SHOP TALK: Taichi Bubble Tea offers Mount Pleasant community a fresh study spot
Mount Pleasant freshman Robert Alm and Mount Pleasant High School senior Chloe Mckinley play a game of chess while enjoying bubble tea and ramen on March. 11 at Tai Chi Bubble Tea.
Since its opening March 3, Taichi Bubble Tea has been a hub for Mount Pleasant residents and Central Michigan University students.
Located on the corner of South Mission Street and Bellows Street, the Asian fusion restaurant boasts a menu of a variety of ramen, sushi burritos, poke bowls, smoothies and the fan-favorite bubble tea.
Natillie Amaral, a waitress at Taichi who grew up in Mount Pleasant, expressed excitement at the community’s enthusiastic response to the opening and the variety of customers that have walked through the doors. Although plenty of customers are familiar with the concept of bubble tea, many come in to try something new.
“It’s completely different from a lot of the things we have in this area,” Amaral said.
Now with 16 stores across the east side of the country, Taichi’s first locations were in New York City. When the Mount Pleasant location opened, employees from New York came to train Mount Pleasant employees. Mo Hasan, an Iraqi native who has worked with Taichi for nearly a year, was one of the original employees at the Mount Pleasant location.
Hasan expressed his excitement about the success of the Mount Pleasant location, saying he finds joy in working with and training the new employees. He commented on the work ethic of the team as Taichi was first opening.
“For the first two weeks, they’d get here at 9 a.m. and stay until two or three in the morning,” Hasan said.
“It was really chaotic at first trying to train everyone,” Amaral said.
Sheng Guo, the Mount Pleasant location manager, agreed with Amaral.
“It was really difficult when like four people knew what they were doing,” Guo said.
With training and serving lines of customers happening at the same time, it was a learning experience for everyone, Guo said. Guo, Hasam, and Amaral all mentioned how well the staff at Taichi has been able to handle the chaotic weeks after opening.
Taichi aims to offer an inviting place for customers to meet with friends and an environment for students to study, Hasam said.
“We want it to be like the new Starbucks, people can stay and do homework,” Hasam said.
The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday.
You can find the menu and job applications on its Facebook page, Mt. Pleasant Taichi Tea.
