The bubble tea invasion is about to hit downtown Kansas City thanks to the recently opened Tea Drops.
"We make the boba [chewy, tapioca balls] every day. We're ready for people to come on in," says Janet Bloom.
The sister spot of the popular tea shop in Westport is in the former Starbucks space inside H&R Block Headquarters at 13th and Main. Bloom developed the space with her husband Robert, only a year after taking over the original location from Hal Brody (the founder of The Pitch).
Although the focus is on tea, the Blooms knew they also had to offer coffee for the workers at H&R Block and for the downtown foot traffic -- the shop has interior and exterior entrances. But that doesn't mean that the coffee is an afterthought. The espresso machine and roast is from PT's Coffee Roasting Company in Topeka, and the drip coffee is from Oddly Correct.
"People are becoming more aware of tea, but I still think the one thing we had to do downtown was make sure we had coffee," says Bloom.
In the curved corner of the store, shelves are lined with a variety of teas -- almost begging for a hot kettle club like the mug clubs at brew pubs.
"If you haven't had loose tea, it's like night and day when you compare
them with tea bags," says Bloom. "We have more than 80 loose teas. We
sample each one and make an effort to get fair trade and organic
product whenever possible."
Bloom also bakes daily for both shops. And to introduce itself to the neighborhood, the downtown spot will offer happy hour prices on tea and coffee (except for bubble tea).
7 p.m. on Monday to Friday, although Bloom hopes that as the
shop's traffic picks up, it will have regular hours on the
weekends and at night.
"Just remember," she says, "you can drink and drive if it's from Tea Drops."
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