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Leisure Station (Boba Tea) + Giveaway!

June 30, 2010 by Jennifer Che 28 Comments

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My friends and I were arguing the other day over what “Taiwanese” food really was. One person tried to suggest typical Taiwanese breakfast items such as sweet soybean milk with deep fried crullers, but then another person (who’s from China) said that these types of dishes were all over China. Another tried suggesting shaved ice, but the Chinese friend again pointed out that you could find shaved ice all over China as well.  Finally, there was only on thing that everyone unanimously agreed was totally Taiwanese.

Boba Tea. (also called bubble tea, tapioca milk tea, pearl milk tea)

Boba tea was invented in Taiwan in the 1980’s and has since gained in popularity, first throughout Asia and now throughout the world. Boba tea is a tea drink that typically consists of sweetened tea, milk, and chewy tapioca balls. The balls come in different sizes, but the classic Pearl Milk Tea usually has the bigger balls (about the size of a large blueberry). The drink comes with its own special over-sized straw, through which you simultaneously slurp tea and tapioca balls.

Boba tea connoisseurs typically consider two things when judging tea: excellent tea flavor (brewed tea is typically better than reconstituted powdered tea); and good boba consistency (soft and chewy with a bit of resistance, otherwise known as “Q” in Taiwanese). The boba chewiness factor can make or break a tea drink.

Two months ago, Leisure Station, a franchise of Easy Way in Taiwan, opened its first tea shop on the East Coast. Lucky for me, it opened right in Kendall Square, a mere T-stop away from my workplace!

I had a chance to visit this place last Wednesday.
Leisure Station Easy Way Boston Tea Shop
Ken Huang, MIT alum, is the entrepreneur behind this new franchise in Boston. He’s thought up some pretty cool ideas that makes this place different from most places. The place has free Wi-Fi, the ability to take orders via the internet or text message, a karaoke machine, and delivery via a Smart Car.

Furthermore, the tea menu is HUGE! Of course they have the most popular drinks such as Pearl Milk Tea, Pearl Green Tea, Thai Iced Tea, and Coffee Milk Tea. However, they also have a bunch of more exotic flavors, such as Jasmine Milk Tea, Lavender Milk Tea, Honey Citron Tea, and Winter Gourd Milk Tea.
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I attended an Open House of sorts and had a chance to try several different items from the menu. Their philosophy really is the concept of custom-made drinks. You can customize your drink whichever way you want. Once you choose a tea, you then choose a sweetness level, a “topping,” and a creamer (e.g., soy milk, skim milk, whole milk, etc). Of course you can mix and match at your whim.

I decided to try both the honey green tea and a mango milkshake. I loved the mango milk shake. They use fresh fruits for most of their fruit shakes, so the flavors are really genuine. This shake was just the right level of sweetness (i.e. not to sweet!) and had a nice, fresh mango flavor. The honey green tea was pretty good, although a bit too sweet for me. Thankfully, all drinks are made to order, so I could always ask them to add less honey, or no sugar at all if that’s what I wanted.

There are a myriad of toppings from which to choose. Of course, you can add boba, but you don’t have to. You can also choose other toppings such as grass jelly, egg pudding, lychee jelly, wheat germ, and aloe vera (just to name a few!). I tried egg custard, lychee, and aloe vera, and I liked all three.
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What would a Boba Connoisseur Say?
At a minimum, a picky boba drinker would evaluate the quality of tea and the texture of the pearls (i.e. the tapioca balls). All of the teas at Leisure Station are freshly brewed. No powdered teas here! Only a few drinks, such as the taro milk tea, are made from re-constituted powders. I thought the teas were quite good. I especially liked the honey citron tea, but even the green tea was pretty good, albeit a bit sweeter than I would have liked.

The pearls are made every two hours. They wouldn’t tell us the exact secret recipe (something about lightly coating the pearls with brown sugar), but they assured us that the pearls were freshly made throughout the day. I personally thought the pearls could have had more “Q” or bite to them. They were a bit mushier than I would have liked. Nevertheless, they were tasty, slightly sweet, and still enjoyable to slurp through that over-sized straw!
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Lunch
Leisure Station recently started selling a few food items. Ken Huang had this crazy creative idea of taking all sorts of non-traditional ingredients and sticking them into a Maki roll!  He calls them “Fusion Rolls.” They even have a “Hot Dog Maki” and a “Hamburger Maki“! Imagine, a maki roll filled with ground beef, ketchup, lettuce, and pickles. Bizarre?

We were able to try two different rolls. Pictured above is the Thai Roll, which has shrimp, carrots, corn, cucumber, and a sweet peanut sauce. Pictured below is the Tuna roll, which has much more traditional sushi ingredients such as cooked tuna, egg, avocado, and spicy mayo.
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The rolls are huge. I had trouble fitting it in my mouth!
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Flavor-wise, I thought they were fine, though nothing exciting. They taste like something I could easily whip up at home. They’re fine for a healthy lunch, but at $10.99 (even if it includes a Boba drink and a side salad), it doesn’t quite feel worth it. I would rather buy the tea here and get more traditional sushi elsewhere. Having said that, I did not get to try some of the weirder ones, (hot dog anyone?) and maybe those are actually really good.
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Giveaway Details
So that’s where this Giveaway comes in. Ken was kind enough to offer a $15 Gift Certificate to Leisure Station so that one of you can try it for yourself and decide. You can spend the $15 any way you want. Try a sandwich, or get a bunch of drinks for your friends.

To enter this Giveaway, please comment and tell me one of the following:

1. Your favorite sushi maki roll ingredients or
2. A wild and crazy roll you want to see Ken make at Leisure Station

You can answer both questions (as separate comments) for two chances to win.

Winner gets the $15 gift card to spend at Leisure Station. Good luck!

Leisure Station
Kendall Square
625 West Kendall Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
Leisure Station on Urbanspoon

Disclaimer: Time to time I receive free products from vendors to review. I do not receive any payment for these posts/reviews. The views expressed in the posts are completely my own. For this post, I was given a chance to attend an Open House sponsored by Leisure Station, which included samples of all the food and drinks mentioned in today’s post.

©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
All Rights Reserved

Filed Under: Cambridge, Restaurant, Review, Sponsored Tagged With: Chinese, drinks, Taiwanese

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Comments

  1. Madebyfrances says

    June 30, 2010 at 9:05 am

    I really want to try this place out!

    My favorite ingredient in a maki roll is tempura fried sweet potato. mmmm.

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  2. Jo-Ann says

    June 30, 2010 at 9:28 am

    I love Bubble tea! I love spicy tuna maki but would like to see Ken make a fried chicken and mashed potato maki. And maybe add some sauteed spinach in there for color.

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  3. Catherine says

    June 30, 2010 at 9:37 am

    I just recently started to eat sushi and really love the spicy tuna roll!!

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  4. Ina says

    June 30, 2010 at 11:43 am

    As for a crazy maki roll for Ken to make…I’d be curious to see something with prosciutto and a melon! Such a great combo – I wonder if it would work well in a maki roll…?

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  5. Ina says

    June 30, 2010 at 11:43 am

    My favorite maki ingredients: lobster and avocado. Together or separately, they are always my favorites!

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  6. joyosity says

    June 30, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    How about a dessert maki? Sweet sticky rice with mango slices?

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  7. Emily says

    June 30, 2010 at 12:21 pm

    Ooh awesome giveaway! Maybe some fab fusion sushi like a ceviche roll?

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  8. stephanie says

    June 30, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    hot dog sushi i’ve had/heard of and it’s right up my alley!

    recently though i had a ‘black widow’ maki which has tempura sweet potato, cucumber, avocado, and tobiko and that was excellent, i could eat that all the time. there also used to be a place in brighton (don’t know if it’s still there) that did a roll with salmon and fresh green apple…can’t remember what else but that was also fantastic.

    ps, you didn’t happen to mention if this place has mini bobas or not? i find myself trekking over to the super 88 in allston for lolicup because no one else has them!

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  9. Jen @ Tiny Urban Kitchen says

    June 30, 2010 at 1:34 pm

    Hi Stephanie. I don’t think they have mini-bobas right now, but Ken is very open suggestions. Maybe he’s take your suggestion if you mention it to him!

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  10. Jess in JP says

    June 30, 2010 at 5:20 pm

    i’ve been wondering about this place; thanks for the review! my favorite maki has cucumber, avocado, and seaweed salad. Fresh, clean, yummy! (i’m also a big fan of spicy tuna, though i’m trying to find out something that I like as much but that is sustainable – hotdogs might be just the ticket 😉

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  11. Livia Blackburne says

    June 30, 2010 at 8:45 pm

    Natto! If you dare 🙂

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  12. Denise Chow says

    June 30, 2010 at 9:25 pm

    cheese is my favorite sushi roll ingredient.
    fried matcha (green tea) ice-cream and azuki roll!

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  13. Cavitybuster says

    June 30, 2010 at 10:12 pm

    My favorite sushi maki roll ingredient soft shell crab.

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  14. Cavitybuster says

    June 30, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    I would like Ken to make a salmon and jalapeno roll!

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  15. Catherine says

    June 30, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    Hmm a good fusion roll would have to be a Bibimbap roll – with fried egg, sliced beef, and kimchi!! Mmm Mmm Mmm!

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  16. pang says

    June 30, 2010 at 11:38 pm

    please make a blue fin otoro roll

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  17. William says

    July 1, 2010 at 1:50 am

    I absolutely adore BBQ Eel Maki rolls

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  18. William says

    July 1, 2010 at 1:51 am

    I think some kind of indian fusion roll would be really neat, like a Chicken Tikka Roll, or a Palak Paneer Roll. Those would be really cool!

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  19. Mangomail says

    July 1, 2010 at 7:18 am

    a dessert roll with chocolate, marshmellows, and nuts.

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  20. Ginnette Powell says

    July 1, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    1. Your favorite sushi maki roll ingredients
    I love avocado, sesame seeds and wasabi.

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  21. Ginnette Powell says

    July 1, 2010 at 7:12 pm

    I adore fried sweet potatoe Maki Roll! co-sign!

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  22. AES says

    July 1, 2010 at 9:30 pm

    Hello from a new reader! Thank you for providing this fantastic blog. I just moved to Boston a year ago and your restaurant reviews are a great resource.

    I don’t eat maki sushi all that much but I love tamago/omelet nigiri sushi. My idea for a crazy roll would be a sushi-arancini hybrid with crispy breadcrumbs on the outside and a center of melted cheese.

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  23. BGoldring says

    July 2, 2010 at 9:28 am

    umeboshi + shiso. sweet, tart, and fresh!

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  24. Lauren says

    July 2, 2010 at 10:27 am

    I recently had a fantastic roll in Ogunquit, Maine. It was spicy tuna, fresh mango, asparagus & avocado. Delicious!

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  25. Stu says

    July 7, 2010 at 9:47 am

    Some yummy barbecue eel

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  26. Bethany says

    July 11, 2010 at 8:55 am

    Felafel roll…sprinkle a little yogurt sauce with sumac on top?

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  27. American Leisure says

    August 20, 2010 at 9:40 am

    This is so interested! Where can I find more like this?

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  28. S Chesler85 says

    April 25, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    I fell in love with this place, I had the Caramel Cake and Green Tea Boba…..I was sad when it was all gone. I recommend this to all Boba lovers

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Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
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