Tastea Glendale celebrates their Grand Opening today, May 11. I had a chance to stop in a couple of weeks ago at their soft opening with my mom, and now we’re both fans!

Tastea, originally founded in California by two California State University Fullerton students, offers a menu of colorful and creative drinks including smoothies, slushes, and milk teas, and snacks such as Karate Chicken and Buttload ‘a Fries. Founders Ted Vu and Scott Nguyen built on their cultural heritage at the young age of 22 and started the company in their Orange County garage, selling drinks to local businesses during lunch.

The Glendale franchise is co-owned by Dean of Tacos Culichi - another favorite of mine! - so when he invited me to check out Tastea, of course I said yes. I loved the range of flavors and add-ins including honey and crystal boba, coconut jelly aloe vera, lychee, longan, avocado and fresh fruit. I really appreciated the fresh, high-quality ingredients (great chewy, soft boba!) and learned they support fair trade coffee bean and tea leaf farmers.

Need suggestions? There’s a handy list of customer favorites to help you decide:

And it’s not just drinks. The addictive Karate Chicken is garnished with fresh Thai basil and comes in five spice levels (I got the Me Soo Spicy, and next time will try the On Fire), and there are also fries and crispy shrimp:

While my husband’s favorite was the Shrimp On It, I’ll be ordering the crunchy Karate Chicken on every visit.

I’ll be swinging by every time I’m in this part of Glendale, and mom has told me to make sure I pick her up something too. Tastea Glendale is located at 9184 W Northern Ave Ste 105, Glendale, AZ 85305 and is open 11 am to 9 pm daily.

Tastea Comes to Glendale