If you are an avid bubble tea fan, like many college students are, here is some exciting news: on March 1, a brand new bubble tea shop, Ten One Tea House, opened in Harvard Square on the corner of JFK and Winthrop Street. This Boston-area chain has finally come to Harvard’s campus. Priding itself on “artisanal healthy drinks for tea lovers,” according to its website, Ten One Tea House has achieved great popularity on social media, amassing over 3000 followers on Instagram.
This location might ring a bell to Harvard bubble tea connoisseurs—it was once home to Möge Tee, a bubble tea shop known for its fruit slushes and frappe-style teas. If you were one of the Harvard students sad to see Möge Tee go, no need to sweat. Ten One Tea House offers equally promising fruit slushes while setting itself apart with its assortment of milk and green teas.
Ten One Tea House, a chain like Möge Tee, has other noteworthy locations in the Boston vicinity, such as Somerville, Fenway, and Newbury. Cambridge’s Ten One Tea House maintains a pristine interior with its white walls, illuminated menu, and sophisticated furniture, making it more luxurious than its bubble tea shop counterparts. The shop’s sophisticated aesthetic seems to translate into the tea flavors they offer on the menu: osmanthus honey, Earl Grey milk tea, and strawberry green tea, to name a few. Even if these untraditional flavors are not your cup of tea, Ten One Tea House has many staple flavors to appeal to the more conservative bubble tea drinker, such as brown sugar, matcha, or taro milk tea.
Another intriguing aspect of this bubble tea shop is its variety of toppings. When we went earlier in March to try their bubble tea, we asked for matcha latte milk teas with boba. In terms of price and size of the drinks, Ten One Tea House is on par with the other shops in the Square, to the dismay of bubble tea fans who may want a less expensive alternative. But, its creative flavors are what very noticeably set the shop apart.
The worker asked us to clarify which type of boba we wanted. To our surprise, we learned that they had three other types of boba in addition to brown sugar: white honey, blue butterfly, and dragon fruit. Tiger Sugar only offers the traditional brown sugar tapioca option, and while Kung Fu Tea has variety in its toppings, it has none of the same flavors. Our original conception of the bubble tea places was that there was not much disparity in the quality or variety of their teas. Knowing the differences in their menus, not only will it be fun to vary up your bubble tea outings when strolling through Harvard Square, but now you can build your excitement to try a more novel option.
With the existing knowledge that Möge Tee had to shut its doors, does Harvard Square really need another boba shop? Shops like Kung Fu Tea, Gong Cha, and Tiger Sugar are already clearly established in the Square, so what is the benefit of adding another destination for bubble tea? This skepticism, however, may fade after giving Ten One Tea House a chance.
What does Ten One Tea House bring to the table? The shop’s attention to the quality and variety of its ingredients, as well as its expansive menu options, make Ten One Tea House extra special. But will this be enough to compete with the rest of the boba shops in the area? Only time will tell. Ten One Tea House’s unique array of flavors holds the potential for a promising future. If one craves a sweet drink with notes of fruitiness and fragrant tea, then this is the new ideal boba shop to try.
Lucie Stefanoni ’27 (luciestefanoni@college.harvard.edu) and Kaitlyn Hou ’27 (kaitlynhou@college.harvard.edu) both prefer matcha tea over coffee as their caffeine of choice.