New Boba Cafe Opens
TMTea Boba brings matcha, smoothies and more to cozy southside storefront.
Honeydew milk tea and mango green tea with coconut jelly. Photo taken Oct. 31, 2025 by Sophie Bolich.
While Skittles get most of the Halloween hype, a new southside cafe is offering its own taste of the rainbow. TMTea Boba opened earlier this month with a colorful menu of iced beverages—from grassy green matcha to a pastel spectrum of smoothies.
The family-owned business, led by Azwan Zubur Ahmad and his wife, Farida, occupies a cozy storefront at 3174 S. 27th St. Formerly a retail shop, the space was remodeled in recent months to include a walk-up counter and kitchen area, plus two high-top tables overlooking the busy thoroughfare.
The menu features classic boba drinks such as brown sugar milk tea and Thai tea, along with specialty options like banana matcha and chocolate cream tea. Fruit teas include passion fruit with cream cheese topping, mango with chewy boba and creamy lemon Yakult. The cafe also serves fruit smoothies—mango, strawberry, Oreo—and coffee drinks like cacao and caramel lattes.
Each drink can be customized to taste with a choice of whole, lactose-free or oat milk and an adjustable sweetness level. Toppings include extra tapioca pearls, popping boba, brulee cream, cheese foam and jellies such as coconut, grass and lychee.
Ahmad, who opened the doors in mid-October, said business has been steady so far, though the cafe is still gaining recognition throughout the neighborhood. Its prominent location along South 27th Street—near Leon’s Frozen Custard and St. Luke’s Medical Center—helps draw attention.
The married couple are longtime boba fans but first-time business owners. Both were born and raised in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and met in Malaysia before marrying and moving to the United States in 2015 through a refugee resettlement program. They became U.S. citizens in 2023.
Ahmad is now working toward a business degree while running the cafe with Farida, who completed an online training course focused on bubble tea and gained experience working part-time in a boba cafe. The couple has three children.
TMTea Boba is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Orders can be placed in person or online for pick-up or local delivery.
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