Kung Fu Tea

Whenever I’m in Chinatown, I always try to drop by Kung Fu Tea for boba! It’s a pretty open space with a good number of tables here for sitting and chatting. There are board games provided if you want to pass the time too (I’ve played a couple of rounds of connect four with friends here while waiting for drinks!). Kung Fu Tea also lets you customize the ice and sweetness levels of your drink, which is a huge plus.
My favorite drink is the taro milk tea with boba, which ends up costing me $ 5.25. The coconut milk tea is also good, although slightly too rich/​creamy for my taste. The boba here are amazing– chewy and soft. If you are a little less adventurous, you can’t go wrong with original milk tea. Also note that this place is cash only!

I really love the products with the many options and customization for ice and sugar. First heard of the place with the chain in New York. I didn’t put 5 stars because of the service at this location. The past few times they messed up my orders. Peach oolong tea and caramel macchiato ice coffee are my favorites. They only accept cash.

On days when the cravings for Boba hits, I am especially thankful for kung-​fu tea. Their classic milk tea with Boba is great but I also enjoy their taro green tea. I am pretty impressed with the texture and taste of the boba in their drinks, they were just the right combo of soft and chewy. They are sweetened so my strategy is to go half sugar on the drink and get the sweetness of the boba to balance the drink out.
I am also excited that they are rolling out Taiwanese food items. I cannot vouch for any of them since I’ve never tried them.
This place is cash only so make sure you’re prepared!

Until more Taiwanese people see Chicago as a tech hub and bring with them their tasty trends and standards for said tastiness, we’re stuck with Kung Fu tea which is probably the best of a mediocre lot in Chicago.
I keep coming back for the roasted oolong milk tea which you really can’t find anywhere else in the city. Often served cold but best warm with the boba on a frigid Chicago day.

I heard from a friend that this was the place to go for good boba/​milk tea. Being from so cal where there are a plethora of delicious boba joints, I didn’t expect much from this place. I was pleasantly surprised. I ordered their Kung Fu Honey Tea. Since I got a hot drink, I decided to leave out the boba. The drink was heavenly (perfect for the 20 degree weather outside). It wasn’t too sweet and was pretty different from what I’m used to in so cal. If you’re a tourist and need a quick boba/​tea fix, this is the place to go.

This place is shabby for reals. I suspect its managed by old people who are super cheap, while run by young people who seem mostly apathetic.
We ordered a bulb milk tea. The kid who prepared it poured in all the ingredients and I guess decided not to mix it. So it tasted bland and at the bottom we found a nice clump of dry creamer that didn’t dissolve into the drink. All this wonderfulness for $ 4.42, cash only.
Nice.
Inside looks mostly unkept with cheap ikea furniture and bud light bar stools (strange). I would recommend St. Alp’s if you’re looking for bubble tea in a nice setting or head over to old chinatown, the no frills place to get decent tasting bubble tea.

I really love this place. Nice place to chill at and play games with friends. They have games for you guys to play such as Jenna and uno. There’s also wifi here. Staff people are nice. I love the variety of their drinks. My sister and I got cookies n cream boba and green tea hot latte. They were both soo good! My cousins had different drinks but I forgot what they got, they were good either way. Definitely want to try all the flavors here.
Sometimes they do Instagram contests, you have a chance winning a drink or something. It’s different every time.

If you love boba. Come here. Stay away from the fruit stuff since they use powder instead of fresh fruits. IE: strawberry. Lots of fobs and students come here in the evening so the general demographic is quite diverse. Service is so so but not a deal breaker — make sure you pay cash as they don’t accept card.

This place reminded me of homeeee (aka Taiwan)! I am so glad that they can cater to the preferred sugar and ice levels! Taro milk green tea is amazing! Must try!

Literally waiting 10 mins for bubble tea when it’s not even busy. Are you kidding me? You’ve got to be kidding me.

This café is located on the second floor of Chinatown square.
Strengths: It’s brightly lit and has comfortable seating to have a tea with friends. They also provide board games to pass the time. The Menu has a lot of good options like adjusting your sweetness and ice level. They also have a few appetizers (mostly fried). The tea drink options are good and the boba has a nice fresh consistency.
Areas of improvement: The place needs a better cleaning crew. I have tried this place three times and each time I have struggled to find a clean table. Service is not great, and you might have to wait 15 – 20 minutes for your drink. The place needs more of a artsy touch, looks very much like a franchise. Although their tea options are good they don’t have different options for boba. Don’t get the coffee ! It has a sludgy bitter /​burnt taste and they won’t steam your milk. They also don’t have espressos. Don’t get the chai tea milk it is not a traditional spicy chai it’s more of a oolong tasting tea.
Overall: It has a lot of potential for improvement but if you’re craving bubble tea it’s an okay place. If you’re looking for coffee, Chinatown has better options.

Totally living for Kung Fun Tea! Such a chill spot after a long walk around Chinatown. If I lived closer to Chinatown this would be the spot where I would do my assignments. The customers are all typically Asian, which I love because it makes me feel like I have escaped Chicago for a few hours. I love the modern décor and the stylish people.
Only downside is they only accept cash.
However the teas are AMAZING! chilling, refreshing, sweet. They have some truly unique flavors as well. If you’re looking for a bubble tea joint in Chicago, KFT is the place to be.

I was craving boba tea so hard during my trip in Chicago. There weren’t many boba places in the city so my group lyfted here for some authentic boba.
I don’t know if it’s because I was so deprived of boba but this place was really good.
I got the milk tea with less sugar and it was just perfect. But then when I tried my husband’s milk tea with regular sugar, I thought that was good too. So I ended up just sipping back and forth trying to decide which one I liked better, and lo and behold, I just ended up finishing both drinks!
Of course I was not able to sleep that night… But totally worth it!

Went here during the mid autumn festival celebration
The line was out the door but my friends really wanted bubble tea so we stayed. Surprisingly it moved pretty quickly
There is a lot of variety with food and drinks
there is also a handful of board games to play and just hang out.

I only visited on a Thursday night at 7:30pm and there was no line. The variety in «tea» based bubble teas were impressive. Don’t come here if you’re strictly looking for «fresh fruit» bubble tea/​smoothies. The place is cash only and the many signs inside remind you of that.

I went there this weekend on Labor Day Monday with my girlfriend during our trip to Chicago for Labor Day weekend. On one of our previous trips, we went to Joy-​Yee, which is another bubble tea place in chinatown, so we wanted to try a different place. We went there around 1 PM on a Monday and when we got there there was a long line out the door (probably because it was Labor Day). It took a while to make it to the front of the line. When we finally did we were told that they were out of bubbles (boba). This wasn’t a big deal because I ordered the Mango Green tea which had mango jelly in it and my girlfriend ordered the regular milk tea and she didn’t mind that it didn’t have boba in it. I was still a little disappointing however because I did wanted to try out their boba and I wish they had told everyone in line that they were out before they got to the front.
Although the wait for them to make our bubble tea took a while, we were able to sit down and wait. There are also board games to play like Jenga if you want to.
The tea itself was good, and in my opinion one of the best in Chicago.
There are a few things that are important to note when going here. First, they only take cash, so come prepared. Secondly, when making your choices on ice level and sugar level, make sure you are not going to change your mind because if you do, they won’t be able to change your order, understandably. They forgot to put «less ice» on my girlfriend’s tea, but since we noticed it right away and it was their mistake, they just wrote it in on the label and were able to make it the correct way.
Last thing, they have really nice and clean bathrooms. It almost seems too nice given that it’s just a bubble tea place, but clean bathrooms are always nice. Although you shouldn’t just go here because of the clean bathroom, if you are looking for a bathroom in Chinatown, then you might as well come here and enjoy a bubble tea along the way.

Hard pressed to find a similar spot like this (well, of course, uness you’re in chinatown.)
I love that this spot features TEA. Honey tea. Green tea. Oolong tea. And even other odds and ends drinks that usually aren’t featured in other spots, like yogurt drinks. It’s a cool, colorful, and vibrant vibe in the interior, along with modern seats. They’ve got little lounging couches and jenga on a table.
Erego, it attracts a younger crowd. The workers are young. Clientele is young. This place is open late, so I’m not surprised non-​alcoholic wayfarers use this spot as a friday night option to safely spend time with some friends.
but really. the cups? they’re amazing. They are so super secure and sturdy. I wish all spots were like this. I like that they also typically have a hot vs. cold option on nearly all their drinks.
But here’s my gripe. Cash only. Womp womb

Stopped by after having some dim sum at a nearby Chinese restaurant. The oolong milk tea is reasonably good with a distinct flavor of oolong. Quite refreshing.
The place is a little bit noisy, typically the Chinese chatting style. The music they play is soft and soothing. A good place to hang out and relax though.

This is a popular place despite it is on the second floor close the Zodiac square and cash-​only. Really?
I was referred to this place as «they have the real tea». I ignored my kids request to get the smoothies from Joy Yee and got them here to have the Strawberry milk smoothie. There was a line in front of me and almost all tables were occupied.
One thing I really liked that they have options for size, amount of ice, and how much suger you want in your drink Clearly listed. So I quickly asked for a Taro milk tea (little suger and less ice) with red bean topping. And quitely asked only half suger for my kids’s smoothies.
I liked my drink as it not overly sugery and I could really taste the tea flavor. Guess I have another nice stop after my dinner at Chinatown.

Being KFT lovers, travel-​mates and I were ecstatic when our eyes laid upon a Kung Fu Tea here in Chicago. Atlanta KFT spoiled us with free wifi and credit card usage. Only con here? It’s CASH only. Keep your ones for this establishment. No free wifi either. It’s located on the second floor to the right of Chinatown Square. Like the location in Atlanta, drinks are customizable. You may choose your sugar level, ice or no ice, toppings, etc.
I ordered a taro slush, less sweet, with no toppings. After a full meal at Lao Shanghai, I didn’t want anything too heavy because we had dinner reservations later in the day. The taro slush was refreshing on a very hot summer day in Chicago. Service was fine. Plenty of seating options. Dessert cups and water bottles available for purchase.