Shaw's first bubble tearoom and cafe has officially opened its doors which residents have already been 'raving' about.
Tealicious Brews and Bobba on Rochdale Road, through the Dolphin Fish Bar, held its soft launch on Sunday (August 18) and has welcomed many excited and curious customers already who have been keen to try out the trendy tea.
The small family-run fish and chip shop and Chinese takeaway has been open for decades in Shaw, where customers once enjoyed eating inside the Dolphin diner before a decision was made to close the dining area after the pandemic.
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Now, the owners have announced the diner has been transformed into a unique bubble tearoom, which is the first of its kind in Shaw.
Speaking to The Oldham Times, the team said they were inspired to open the cafe after trying bubble tea "many years ago in Hong Kong and Taiwan, before it was trendy".
They continued: "Over the years we have enjoyed tasting all the different varieties of milk teas and fruit teas in various bubble tea shops across Manchester and London.
"With the Dolphin dining area shut, we had the cafe space to bring something fresh and exciting to Shaw, and with bubble tea exploding and trending all over TikTok and social media, we knew it was the perfect time to do it."
The cafe was then brought to life as the team spent time sampling good-quality Assam black teas and jasmine green teas, which now form the base of their best-tasting drinks.
The manager added: "On top of that, we wanted to bring the younger people back to Shaw by enticing them with something tasty and delicious, a real treat where you would usually have to venture all the way to Manchester to buy a great tasting bubble tea.
"We were also keen to be able to offer young people the chance of employment, and have taken on new staff who love bubble tea as much as we do."
Tealicious' speciality is a wide range of milk teas with boba balls - chewy tapioca balls - and also fruit teas with popping balls, which they say are "tasty and addictive".
Flavours include mango, strawberry, peach, and lychee, and for the seasoned boba drinkers, there are also matcha and taro flavours available.
As for toppings, there are the 'classic' tapioca balls, which are perfect in milk teas, and coconut and mango jelly along with different flavours of popping balls to go with the refreshing fruit teas.
Tealicious also offers its signature brown sugar boba sundaes, as well as classic tea, coffee, and ice cream with different toppings and milkshakes.
The soft launch was a huge success for the cafe as the team said they welcomed "lots of young people through the door, excited that they now have bubble tea on their doorstep" as well as new customers who were curious to try bubble tea for the first time and left "raving about how much they loved it".
Tealicious held its grand opening on Tuesday (August 20) and will be open every Tuesday to Saturday from 12pm to 6.30pm.
Got a story? Email me Olivia.bridge@newsquest.co.uk
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