Sleek new Wichita boba tea shop offer $3 drinks during soft opening on Friday, Saturday

A new boba tea shop is about to open in Wichita, and its staff needs practice.

So ahead of its first official day in business, which will be Sunday, Feng Cha at 8007 E. Kellogg will be offering a special Friday and Saturday deal.

From 3 to 7 p.m. both days, people who visit Feng Cha can get any drink for just $3. All the owners ask for in return is that customers exercise patience with employees as they learn their jobs and that they prepare for possible lines.

The new shop, which is in Eastgate Plaza — the same strip center on the southeast corner of Kellogg and Rock Road that also has Aldi and TJMaxx — will start a soft-opening run on Sunday, when drinks will go back to regular price. From Sunday until March 5, when Feng Cha celebrates its grand opening, hours will be noon to 7 p.m. daily.

After March 5 — when franchisees Keven Nguyen and wife Cam Ngo will celebrate the grand opening with dragon and lion dancers — the hours will expand to 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.

I stopped by this afternoon to see the new space, which is bright and clean and features a big seating area with a mix of tables and chairs plus sofas and coffee tables. There’s also a selfie wall, and when the shop gets up and running, it has spaces that can be divided off to offer groups of five to 20 their own private meeting areas.

While I was there, Ngo insisted that I try one of the shop’s signature drinks: a creme brulee dirty boba, which features milk tea, boba pearls and a layer of cheese foam on the top that is torched to a sugary crispness just before it’s served.

You can choose the sweetness level in your drink, and I chose for mine to be only 50% sweet. I accidentally drank the whole thing, and the best part came at the end when I slurped up the crispy top that had sunk to the bottom of the cup. I look forward to trying the rest of the menu, which includes fruit teas, milk teas and more.

Soon, Feng Cha will also add cakes in flavors like matcha and taro chocolate.

Feng Cha is a chain that started in China in 2016 and has spread out to include more than 1,000 stores worldwide. In recent years, the brand expanded into the United States, where it has headquarters in Addison, Texas.

Nguyen, a local businessman, said he decided to bring the franchise to Wichita because he’s always looking for a nice place to meet clients to discuss business. He’d visited a Feng Cha and loved it and decided that’s the kind of place he’d like to have in Wichita. Several months ago, he and a partner also opened a Feng Cha in Edmond, Oklahoma.

This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 4:03 PM.

Denise Neil

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6327

Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.