Me and wife were in the Peoria area and decided to visit the Northwoods Mall!…read more Upon entry we saw the Poppers tea and we decided to try it! My wife got the Matcha Smoothie with Tapioca and I got the Vietnamese Iced Coffee with Tapioca. The customer service was fast and very friendly! The presentation and ambiance of the Poppers Tea stands out. The drinks were decent but could be better sort of lacked flavor.

Boba tea be poppin'!…read more A coworker told me about this new boba tea place in Northwoods Mall and I knew I needed to try it out. Truth be told, I don't know much about boba tea and all the varieties but I had a good time at Kungfu Tea so I figured I'd give Popper's Tea a shot. So, on a rare day that Tim and I both were off work and were free to hangout, we hit up Peoria for nerdy shenanigans and to try out some boba tea. Popper's Tea is located in the food court of Northwoods Mall. While we didn't make a beeline to get our drink on, we did hit it up after a stroll through a very depressing mall. We reminisced on stores that were there and stores that we missed and stores that are still there. I was in the mood for something with caffeine so Tim and I ended up ordering the same thing: Vietnamese Iced Coffee with tapioca boba. We didn't start drinking them until after we left the mall as we needed to book it over to Panera for a nerd meet up with another friend. But what awaited us was every bit worth the money. I don't know all the ingredients that go into a boba tea, let alone a Vietnamese Ice Coffee one but man... was it sweet and delicious. It was actually almost too sweet but never crossed that line. This definitely was a drink to sip versus my usual chugging. I'm still not 100% sure what makes up the boba balls but they were fun to sip up and then chew. Their mouth feel and consistency were similar to a grape but more chewy. Tim even said he preferred it a bit more than Kungfu Tea and he really likes that place. It's an old saying that malls are mostly dying out in America and I believe Northwoods is heading that direction. Walking around the mall was depressing and even though it was a Thursday afternoon, it felt devoid of life. With that in mind, if you want to try this place out, get there sooner rather than later just in case they or the mall shutters it's doors.

Recently moved to Peoria, and was hoping for some good Vietnamese food. This place does not…read moredisappoint! Crazy good classic Banh Mi, the lemongrass chicken bowl is stellar, and the coconut smoothie is the best I've ever had. Great service, cozy feels, I can't recommend this place enough.

Dang, that's some good boba…read more After devouring a large meal at Hong Kong Buffet and walking around a bookstore to let the food settle (and pick up a few books), I asked if Tim if he had room for some boba. He said 'sure' and here we are. I completely forgot this place existed until I was looking around on Yelp for new places to try. Thank gosh for a dull moment of internet browsing at work. We waddled in and immediately didn't know what to order. The menu was a lot bigger than I expected for a space so small. Tim tried to explain a Poke bowl to me but said it was something you just have to experience or google. Seeing as we were both still full from lunch, the time to learn from experience would have to come another day. I settled on a Coffee Milk Tea with cinnamon boba and Tim got this unique Matcha with cream cheese foam with strawberry jelly. We plopped down on some chairs and waited for our drinks to come out. It took a bit longer than I expected but the place was hopping and there were tons of orders being picked up and there was almost an endless line of people placing orders. The wait was probably 10 minutes but not too bad for how steady they were. Tim and I slowly put down our drinks as we chatted about the various aspects of life. My first sip was extremely delicious and sweet. After a few sips, the peak delicious faded and turned into a drink that was good but leaving you yearning for that sweet sweet sweetness. Could be that it needed blended a bit more. Either way, it was pleasant even with the drink settling as the cup became more and more empty. In hindsight, maybe it was best the drink evened out after demolishing plates at a buffet. During our time, we saw a lot of college kids come and go while a few couples hung around and enjoyed their food. Bradley University students probably love this place. The interior is very narrow and the sitting area, while plenty of seats, isn't conducive to a long term hangout. Grab your meal, enjoy, chat for a bit, then head out. But not every place has to be geared towards people like me who likes to sit and chat for awhile. It's cool to see Peoria have such a varied amount of cultural places to sample; from Chinese to Vietnamese to Italian to Mexican to Mediterranean. If time allows, I would love to come back and try one of these mystery Poke bowls. Until then, stay boba-licious!

This place kicks butt!…read more My friend Tim told me about this place awhile back and has been waiting patiently for it to open. Fast forward 2 months when we planned a day to hang out and play board games when I suggested we check it out. Matt, Tim, and I popped in on a Saturday afternoon and all was quiet. As we walked up, we almost turned around as it looked closed (there was a big lock on one of the doors) but I wanted to 100% be sure it was closed so I walked up to visually confirm there was no one inside. Come to our surprise that it was open. We quickly dipped inside to avoid the humidity and heat of the day and made our ways to the giant tvs that displayed the menus. Said menus quickly irritated us as they were on a continuous scroll every 5 seconds or so... of the same photo. There are 3 tvs and each one displayed one portion of the menu. Each one was set up to a slideshow effect and would transition to the next photo of the same photo it just showed you. So, we kept having to re-focus on where we were despite it being the same image. It took a bit longer to figure out what we wanted to order because of this. But once we knew what we wanted, we ordered with the cashier and waited for our drinks. Tim was distracted with his phone when Matt and I got distracted with something behind the counter. It was this machine that shook the drinks and let me tell you... we were mesmerized by it. We both commented on it at the same time and kept watching the workers load drinks in it. Then we were mesmerized by the machine that put a seal on the cups. Both Matt and I said we could watch this process all day. I've had sealed drinks like this before but never one that was done within viewing range. Any who, like us getting distracted by that machine, I am getting off topic here. We were served our drinks and we walked over to Costco to get some pizzas for our game night. My first sip of my drink (which was a caramel macchiato) and I knew I made the right choice. It was a delicious mix of what you would expect a caramel macchiato to taste like but in a slush-form. For it being a hot and humid day, it was the perfect thing to sip on during the walk over and through Costco. I can see myself coming back here for a special treat once in awhile. The Levee District in East Peoria has a lot of cool shops but severely lacks a place that I think Kung Fu Tea fills in nicely. Sure, there is a Starbucks and Dunkin' nearby, but this place adds something to the area that I feel that it's lacking. This was evident by the fact that when we walked in, there were only 2 people in there but when we left, there were about 12-15 people milling about, waiting to order or waiting for their drinks. I hope they continue to do well as the landscape of most areas needs some diversity over the usual big chains and corporations.

Great place! welcoming atmosphere, high-quality drinks, and efficient, friendly staffread more

Strawberry cream with strawberry popping pearls (pictured) and I got an iced coffee with vanilla…read moreand tapioca pearls both were very good. We also got the avocado toast which was also very delicious. Service was fast and very friendly and happy to accommodate special requests. It was quiet when we were there and would be a great place to work for a few hours, free WiFi. Spreading diversity-tea, equali-tea, conservation, and joy! #qcbobatea 100% Woman, Latina, and LGBTQIA+ owned! Love this about them. Hours are different than what I seen on yelp, they are open 9:00 am until 7:00 pm M-T until 4 on F and 2 on Saturday, closed Sunday. They are inside the college, public welcome.

From the owner: We do bubble tea! Bubble’s Boba tea has a variety of bubble tea goodness and food. We are located…read moreat SCC Downtown Urban Campus Cafe!

The place is clean and well maintained. The girl at the front was not the least bit helpful. I…read moreasked for my drink to be made with half and half and she was so rude when saying "they are ONLY made that way" when the menu says to choose your milk. I've had my fair share of boba tea over the years in bigger metro cities and this was just not good. I ended up throwing it away.

Awesome matcha latte. Will love to come back for ice cream. The kids are pretty good at getting…read morestuff out and the decor is cute! Lots of seating for groups. It's fairly reasonably priced.

I am a boba fan for life…read more Emily and I booked a trip to Bloomington to try some breweries and she mentioned she never had Boba before so.... luckily there was a Boba place around where we were going. The outside of Boba for Life looks unassuming but once you step inside, you are treated to a visual smorgasbord of art on the wall, BOBA written in tile on the floor, random odds and ends for sale against the wall, and a friendly bobarista. Emily got a strawberry/mango tea and I got the dirty brown sugar boba. The lady was working alone so our drinks took a hot minute to make due to prior people waiting and a lady coming in to place an order. Emily and I browsed the eclectic interior while waiting. Along one wall was a lot of their options painted on the wall. Some of them looked interesting but one of my complaints is that I couldn't quite discern what each drink consisted of. The wall nor menu kind of hinted at what each one contained. There was a few things I wanted to order but just didn't know what they contained. So, I settled on the dirty brown sugar as it sounded like a safe option. We got our drinks and booked it to our next stop. We tried both each other's drinks and I dug the mix she came up with and she dug my brown sugar boba. She did point out that the entire bottom of my drink was brown sugar so I took that as a cue to mix it up a bit before continuing my drink. Aside from the interesting interior, I wouldn't hesitate to come back and try any of the other drinks now that I know what we are working with. Plus boba is fun. It's like a drink and a snack all at once.

Waste of money. Waste of time. I normally don't post reviews. But this place is just so bad…read more Despite all the reviews that are giving them recommendations over the years to improve, they don't care. Overpriced. Bland. Unorganized and ratchet. My drink was more water and milk than any flavor.

I order Strawberry milk tea with black tea, strawberry jell-o…read moreSoo good! Staff friendly!

Me and my sister went here and we both ordered our drinks with tapioca pearls. To our surprise…read morethere is only enough tapioca pearls for one drink. I find that very annoying since it is a boba place and most people get the tapioca pearls. I just think that they should have extra pearls in case this happens again because it seems unprofessional since it's the most common thing to order. There was residue from drinks on the counters and gross looking stuff in the corners of the walls. But they had good music.

Fun little road side stop! Not surprised that there were no Yelp reviews as the most popular spot…read morein town only had 15 reviews! We stopped in here on our way back to Chicago from Lincoln on a business trip. I got an Oreo cookie shake with 2 shots of espresso, it was pretty tasty. The menu showed fruit loops on top and that got me excited but it ended up having a half cracked Oreo, oh well. It was pretty tasty. I likely won't be back as I'm from far from here. If you live near by, definitely give'em a try!

The coffee is great and everyone is so friendly! They always give pup cups to my dog and are always…read morehappy to see him!

Most overpriced "not" boba shop more of a bad slushie store. They use store bought mixes u can buy…read morefor pretty cheap at a lot of asian stores to make their drinks and then sell it for exorbitant prices. I get that times are tough but gosh at least put some effort in making a decent tasting drink for the price. Paid ten bucks for a watered down slushie with poppings in it.

Used to be so good! $20 for two bubble smootheis, they barely put any bubbles in at all, I only had…read moreSIX bubbles in my drink, the ladies were gossiping and rude. They tried to rush and hurry me out when there were no other customers, and hovering over me while I was signing after paying to see how much I'd tip, then got annoyed when I didn't tip because it was horrible. It didn't taste good either.

Ice cold beer! Great service and nice clean place. Owner very friendly and staff amazing!read more

Nice little home town pub. Friendly bartender, slot machines and shuffleboard. Place was clean and…read morelots of memorabilia. Will go back again.