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THE HUNGRY HOURS

Why do Angelenos line up for tea without boba? | CHAGEE, and the lemon tea I order every time

I barely drink boba in Taiwan, but in LA I lined up for tea without pearls, and now I order the white peach oolong lemon tea every time. From the Zhu Yiwen cups and caffeine labels on the stickers to the new matcha from Zhejiang, plus ordering and parking tips: how CHAGEE got into LA speaking the language of coffee.

Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.

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  1. 01 | I barely drink boba, and I waited in line in LA

    In Taiwan I don't actually drink much boba. One brutally hot LA afternoon, thirsty from wandering Century City, I joined the line of people at the just-opened shop, ordered the peach oolong lemon tea, and was hooked after one sip.

  2. 02 | Now I order it every single time

    I've been at least seven times, once all the way out in Glendale; summer 2026 brought matcha, one more reason to go back. In Taipei I rarely stop for boba, but in LA I'll line up for a cup of tea.

  3. 03 | Who is CHAGEE?

    The name comes from the Peking opera Farewell My Concubine. The first store opened in Kunming in 2017, and there are 7,000+ worldwide; it listed on Nasdaq in April 2025, the same month the first US store soft-opened in Century City, with the official opening in May. You say it 'Cha-G.'

  4. 04 | Why is a cup of Chinese tea wearing French prints?

    Everyone's first reaction is 'so Dior.' Blue-and-white toile with elephants, horses, sailboats and roses, even on the outside walls; in spring 2026 it switched to a deep blue clock face, and around the same time, reportedly, LA-based jazz singer Laufey signed on as North American ambassador.

  5. 05 | A tea house that wants you to slow down

    High ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, a row of white pendant lamps like Bubble Lamps, and a tree planted in the middle. The tea history wall uses four words, Boiling, Whisking, Brewing, Extracting, to cover over a thousand years of tea drinking.

  6. 06 | The menu changed three times in a year

    From straight tea, lattes and lemon teas to splitting into extracted and brewed, matcha at the end of June 2026, and five big categories by September. The September menu describes the tea as calm and grounded, words that used to belong to yoga studios. The one thing that hasn't changed: no boba pearls.

  7. 07 | My favorite: the white peach oolong lemon tea

    Large, regular ice, less sugar: 214 cal, 135 mg caffeine. Two giant lemon slices, like an iced lemon tea at a Hong Kong cha chaan teng. In 2026 it was renamed the Peach Oolong Citrus Teafresher and moved into Signature; turns out I'd been ordering the signature all along.

  8. 08 | Matcha came home

    The matcha launched at the end of June isn't from Uji; it's a house blend, shade-grown in Zhejiang, mixing Yabukita, Longjing No. 43 and Jiukeng cultivars. Matcha's great-grandparent is Song dynasty whisked tea; it went all the way around the world and landed back in Zhejiang.

  9. 09 | How to pick between the four matchas

    The classic matcha latte, matcha jasmine and matcha peach oolong latte are $7.95 each, and the matcha iced lemon tea is $8.45 (ceremonial-grade matcha, no milk), 16 oz only. I had two of the new matchas, and my favorite is still that lemon tea.

  10. 10 | Bo Ya Jue Xian

    The BOYA jasmine green tea latte's Chinese name is 伯牙絕弦, after a famous story of a musician who broke his strings when his one true listener died. The English menu gives you three adjectives; the Chinese names give you a story: 花田烏龍 (flower-field oolong), 萬里木蘭 (Mulan across ten thousand miles), 白霧紅塵 (white mist, red dust).

  11. 11 | The numbers on the cup sticker

    In Taipei you order by saying sugar and ice first; CHAGEE prints calories and caffeine on the cup sticker, recalculated for your customizations. The peach oolong latte has 154 mg, about a grande latte. It's here to take your morning coffee's spot.

  12. 12 | Why not open in the 626?

    Nearly all 11 SoCal stores are in shopping malls, and not one is in the San Gabriel Valley; it's after the people who buy coffee every morning. In the SGV, boba is homesickness; on the Westside, tea is lifestyle.

  13. 13 | Ordering insider

    On a hot day, order the peach oolong iced lemon tea first (22 oz, $7.45); coffee people should try the Roasted Black. There's no 'a little sugar' and no 'a little ice,' so Taiwanese used to 'half sugar, less ice,' switch to 'Less & Less.'

  14. 14 | Even the straw comes with instructions

    Lattes and straight teas come with the three-hole CHAGEE Straw, said to wake up the tea's aroma; matcha and iced lemon teas get the Classic Straw. In LA, straws are starting to be like wine glasses.

  15. 15 | Membership · hours · parking

    Join Loyal-Tea in the app for 15% off your first order; it opens at 9 a.m., and weekend afternoons mean a bit of a line. The shop is on the second floor next to The Container Store, and self-parking is free the first hour; if you live around Pasadena, the Glendale Americana is easier.

  16. Last word

    At the opening, people lined up for the novelty; the ones still going back a year later go out of habit. LA isn't learning to drink boba. LA is learning to drink tea.

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An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).