Ever arrive at Townsend Harris High School a little early in the morning and you’re in the mood for a drink? The Steel Hawks, the THHS robotics team, has got you covered The Steel Hawks opened this cafe to help raise funds for their team. They’re in the lobby every morning and afternoon as classes are finishing for the day. Their menu has a great variety of options to choose from, consisting of hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and the newly added bubble tea.
Students can choose between a few different flavors of the milk tea, including taro, mango, strawberry, and regular milk tea. They can then choose between tapioca pearls or flavored popping pearls that come in either mango or strawberry. The drink is made up of ice, syrup, tea, creamer, and of course, tapioca pearls. The tapioca pearls are created personally by science teacher Joel Heitman. The Steel Hawks bubble tea is the most ordered drink on the menu. According to Robotics member and sophomore Srabon Nath said, “The boba is very delicious and the price [of the drink] is alright selling [for] only for four dollars.”
Here’s what students had to say about the Steel Hawks’ famous drink.
Junior Lana Yepifonva exclaimed, “I love their boba! The line is always short and the drinks are customizable. The location of the boba cart is perfect and very accessible.”
Another student, sophomore Evan Diep said, “The tapioca pearls are easy to chew and the taste doesn’t overpower the rest of the drink.” Freshman Xavier Murphy said, “The boba tastes similar to the ones store bought.” However, sophomore Eric Chen stated that even though that “the boba is decent for the price, but they don’t give enough tapioca pearls.”
Given the fact that this is still school boba (not to mention lower prices compared to other popular boba chains such as Coco or Tiger Sugar), the general consensus from the students is satisfactory — the robotics team’s bubble tea is a great drink and is worth trying.
It’s impressive enough that the school now has a drink cart selling top-notch bubble tea, but the fact that it’s in an accessible place with short waiting queues makes it even better. Most times you can get your drink pretty quickly in around one or two minutes, with some waits of upwards of five minutes or more during peak times. It’s always nice to see friendly student faces working together to support a good cause through the sales of a well-loved drink.
Art by Amy Jiang
