88rising’s first-ever Head in the Clouds New York festival kicked off this past weekend and the music and the merch weren’t the only things that were super-hot. If you were fortunate enough to grab a ticket to the festival, you probably noticed a very, very, long line behind the stadium near Xing Fu Tang’s pop-up Boba cafe. Now, it’s not easy to draw a crowd especially if you’re far from the front row, but that didn’t seem to hinder those who sought out high-quality artisan Boba. Xing Fu Tang USA CEO, Andrew Chuang, couldn’t deny the desire of the crowd, acknowledging, “It’s a little bit out of the way from the main entrance, but we’re still getting a ton of traffic over here. It’s great!”
As a part of 88rising’s carefully curated and highly selective food lineup, Xing Fu Tang, “Taiwan’s No.1 Boba,” is all about the carefully crafted handmade Boba. Chuang explains, “we want to put together the best food possible. So we could get store-bought Boba and not brew the tea fresh, and have it sitting all day, but then the customers would get a worse product and that is definitely what we don’t want.” He adds, “everyone at our stores loves and drinks our products… So, we don’t want to put out something that we don’t want to have ourselves.”
Festival goers had the opportunity to enjoy three different types of Xing Fu Tang handmade Teas: Brown Sugar Boba, Classic Black Milk Boba Tea, and Mango Passionfruit Green Tea. Each drink is hand-crafted and made with the utmost attention to detail and love. For Xing Fu Tang’s signature Brown Sugar Boba, Chuang reveals this Boba starts with Xing Fu Tang actually making their own fresh brown sugar and Boba daily in-stores, however with the limitations of a kitchen at a stadium, the team had to get creative in order to keep the integrity and not compromise the quality of their signature drinks. He admits, “We’re cooking it off-site at our stores and then I’m having people drive it in…So this has been cooked fresh, like every two hours or so.” After the Boba is delivered it is kept warm, soft and chewy by slowly curating in a warm wok. Chuang confesses, “we really pride ourselves on the texture of our Boba. So, from start to finish, everything that we put into it is what gets us that texture. I think that’s the real thing that sets our Boba apart.” The Boba is then ladled into a cup, dashed with milk and a cheese bomb foam is laid on top before it is torched. Yes, torched. Chuang explains, “we torch the brown sugar so you get like little kind of candy caramelized bits of sugar in the drink too. So a lot of sugar, but it’s very good.”
Apart from the Boba, Chuang admits the partnership between 88rising’s Head in the Clouds New York festival and Xing Fu Tang is a match made in heaven for him and his team. “I’ve become a big K-pop fan,” he professes. “I actually bought VIP passes, two-day passes, before we were tapped to be a vendor.” He adds, “I was really excited to see ITZY. I’ve been listening to Rich Brian since before he changed [his name and] … I’ve been working out to XG songs.” He also admits he was excited to see DPR LIVE and DPR IAN as well as NIKI. Seizing the opportunity to see some of the most talented artists on stage he divulges, it wasn’t easy, but “I’ve worked out a system with my staff where I can go off and see the people that I want to see and they can go off and see the people that they want to see. We’ll just be a little bit more hectic during those times.”
Clearly, Chuang and his team have a lot of passion. Whether it is for music or Boba tea, they treasure the sweetness in life. Chuang humbly admits, “we just want to put out something that is Boba for foodies. [For] people who really care about the ingredients.” He stresses, “you know, fresh ingredients, organic ingredients, the best quality that we can get and just putting that into a really tasty Boba drink.”
Xing Fu Tang offers pick up, delivery and in-store orders at its three locations. Those locations are in Flushing, on St. Marks and in Hudson yards. To find out more about “Taiwan’s No.1 Boba,” check out xingfutang.com.
