If you haven’t heard of cheese tea by now, you’re about to hear a whole lot about it soon. While cheese tea has been exploding in popularity in Asia throughout the past decade, it hasn’t caught on quite as quickly stateside.
Cheese tea was first popularized in market stands in Taiwan in back in the 1990’s. While the name might dissuade certain people from trying it out, all cheese tea is is cold tea topped with a layer of milk foam and cream cheese, and then sprinkled with salt. Striking the perfect balance between sweetness, saltiness, and savory flavor profiles, the drink quickly caught on in Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Pretty soon local tea shops turned the new fad into a regular staple of their business.
One of the first companies to lead the push into US Markets was Happy Lemon. Founded in 2006, Happy Lemon launched onto the scene with their innovative Rock Salt Cheese Tea and customers couldn’t get enough. By 2014, they were popular enough to begin rapid expansion into US Markets, opening up locations across New York, LA, and San Francisco.
Their latest endeavor will be putting a brand new Happy Lemon right in the heart of the financial district. Happy Lemon’s latest location is planned to open up later this year at 425 Mission Street, inside the Salesforce transit center. With two locations already open in San Francisco alone, it’s clear that residents can’t get enough of cheese tea.
According to their website, Happy Lemon already has more than 1,000 stores worldwide and is continuing to expand in the UK and Australia. Other US stores are slated to open later this year in Houston, San Diego, and Denver as well. The closest Happy Lemon that’s currently open is at 1320 4th Street, so be sure to stop by if you’re curious about what to expect.
