Class 502

I had the milk tea snow ice and tapioca milk tea. For drinks, I like the fact that you can adjust your sweetness level and that you can actually taste the tea and it’s not all cream and sugar like some places.
The snow ice was a different texture than I’m used to. I prefer NuCafe’s snow ice as I think it’s probably the closest to Taiwan snow ice. The snow ice was also too sweet for me. I could barely taste the tea. But the boba is really good. For this place, I think I’ll stick with the drinks.

Excellent milk teas and the atmosphere feels like a elementary school! Brings me back to my young self! They have school chairs and tables and the décor and board games keep you and your friends busy. The milk tea was not too sweet, light and full of flavors. I got the lychee with Boba and egg pudding. Out of this world! I would definitely come here again!

I came here, because some friends were hanging out in this strip mall. I never had Tapioca before, I didn’t know what to expect. I tried a mango peach slushy which is like a smoothie. Man I loved it! Best tasting thing I had ever had in my life, I could easily tell they used real pieces of mango instead of some fake flavoring. The tapioca was flavorful as well.
Atmosphere looks like a casual hangout, lots of cool pixel art, menu is on a chalkboard and the tables are school desks (but like elementary or something). The employees were dressed like school girls/​guys. They had board games, jenga, and some other stuff.
I would imagine this as a hangout place and not a study place.
Oh yea I did go to the bathroom, everything clean, walls painted and everything, they had some cool posters of animé, I saw Case Closed, which is like my fav show so Kudos Class 502.

This is right next door to Kung Fu Tea. I’m not sure why businesses in China town are so competitive. There’s about 6 or more boba cafes in this shopping strip.
I’m not going to complain though, it does help out when one spot is packed like sardines. I drove by a couple of boba cafes and they had stupid long lines. Great thing I was able to find this place with no one at the line. This may mean something! They must not be as good as the others since a crowd is not jumping up and down in this place.
I have tried a variety of milk teas and flavored teas at Class 502 and I’d say their product is great! You can tweak the ice and sweetness level to however you like it. They were running specials such as buy one get one free and discounts for students in the beginning when they first opened. It seems it has been cutting down since they have got their name to pop out.
**I see you can get a free drink with a Unilocal review. They have a note (Minimum of 10 words of your honest review) So we Unilocalers can get a free drink! Thumbs up :)

I came here because a friend wanted to check it out. Its location is kind of hard to spot, because even though my friends said «right next to KFT,» a giant tree blocked its sign so I spent 5 minutes trying to find it. However, I finally found it, right next to KFT.
The whole environment is very cute. The tables are actual desks, and there’s a cute chalkboard menu. +1 for the 10% discount for students, so don’t forget your ID.
I got the wintermelon milk tea, and I was not disappointed. It had just the right amount of sweetness and touch of refreshing. My friends got the two different oolong milk teas, and the cashier did a great job of describing it to my friends. The boba was warm and sweet, and I highly enjoyed it. It’s definitely worth a try, especially if you’re tired of the KFT hype.

I’ve been avoiding this place and maybe it’s because I graduated school and I have no desire to cosplay as a schoolgirl. Although the ambiance is cute, I’m going to be missing out on class here. Atleast this place is a little less crowded in comparison to other places.
My friend had their popular Half & Half and I had the Milk Tea flavored Snow Ice with Condensed Milk and Tapioca. I actually liked their tapioca, very sweet and chewy. However, the Milk Tea Snow Ice was kind of weird. It was so strange, I didn’t finish it. Detention for me.
It was really creamy and flavorful, so much that I think it was no longer shaved ice and became something like shaved ice cream. The prices are also a little bit too high for what you’re getting.
I don’t think there will be a next time for me here, sorry teach-.There’s plenty of other places to learn on the block.

LOL awkward because I kind of feel bad giving such a low rating to a place that is so highly rated by everyone else. But lemme tell you, this was the worst boba I have ever had in my entire life. It was such a disappointment because Houston Chinatown is supposed to have some of the best boba in America, after California. To be fair, there was only one person working at a fairly busy time (Sunday lunch), but still. I had really high expectations and I was extremely let down.
I got the classic black milk tea, and the drink itself was pretty good. Not too sweet, and a strong tea flavor. But the pearls. Oh lawd, the pearls. WHY WAS IT SO NASTY? The pearls/​tapioca/​boba/​bubbles were WAY undercooked and hard. I even asked for no ice, so I know it wasn’t because the drink was cold. I was drinking out of the straw and I knew something was fishy when the pearls easily shot straight up the straw. Usually, boba is cooked in a hot sugar+water syrup and allowed to expand, which causes the pearls to come up the straw more slowly. But these pearls were tiny, and when I tried to chew them, it was hard and just plain gross. I know everyone else talks about how great the boba is here, so whenever I’m in Houston again, I’ll give it another try. But I’d go when there’s more people working. Never again for just a single person.
However, this place is really cute. Super adorable with their school theme, and everyone recognizes this place by the awesome post-​it notes superman art. The little tables are like the elementary school desks with the little compartment to books in and whatnot. Also, they’ve got pretty good perks like the one where if you take a selfie at the shop and get over 30 likes on any social media, they’ll hook you up with any type of milk tea for free (pearls not included)!

So, after passing this place a few times, my girlfriend and I finally gave it a shot.
The Half Half dessert drink was amazing. Very unique! Sweet, but not too sweet. My girlfriend’s ginger drink was pretty tasty too because they use fresh ginger.
The decorations are awesome, and they offer student discounts. Great place to study or hang out.

Not going to lie, Class 502 brought back all the feels of elementary school with their school desks and cute little chairs. It has a warm feel to it, with really adorable posters, and their music selection is on point.
In terms of boba, my body was more than satisfied. The matcha milk tea was very creamy and not too sweet, just how I like it. The boba itself had a firm texture and the cup size was fairly large (but about right for the price).
Service was pretty fast, but it was hard to hear our names. Also, while I love the tiny chairs and desks, maneuvering in and out of them was kinda a pain. Despite these minor things, Class 502 is probably my fav boba place now. Next time (and there will definitely be a next time), I’m gonna give their shaved ice a try!
Protip: 10% discount for students!

Best boba (tapioca) in Houston!!! It has a right amount of sweetness and chewiness. Also their milk teas are made of whole milk instead of creamer. They use high quality products here.
My favorite drink is green milk tea.
Customer service here is very nice and sweet, way better than Kung Fu next door.

I’ve been here twice and it’s been nothing but a friendly and great interaction! The milk teas are not too sweet, which is just the way I like it. I’ve only ordered the black milk tea and the taro milk tea. Black milk tea is a solid choice. The taro milk tea was nice and tasted like the cookie crisp cereal lol. I feel like flavored milk teas will always taste different than the actual name (I.e. Coffee milk tea, taro milk tea, etc) but they’re good anyways. I think this place is starting to become my favorite tapioca place and I’ve never had a favorite.
They have lots of perks. 10% discounts for students and for people who check in on Unilocal.There are more perks but I’ll let the picture do the talking.

One of my friends took me here after dinner for some drinks.
The place is absolutely adorable! It has a school theme with individual desks, chalkboard menu, and fun décor like the mural of superman made out of post it notes. Besides drinks they offer shaved ice and even other speciality desserts. There’s so many ways to get discounts here. Students always get 10% off, post a selfie, get 30 likes and you’ll get a free almond milk, write a review on Unilocal and receive a free drink of your choice, or just show them you checked in on Unilocal or Facebook and receive 10% off.
When I was with my friend I tried the lychee green tea with tapioca and it was pretty good. Lychee flavor tasted a bit artificial so compared to Kung Fu’s lychee tea… I prefer Kung Fu’s. The tapioca is very good here. It’s soft, chewy, and a bit sweet. The second time I brought the BF and we tried the white peach oolong tea which I liked a lot better. The tea flavor was strong which I enjoyed since I don’t enjoy too much sweetness in my teas.
Overall this is a great place to hang out! I’m sure you can study here but it can get pretty loud with the larger groups. They offer free wifi and only accept credit cards for purchases more than $ 5.

The décor and theme of this place is definitely cute and unique. My sister and I came on a Sunday night (last night) hoping it won’t be too crowded with people because of finals week in college. Lucky us, we were the only ones there (at first).
They don’t really have coffee so we opted for milk teas. I ordered the almond milk tea, green milk tea (with no tapioca) and the milk tea shaved ice with mangos and pineapple toppings (small). The staff was friendly and attentive. Even was nice enough to offer us the pads for the small wooden chairs. The milk tea drinks were tasty! Even my sister enjoyed hers. However, the milk tea shaved ice was a letdown. The fruits were fresh but the actual shaved ice was a bit… off.
The wifi was pleasantly fast and the bathrooms (girls) was clean and Hello Kitty theme. This place have potential! I will post some pictures of some of the art of the place. Most likely be back for a study time again.

I’ve been looking forward to checking out this place and finally got the chance this past weekend. For a Saturday night, it wasn’t that packed. Not sure if that’s an indication of the quality of their bubble teas and snow ice.
I got the half & half — black tea with snow ice topped with tapioca. The mix sounded intriguing so I decided to go for something new. The snow ice came out floating on top of the black tea. I ate it with some confusion since I was only given a spoon. Overall, the taste was not there– I ate the snow ice separately, then tried mixing it in with the black tea, but I didn’t end up finishing it.
My friend got a hot boba drink and she didn’t end up finishing it either because it was too sweet. We initially were drawn here because I saw that they had toast. I was craving toast with condensed milk but they only had honey toast, which was a whopping $ 15. Not sure why it was that expensive… maybe they give you the whole loaf…

I actually quite like the drinks here! My milk tea was made not too sweet (without asking for any sugar reduction) so that was a plus for me. I like when the tea flavor is more pronounced and not masked by all the added sugar, cream, or syrup. However, if you like your drinks to be sweet/​creamier, then this may not be the place for you.
I got a hot mountain oolong milk tea. It had an initial taste of oolong and a green tea/​floral after-​tone. Quite pleasant and would get again!
Two downsides
-$$$. All drinks are one size, large. Mine came out to be a little under $ 5 WITHOUT boba. A bit much, no?
–Seating. I guess the «classroom» desks and chairs matches their overall theme, but it is so impractical for sitting purposes. I felt oversized, not to mention uncomfortable, sitting in these things for more than a couple of minutes!

Located right next to the popular Kung Fu Tea, Class 502 is a new adorable addition to the boba epidemic. It’s a concept café, modeled after that of a Chinese classroom. But, seriously… this place is so expensive.
Preface:
There are a lot of boba places in Chinatown, so as a consumer I’m going to be pickier about where I choose to shell out my money. I’m looking for quality milk tea here!
DRANK
What’s unfair and confusing about 502 is that they have «milk tea» as well as «whole milk + tea.» Does that mean that they use powdered formula for the former and put together real stuff for the latter? Milk tea is simple. Milk. And tea. Why do you charge $ 0.50 more for the latter? Plus another $ 0.50 for boba and that brings my total to $ 5.00 before tax. Seems a little ridiculous, but I decided to be an open-​minded first time customer and see what happened.
Verdict: the oolong + whole milk boba was good, but not worth $ 5.50. I only noticed that if I checked into 502 on Unilocal or FB that I’d get 10% off but I’m not going to complain about a fifty cent difference. That’s all I have to say about it though. It was good. Totally able to be duplicated at another boba place.
AMBIANCE
Class 502 is a ripoff of LA’s Class 302 that probably doesn’t do it justice but I’ll let it pass. The tables are actually single student desks put together. There are even cubbies installed under the desks. A giant Superman post-​it collage covers one side of the wall, and inspirational Chinese quotes cover the entrance door to the bathroom. There’s WiFi and outlets for studying too!
All in all, Class 502 is a new café that cranks out average-​tasting drinks at an above average price. In all honesty, I would rather spend $ 5 at Juice Box or Café 101 across the plaza for one of their bomb-​diggity fruit smoothies.

The honey toast was huge and looked awesome! $ 15 for a big hollow block of bread might seem a tad overpriced but with all the fruit and ice ream and other goodies it was well worth it, and my friends and I really had enjoyed it a lot! The snow ice and milk tea drinks were just a-​okay, though. I wanted to try the durian flavored snow ice but after being indecisive for a while, I ended up with the good ol’ boring taro flavored ice… what the heck was i thinking!!! Taro snow ice was not bad but failed to impress, anyways. What impressed me the most was the sticky note artwork on the walls; just amazing!

After lunch my kid was in the mood for a boba tea drink so we decided to try one of the newest offerings in Dun Huang Plaza, Class 502 and were pleasantly surprised! This shop is sooo cool! Hip and decorated nicely it seems designed for millennials but is suitable for all! My 12 year old really liked it! Seems like a cool hang out for college kids who may be seeking a good wifi connection! As a matter of fact, the seating is old style school room desks that seem to fit perfectly in this space! Nice design touches! Kudos to the architect!
The refreshments are everything from your hot teas, coffees, smoothies and snow ice treats. A great hole in the wall to hang with a friend if you just want to kill some time surfing the net or chatting it up!
My daughter and her pals probably would love hanging out here! Class 502 made me think of quiet coffee shops in Rice Village where you can spend an afternoon reading and visiting with friends. I’m sure this will be one of those tea shops where you will want to hang out once the word gets out!
A great option for an after dinner tea or coffee and a good spot to continue your «perfect date» if you will!
Family friendly, I actually enjoyed the music and the environment and found the staff very friendly!
A hip place to study, surf the web or just hang out with your family and friends!
It’s great that they have these tea shops popping up in the center. Perfect for relaxing after lunch or dinner!
Check it out! :)

Class 502 had their Grand Opening at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, October 9^th, 2015. They had a buy one, get one free special that night, and the first 100 customers that showed up received a free gift card up to $ 100! Now, you might be wondering why I am being so specific about this… Well, I was the first person in line at 6:00 p.m. on the dot! Boom! How addicted to boba do you have to be to show up to a Bubble Tea Grand Opening? I may have a slight problem…
A friend from California told me that there’s a bubble tea/​shaved ice place called «Class 302» back home which is a Taiwanese spot with classroom-​inspired desks & chairs known for shaved-​ice treats & hearty dishes. Class 502 is the same exact concept. Dun Huang Plaza is getting filled with these bubble tea spots, including the newly open Sharetea nearby, Tea Bar & Organics, Tbaar, Kung Fu Tea, Boba Lounge, and a few others. This is awful because I’m a boba fiend, and this is making my addiction go out of control.
Anyways, back to the boba. I ordered a Jasmine Green Tea with tapioca and light sugar for the first official «purchase.» They actually recognized me from online and gave me my drink for free! That was mad legit and impressed my friends. Also, a cute girl was dressed in a school girl outfit holding a giant box and let me choose one of the gift cards inside. As for the tea, it reminded me of Tea Bar & Organics especially with the non-​transparent paper cups. The quality of the Jasmine Green Tea was the highlight for me. I really enjoyed the flavor, and it was very refreshing. I have gone back a few times after the Grand Opening, and I am happy to say that their quality has been consistent. Looks like I found my new go-​to bubble tea place in the Dun Huang Plaza!
All of these new tea places are getting hit pretty hard with low ratings since they opened. It’s a buyer’s market since there’s so much competition in the area (like literally next door to each other). Don’t let that deter you from checking it out. I am not affiliated with this business at all, but I really think it’s a fun concept for Houston to have. I am proud to say we have a bubble tea strip in this city! Don’t drink that Hatorade all you haters, drink dat boba tea!

My initial thoughts on Class 502 are «Holy cow, this place is adorable» and «Holy cow, this place is expensive».
Drinks: Since I came on their second day open, I was lucky enough to catch their BOGO offer. They told me that they change the free drink you get every day, so today you get a Green Tea Milk Tea with a purchase of any other drink. I opted for a regular Milk Tea with Black Tea (half sweet), and it was yummy! The consistency was weird because the drink itself was very light. Almost watery. I expected it to be a little thicker, maybe more creamy? But the flavor was still there. I actually really enjoyed the lightness of the drink because I had just eaten and it was a good dessert choice, as opposed to a really creamy/​heavy milk tea. The Green Tea Milk Tea was really good, too. The green tea flavor overpowered the milk a bit, but it was a different kind of milk tea than I’m used to and I liked it.
Adorableness: The entire place is filled with schoolroom themed furniture/​decorations. There are individual tables bunched together with a little cubby underneath, each paired with its own little chair. One some parts of the wall are arrays of sticky notes, organized to look like different iconic childhood superstars, like Mario and Superman. There are backpacks hanging near the counter, completely fully of packaged straws. All of the drink menus are written on chalkboard in colorful letters and schemes. The lady’s restroom is COMPLETELY pink. It’s totally Hello Kitty themed. The drinks are in cups that are slightly slimmer and taller, and the thin layer of plastic that’s sealed for the lid is clear, so you can look down into your cup.
Drawbacks: Class 502 is NOT a good place to study. I repeat: CLASS 502 IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO STUDY. They may have many outlets, which seems handy, but these cute chairs and tables are extremely uncomfortable. Your bum will be sore within 30 minutes, guaranteed. I couldn’t even lean back on the chair to reposition myself to get more comfortable because the back of the chair is just as horrible. It was digging into my back. But the most deterring thing about Class 502 is the prices. It was over 5 $ for a regular milk tea. Seriously? That’s as bad as Happy Teahouse, but they’re all the way on Westheimer so the prices there don’t surprise me. 5 $+ for a milk tea is ridiculous. Having the BOGO offer was a steal, honestly.
Not sure if I’ll be back here without some sort of incentive or discount, because there are SEVEN other tapioca joints in this plaza that I can find a decent priced milk tea for.