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Get in the Mix

Columns Lite Bites

December 29, 2013

Story By: Yu Shing Ting | Photos by: Nathalie Walker

One of my favorite places to eat has just added a tea and smoothie menu with a nice selection of freshly made drinks that all sound so good, it’s really hard to choose just one.

Inside Asian Mix at 1234 South Beretania St. (in the same complex as Safeway), customers will now find Asian Mix Tea Time, which opened Dec. 8. “We think we have a very safe and nice location here with Safeway open 24 hours, security and a lot of parking,” says Asian Mix co-owner Daniel Leung. “So, we thought we can add on something like this. People can come, have a drink, hang out and talk story, even though it’s later at night. (Asian Mix closes at 8:30 p.m. and Asian Mix Tea Time at 10:30 p.m. daily.)”

Asian Mix Tea Time offers a variety of fresh tea, flavor tea, milk tea, iced milk drinks, yogurt drinks and smoothies. To ensure the best in taste and quality, Leung went to Taiwan for two weeks to train under a coffee and tea expert, and notes that a new pot of tea is made every two hours.

For fresh tea ($3, 24-ounce), you can choose from Jasmine, Green Tea or Black Tea. For Flavor Tea ($3.50, 24-ounce), choices include Honey, Lemon, Honey Lemon, Passion Fruit, Mango, Peach, Lychee, Honeydew, Strawberry or Korean Citron Green Tea.

My personal favorite is Milk Tea ($3.50, 24-ounce). Patrons can also choose from Milk Green Tea, Baby Plant Milk Tea ($4.25), Okinawa Milk Black Tea, Red Bean Milk Black Tea, Honey Milk Green/Black Tea, Taro Milk Green Tea, Matcha Red Bean Green Tea, Passion Fruit Milk Green Tea, Peach Milk Green Tea, Strawberry Milk Green Tea or Honeydew Milk Green Tea. You also can add to your milk tea: tapioca pearls, pudding, coffee jelly, grass jelly, clear jelly, rainbow jelly, red bean or taro for 50 cents more (for each item).

For Iced Milk Drinks ($3.75, 16-ounce), which can be made with whole milk or 2 percent milk, there are Tapioca Pearl, Pudding, Pudding with Tapioca Pearl, Coffee Jelly, Coffee Jelly with Tapioca Pearl, Taro with Tapioca Pearl, Grass Jelly with Tapioca Pearl, Red Bean with Tapioca Pearl and Black Tea (latte).

Yogurt Drink ($4.25, 24-ounce) options are Mix Fruit, Passion Fruit, Mango, Peach, Pineapple, Honeydew and Strawberry. And for smoothies ($4.75, 24-ounce) there are Mango, Strawberry, Peach, Red Bean Matcha (green tea), Banana Matcha (green tea) or Banana Mocha.

“We’ve found that people really like our smoothies,” says Leung. “We use fresh fruit. Our most popular is Banana Mocha, and we sell a lot of mango and strawberry smoothies.”

For those who prefer something simple, there also is fresh Jasmine or Black Tea, which is on special through Jan. 4 for just $1.50 (regularly $3). The Milk Tea and Milk Green Tea also can be prepared hot ($3.50, 16-ounce).

Of course, Asian Mix also offers its great menu of Chinese food, along with some Japanese and local favorites. And if you’re still planning your meals for any new year gatherings, its party trays are always a great option.

Asian Mix

1234 S. Beretania St., Honolulu
521-1688
Open daily, 10:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.
hiasianmix.com

Asian Mix Tea Time

1234 S. Beretania St., Honolulu
521-1278
Open daily, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.

Honolulu, HI 96814

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