The newest wave of Korean culture that is seeping into Kolkata is boba tea — a creamy, flavoured tea, accompanied by chewy black tapioca pearls and a thick straw to slurp them up. Neighbours from Lord Sinha Road, Akshay Bothra and Ronak Chhajer, recently opened a cafe specialising in the originally Taiwanese delight, which has piqued everyone’s interest around the world.
With over 1,000 cans sold in a mere three weeks, the duo are on a mission to make artisanal boba teas more accessible. “We started researching at the beginning of this year, and our focus was on finding packaging that could be executed in minutes and also ensure no spillage,” said Bothra, elaborating that the aim was to build a tea-focused beverage platform driven by food aggregators.
On November 18, Arttea opened doors with eight variations of boba tea on its menu. “Our menu needed to tweak popular boba tea flavours, because Indians love sweetness and usually don’t like playing around with complex flavours in their tea,” said Chhajer, who is a graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Caramel Brown is the go-to option on Arttea’s menu, followed by Berry Panda and Bobalicious Matcha. Caramel Brown is a simple offering of Darjeeling tea, milk and boba pearls, while Berry Panda and Bobalicious Matcha infuse the flavours of strawberry and matcha, respectively.
Deluxe offerings on the menu are a range of water-based sparkling bobas. “We needed something that would attract the ‘Instagram crowd’ and we realised it was adding an element of art to every can. In this range, we add the tiniest bit of edible glitter into our boba teas and it creates the most awesome effect,” said Chhajer.
Arttea has strategically built a menu that goes beyond boba, to serve the coffee-loving and milkshake enthusiasts in Kolkata. “While we’re a tea-focussed brand, we don’t want anyone to go back unsatisfied,” said Bothra, a Bhawanipur Education Society College graduate. “We have cheesecake shakes, milkshakes and coffees, and they can be customised to add boba. Along with that, we have pancakes and sandwiches. We’ll soon introduce wraps and waffles,” he said.
The most unique aspect of Arttea is that the teas come in cans that are sealed on the spot. The boba tea is mixed at the counter, placed in a machine and voila! — the can is ready!
Timings: 9.30am to 3am
Must-tries: Berry Panda and Strawberry Cheesecake Shake
