Taiwanese style tea and other drinks
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651 S King St International District 206 / 624-5402 website
-menu in English and Chinese
-karaoke room also available
Interview with manager, Emmerline Wu
It's hard to imagine now, but when Gossip Espresso & Tea opened 11 years ago, it was only Seattle's second bubble tea shop.
Manager Emmerline Wu has been with the company, off and on, for most of that time.
“It all started with four friends playing mah-jongg...at that time there’s only Ambrosia as a bubble tea store, I think, around Chinatown. And almost there’s just like one bubble tea place in Seattle. And they would like gather around, we should just like open up one...And so they get together, have the idea, then just start rolling from there...I think two of the four people join the business; they’re still the owners.”
“We try to really keep it fresh and stick to the roots from Taiwan...”
As the story goes, bubble tea was invented in Taiwan when a curious tea shop employee dumped the squishy tapioca balls from a half-eaten dessert into her drink.
“That’s why we have this big wall, all about Taiwan and things like that.”
The “big wall” is covered in pictures from Taiwan and dominates Gossip’s seating area. Taiwanese trends also show up on the menu board.
“It is pretty Taiwanese style. But as Taiwan bubble tea grows, right now we are actually different from the Taiwan. And then right the teas in Taiwan, it's mostly about teas, less about the milk teas, and the owners are also trying to make it that way, too. Yeah, more about teas, because it’s more health-conscious things like that. And then we have more fresh fruit as well.”
The drink menu is subdivided in many different categories, but Emmerline and staff can walk visitors through the maze of choices.
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| iced green tea with honey, boba, and grapefruit segments |
"And if they want something with teas I would recommend just green tea, black tea, or lychee green tea, passionfruit green tea, and let’s see, one more...Peach green tea.
“Those five, it’s the most popular ones, and it’s more acceptable to everyone.”
Emmerline’s suggestions for more adventurous drinks start with the avocado shake:
“Yeah, fresh avocado with condensed milk, that’s really very savory...It get blended up with ice, that’s it: condensed milk, avocado, sugar. We have that year-round.
“And the grapefruit green tea, actually, is pretty good, and it’s made of fresh fruit: fresh grapefruit with honey and green tea. It’s one of my summer favorites. It’s like, so refreshing.”
And one last choice: boba or no boba? They’re the pearl-sized balls of chewy tapioca that give bubble tea its name and its distinctive texture.
“Well, you can choose not to put it, but that’s why people come into places like this, to get the bobas. They get them in everything.”
As with coffee or cocktails, bubble tea aficionados can be very...particular.
“We have customers comes and and says, ‘Oh, I’m so glad to see you here!’ and then they would just ask me to do it, or some other senior staff to do their drinks, and the newcomers was like, ‘What we do that they’re not doing? What's the difference?'
"I think it’s like experience, and I mean the longer we are with our customers. Some people come right in and we know his or her drink and we’ll just make it right away, and that’s how every retails is like. People has their own personal favorite and once you get to know the customer you kind of know whether he likes more sweet, or less sweet, and you make it to his preferences.”
“We are always welcome and open to opinions and people giving feedback and things like that. We don’t really always want to listen the good comments, but we also want to listen to the complaints and things like that, so we know where we can improve ourselves...And there’s actually a lot of gossip getting around. We hear things!”
