Shu Jen Ryan spent decades working in Albuquerque restaurants. Now, she’s serving up a taste of her Taiwanese roots with Yes Boba

Shu Jen Ryan can’t go into most Asian restaurants in Albuquerque without running into someone she used to work with.

Ryan has managed and served at numerous local restaurants, including Azuma Sushi & Teppan, Naka Sushi and Hibachi One. With 40 years of experience in the restaurant industry and as one of the nation’s few female hibachi chefs, she’s done it all. And yet, there was still one venture she had not yet pursued: starting and running a bubble tea shop of her own.

“When I was a child in Taiwan, I always loved boba because it tasted so good. I hoped one day I could have my own store,” Ryan said.

That dream came to life in late June when she opened Yes Boba, an authentic Taiwanese bubble tea spot, at 2225 Wyoming NE in Suite J of the Hoffmantown Square shopping center.

“The last five weeks have been really amazing,” said Ryan’s husband, Joe Schmidt. “Having people come in, pick their favorite drink from somewhere else, take a sip and their face lights up and say, ‘This is the best I’ve ever had.’ It’s been really nice.”

The shop sells shaved ice in flavors such as mango and milk, as well as ice cream sundaes with unique Asian dessert toppings including taro, egg pudding and red bean. But the shop’s shining star is its bubble tea drinks.

Bubble tea, also known as boba tea, originated in Taiwan four decades ago but has exploded in the United States over the last decade, Schmidt said. As experienced today, it’s a tea-based drink that often comes with milk, fruit, flavoring and cooked chewy balls made of tapioca starch and sugar.

The secret to Yes Boba’s bubble tea drinks is its owner’s roots in Taiwan. Ryan was born in Taiwan and came to New Mexico as a teenager after her father, a retired Air Force serviceman, settled in the area.

Ryan returned to Taiwan last year to secure a deal with Yes Boba’s primary supplier, a family that has been growing tea in Taiwan for hundreds of years, Schmidt said.

“Our teas are excellent,” he said. The shop currently carries oolong, ceylon and Jasmine tea bases, as well as oolong milk tea, ceylon milk tea and black tea.

The shop also sources its syrups from Taiwan, which Schmidt said have fewer calories and sugar than some of the other popular syrups used in boba shops.

“We try to get as much of our stuff from Taiwan as we can,” Schmidt said. “We try here for taste.”

The drinks also come with bursting bubbles in a variety of flavors, including mango, peach and strawberry. The most popular drinks so far are the Taro Milk Tea, Thai Tea, a bubble gum birthday cake drink called Blue Coral and a mango coconut drink called Hong Kong, Schmidt said.

The bubble tea drinks typically cost $7, while sundaes and shaved ice cost nearly $10, Schmidt said. Tariffs under the Trump administration have “hurt (the business) a little bit,” Schmidt said, but Ryan is determined to keep prices low.

“Starting a business is very hard — much harder than I expected. I worry about things every day,” Ryan said. “But seeing people take that first sip and their face lights up — I’m happy.”