By Eva Sanchez
Finding bubble tea in College Park is easy; deciding which of the city’s many shops to go to may be harder. Möge Tee hopes to make that decision easier, though, by bringing fresh products, and unique flavors and toppings to the College Park bubble tea scene.
“A lot of different boba places use syrup or powder, but we actually use fresh fruit that is freshly cut, measured and blended with freshly brewed tea,” said Sylvia Kim, owner of College Park’s Möge Tee. The parent company operates in more than 380 locations; the College Park store, at 8150 Baltimore Avenue, is the first in Maryland.
Kim, who loves bubble tea, decided to purchase the franchise because she believes that the Möge Tee product is outstanding. When she ordered the dragon fruit tea at another Möge Tee location, she expected it to be like all the other bubble tea she’d ever had but was pleasantly surprised to find she was wrong.
“When I had it, I was blown away by how light everything tasted — it just went down in one gulp,” she said.
Before opening Möge Tee, Kim was a stay-at-home mom; she had never planned to own her own franchise. With no experience but a lot of interest, Kim reached out by email to corporate Möge Tee, not knowing if she was even going to get a response.
Credit: Eva Sanchez
“During COVID[-19], when everything was kind of [at a] standstill, everyone had more time on their hands. So, I emailed them, and they actually wrote back, and that’s how my journey started last year,” said Kim.
After about a year of preparations, Kim launched the store with a soft opening on Sept. 18, and Möge Tee became an instant hit.
“I think it’s definitely popular because everybody tastes the freshness. Like I said before, a lot of people are used to the heavy sugar, the syrup, and the powder base, and then when they come, they may be a little surprised — they may think it’s a little on the light side, but that’s because it’s fresh,” she said. “Everything we have, even our toppings, our cheese foam that we are known for — none of them are purchased. We actually make everything in-house.”
Just like Kim, her customers are also blown away by Möge Tee’s products.
“I think the best thing about them is that they use real fruit and real tea to make this sort of fruit tea that nowhere else really has,” said Evan Ni, a senior at the University of Maryland. “It’s the bubble tea place that is the most different from the other bubble tea places that are around here; it’s higher quality and has more variations.”
“I’m very proud of what I serve,” said Kim.
And whether you are a bubble tea aficionado or first-time patron, Kim is ready and willing to serve you, too.
