Porter Exchange shop is the fruit of entrepreneurial efforts

Bubble tea, the beverage that Tufts senior Karina Ku calls "a party in a cup," has finally come to Cambridge. In the summer of 2002, four current University students and two alumni opened Tapich??, their own bubble tea shop, in Porter Exchange. Bubble tea, a unique beverage that has swept most of Asia and the United States over the last decade, used to be very difficult to find in the Cambridge area. "Freshman year we had to take the T all the way to China Town just to get bubble tea," said senior Derek Keswakarn, Tapich?? manager. "Cambridge just isn't a saturated area for bubble tea," added Ku, another of Tapich??'s manager.

With no previous business experience or start-up capital, Keswakarn, and five other bold entrepreneurs opened Tapich?? in Aug. 2002, although the group's idea to bring bubble tea to Porter Square had its genesis years ago.

The Tapich?? team took a risk by opening their business so soon after bubble tea was introduced in the United States.

"Most people who have never had bubble tea have just never heard of it," freshman Tiffany Chen said. "It isn't quite main stream yet in the states."

Confident that their investment would eventually pay off, Tapich??'s managers willingly laid out the initial capital. Each manager was responsible for chipping in a portion of his or her own savings to get the stand running.

Once the business was assembled and the investment made, the team set about finding a location. Porter Exchange, already a common student destination, was the obvious choice. Finding a site for the shop, however, was not so easy. In fact, the stand in which Tapich?? is now located did not exist before last summer.

"We actually created that location," Keswakarn said. The managers convinced the shopping area's landlord to allow them to conduct business in an area that lacked plumbing. Eventually the group found a portable plumbing system and a supplier of bubble tea ingredients that imports directly from Taiwan, and Tapich?? became a reality.

Tapich??'s managers balance shifts equally between their employees, each working about ten hours per week. They are assisted by eight part-time employees. This working arrangement allows each student to balance business with schoolwork. The process of starting Tapich?? as an independent business required significantly more time and commitment, however. "From legal aspects to actually running the store, having a good team is very important because everyone is good at different things," Keswakarn said.

Bubble tea veterans will notice something that sets Tapich?? apart from other bubble tea shops. Tapich?? allows customers to mix and match to create their very own bubble tea concoctions. This process inspired the slogan for the shop, "Mix tea with life."

After purchasing tea from Tapich??, "You don't feel like you ordered a drink; you created one," junior Sylvia Wu said.

Tapich??, like most tea shops, serves black and green tea, to which customers can add their choice of fruit flavorings and milk. The unconventional aspect of bubble tea concoctions is that they are served over healthy servings of tapioca pearls in a clear cup with enormous straws. These straws are necessary to suck up the tapioca pearls _ and to sometimes shoot them at innocent bystanders.

Bubble tea is known by many names, including pearl tea drink, pearl milk tea, black pearl tea, tapioca ball drink, pearl shake, and boba drink.

The drinks are generally refreshing, very sweet, and served cold, although most vendors also offer hot bubble tea. Tapich?? recently began serving hot tea drinks and is currently offering a discount on them to all college students.

"I chose Tufts because I knew that Tapich?? was near by," joked freshman Cathy Lu.

Jennifer Gerson, another University freshman, recently tried bubble tea for the first time at Tapich??. "I didn't really know what to expect, but I really ended up enjoying it _ it's definitely different, but it's good stuff."

Tapich?? is open Wednesday thru Monday [closed Tuesdays] from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., and is located at 1815 Mass. Ave.