Ding Tea

On the afternoon of April 17th, I visited this store which is one of the few Taiwanese bubble tea shops on the Island of Hawaii. Although the owner was not there, his partner explained to me that the tea and equipment all come from Taichung, Taiwan. The tea is delicious, the atmosphere is great, and the people are friendly. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the Island of Hawaii.

UPDATE 12/8/22: After the owner’s kind message I decided to stop in again. I asked for their best fruit tea, and got a lychee black tea w/pearls. The pearls were white this time(?) but well prepared and pleasantly sweet! Solid lychee flavor and a good black tea base. I have to say, I’m much more satisfied this time around, and I’ve raised my review to 4 stars accordingly! I do think the tea itself could be stronger and a bit less saturated with the flavor of the syrups, but it was much better this time! —original review: The atmosphere is lovely, but the passion fruit green tea left much to be desired. The pearls were over-cooked, kind of mushy and flavorless…the jasmine tea itself was alright, but the passion fruit flavor tasted kind of synthetic. It wasn’t bad, you know, but I’ve had hundreds of bubble teas at this point in my life, and I wouldn’t choose Ding Tea over Teaspresso unless I was looking for a cafe-style place to do some work and sip some tea~ Overall, Ding Tea has lovely staff and a pleasant interior, but their bubble tea itself could use some improvement. I may come back and give another kind of tea a shot in the future, and I will edit my review accordingly~

Milk and Thai teas are my go-to drinks at any boba place, and I pretty much base it on that, but if they have avocado or mango smoothies I’ll need another visit to really be sure if they’re my jam or not. Monster Boba 5 stars, Thai Tea, maybe a 3, but they have so many flavors, I’m sure I’ll be back. Sweet family run business, and friendly service, 5 stars. Thank you!

My wife got the Monster boba and it was the bomb! It made us happy just going inside. My daughter, who doesn't really like boba that much kept asking to take tiny sips! 😂 The person at the counter was so nice and friendly, and the hardest thing was deciding what to pick! I definitely recommend this place any time you pass through Hilo. 👍