HiTea now open in Chesterfield for ramen and boba tea

Name: HiTea now open in Chesterfield for ramen and boba tea
Item: HiTea
Author: Iain Shaw

Fruit teas, milk teas, and Japanese-style rice bowls are also on the menu.

by Iain Shaw

September 26, 2019

9:51 PM

Love You So Matcha Latte and Bu Lei Roasted Milk Tea 2.jpg

Photo by Iain Shaw

At HiTea, Love You So Matcha Latte and Bu Lei Roasted Milk Tea

HiTea is now open in Chesterfield and serving ramen and rice bowls, in addition to a wide and varied menu of fruit teas, bubble teas, and cocoa drinks.

Photo by Iain Shaw

The restaurant and café's soft opening was July 28; it's been quietly building a following on the western stretch of Olive Boulevard. This is HiTea’s second branch, with the original location in Lawrence, Kansas.

HiTea’s name in Chinese characters, “Han Cha,” translates to “Chinese Tea.” The shop’s colorful drinks—fruit teas, milk teas, and blends of fruit and flower teas—echo a phenomenon that has swept the younger generations of Beijing and Shanghai but is just as popular in Taipei, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and increasingly in St. Louis.

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Photo by George Mahe

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Photo by George Mahe

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Photo by George Mahe

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Photo by George Mahe

Takeout orders can be placed at the counter. If you’re so inclined, you can snap a photo against the butterfly-wings wall art while you wait. If you’re dining in, step among rows of faux greenery to grab a table in HiTea’s chirpy, Instagram-friendly world of cute furniture, stuffed pink animals, quirky knick-knacks, and a mural of a cactus field.

Photo by George Mahe

Start with the Japanese-inspired matcha lattes (served cold, like all of HiTea’s teas). The “Love You So Matcha” option is a blend of crushed strawberries, strawberry milk, and matcha, with a layer of cream cheese on top. The sweet, creamy flavor from the milk and strawberries sits well with the intense matcha; adding boba gives you another texture to chew on.

If you’re visiting for the photos, the Deep Blue Flower Milk Tea is spectacular. One of HiTea’s milk-forward drinks, the tea adds subtle floral notes and provides a striking color. We enjoyed the brown sugar boba milk tea, but the Bu Lei Roasted Milk Tea’s riff on a crème brulee didn’t quite deliver the flavor that description implies. A little more brown sugar syrup and vanilla would have helped.

Photo by Iain Shaw

Deep Blue Flower Milk Tea

Most of the teas fall between $5 and $6, and you’ll almost certainly want to add boba for an extra 50 cents. A number of places offering cheese tea have opened in St. Louis over the past year; if you haven’t tried it, you can add a layer of cream cheese on top of your tea for 25 cents. Other add-ons include “pop boba,” passionfruit jelly, lychee jelly, and crystal peach sap.

The food distinctly leans toward Japanese dishes, ingredients, and preparations: tonkotsu ramen, eel rice bowls, ajitama eggs, and naruto. The food menu is straightforward: choose from ramen or a rice bowl. Many of the featured meats—chicken, tonkotsu, beef shank, and pulled beef—can be ordered with ramen or rice. Although there’s a vegetable ramen, all of the ramen is prepared in a beef or pork bone broth. Most dishes are priced around $12.99, with higher price points for seafood items, such as the eel rice bowl ($16.99) and lobster ramen ($19.99).

Photo by Iain Shaw

Tonkotsu ramen - pork bone broth, pork belly cha siu, half-boiled egg, cloud ear mushroom, bamboo shoots, corn, scallion, roasted garlic oil, fish cake, roasted seaweed

During our first visit, the server recommended the spicy pulled beef ramen as a starting point, though we ended up trying the tonkotsu option. Hitea’s pork bone based broth is relatively light, lacking the rich flavor and stickiness that distinguishes the best tonkotsu. If the broth currently falls slightly short, this is still a creditable ramen, with each of the remaining ingredients playing its part. The dish is carried by a sturdy noodle that helps fold in all of the flavors from the ingredients.

Photo by Iain Shaw

Chicken ramen

On a second visit, the chicken ramen in beef bone broth was equally solid, and the breaded chicken, crisp and golden, was an impressive touch. The eel rice bowl came with mixed leaves (spinach and arugula), putting a healthy twist on a classic Japanese comfort food.