée pudding, as well as teas made with fruit purees like fresh passion fruit tea and strawberry-peach oolong tea. In addition to boba and fruit tea beverages, there’s also iced Vietnamese coffee and warm drinks like hot chocolate.
This story was originally published in Sauce Magazine.
