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Dozens of people lined up outside of Washington state’s first HeChaLou bubble teahouse in Lynnwood during its soft opening Thursday at 19888 40th Ave. W., Suite A2.
Franchise owner and Everett resident Sam Wu said the tea base used to make the bubble tea is brewed with a batch of loose leaves, not tea bags. Based on these eight bases, the teahouse staff can make different combinations of latte with different toppings, such as black tea jelly, oolong tea jelly, matcha jelly and brown sugar pearl.
While the original opening date was in mid-June, Wu said issues with city permits and contractors delayed the opening by nearly four months. With those out of the way, Wu said he is looking for help training staff while improving the accuracy of the customers orders. Customers can order at the counter or at a kiosk.
“Some people tell me they ordered some jelly, but they got a different [type],” he said. “We’re trying to figure out if the customer really clicked on the wrong thing or the staff [did] the wrong thing.”
Wu said he is planning to open another teahouse in Bellevue’s Spring District and “maybe Issaquah” in the near future.
HeChaLou literally means “Crane Tea House” (鶴茶樓) in Chinese, but it also sounds like “let’s drink tea” (喝茶囉, huh cha loh) in Mandarin.
HeChaLou was founded by Yi-Sheng Fang in 2019, and the first location opened in Taipei, Taiwan. In 2024, the first U.S. location was opened in Lakewood, California. Another location was opened in Beaverton, Oregon, in May 2022.
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