Poppers Tea — Restaurant in Peoria

Boba tea be poppin’!

A coworker told me about this new boba tea place in Northwoods Mall and I knew I needed to try it out. Truth be told, I don’t know much about boba tea and all the varieties but I had a good time at Kungfu Tea so I figured I’d give Popper’s Tea a shot. So, on a rare day that Tim and I both were off work and were free to hangout, we hit up Peoria for nerdy shenanigans and to try out some boba tea.

Popper’s Tea is located in the food court of Northwoods Mall. While we didn’t make a beeline to get our drink on, we did hit it up after a stroll through a very depressing mall. We reminisced on stores that were there and stores that we missed and stores that are still there.

I was in the mood for something with caffeine so Tim and I ended up ordering the same thing: Vietnamese Iced Coffee with tapioca boba. We didn’t start drinking them until after we left the mall as we needed to book it over to Panera for a nerd meet up with another friend. But what awaited us was every bit worth the money.

I don’t know all the ingredients that go into a boba tea, let alone a Vietnamese Ice Coffee one but man… was it sweet and delicious. It was actually almost too sweet but never crossed that line. This definitely was a drink to sip versus my usual chugging. I’m still not 100% sure what makes up the boba balls but they were fun to sip up and then chew. Their mouth feel and consistency were similar to a grape but more chewy. Tim even said he preferred it a bit more than Kungfu Tea and he really likes that place.

It’s an old saying that malls are mostly dying out in America and I believe Northwoods is heading that direction. Walking around the mall was depressing and even though it was a Thursday afternoon, it felt devoid of life. With that in mind, if you want to try this place out, get there sooner rather than later just in case they or the mall...

This was absolutely disgusting. It wasnt blended well, and it was way too sweet. The customer service was terrible, no greeting, barely any words from the guy working there. No smile or any sign of gratitude. I had to come back and ask to exchange my drink because it was so disgusting and had crunchy bits in it. (coconut smoothie) Then, He just stared at me and I had to ask twice to exchange. The 2nd drink was just as disgusting. Not only that, but the atmosphere in there looked extremely dirty and low quality. Everything was open and exposed. Never coming back again. Not surprised why nobody was ever...

My sister and I always get the brown sugar tea with boba but it tasted like someone dumped nothing but sugar in it and nothing else, so we went back up to tell the 2 girls that were standing there emotionless and they said very nonchalant, that there’s nothing they can do about it because the tea is already made. No refund or offering to remake them, nothing. They need more considerate people and to not add a bucket of sugar in the teas when they were fine how they were. DONT GO HERE! Unless you...