Macu Tea
This Taiwanese fruit tea specialist opened its first SoCal location in Irvine, replacing Tiger Sugar
Even though we liked Tiger Sugar – Taiwanese originator of the tiger-striped brown sugar boba drinks that became famous in the late 2010s – The Alley and countless other cafes brought the same drink (and variations) to Orange County well before Tiger Sugar’s Irvine location opened and closed. In 2024, it was replaced by a different Taiwanese drink chain, Macu Tea, which specializes in fruit-forward teas and smoothies, milk teas, and matcha lattes; you can even find a brown sugar boba latte on the menu if you still want one. Notably absent from the menu are coffee drinks, while fresh mango smoothies appear to be big sellers, assuming the many crates of apparently fresh honey mangoes at Macu’s counter aren’t just props.
We sampled two of Macu’s most popular drinks, a Bo-Bo Strawberry Smoothie and a QQ Passion Fruit Drink, with each name flagging some of the chain’s noteworthy flavors and toppings. Bo-bo are clear agar-based boba, available alongside regular boba and coconut jelly – the trio are collectively known as 3Q and can be added individually or together to drinks. QQ consists only of boba and coconut jelly, with additional toppings including noodle jelly, green tea jelly, coffee jelly, and “chi-chi” cheese foam. “Li-li,” fruit pulp, is also included in several fruit drinks. Sugar and ice levels can be customized in non-smoothie drinks, and we found 50% sugar and light ice (30%) to be just right.
We really enjoyed both of these beverages’ intense, natural fruit flavors and their toppings’ atypically chewy textures, which made them more dessert-like and fun to drink than versions at most places – pulp and seeds combined with the boba and jellies to make the QQ Passion Fruit a particular standout. Another drink, Chocolate Tiramisu, was essentially a chocolate milk smoothie separated from sweet cream foam topping by a layer of chocolate cookie chips. While the addition of bo-bo (our choice) made for a somewhat weird sensory experience, the drink’s normal flavors and textures were great; matcha and strawberry versions are also available.
Macu is a fairly small cafe with no seating inside and a couple of tables outside; prices range from around $5 for basic teas to nearly $7 for pulpy fruit teas and “drinking desserts” almost universally above $7. Even moreso than Tiger Sugar before it, the menu doesn’t stand out locally as much as the execution, but once you try its drinks, you’ll likely want to return. We know we will.
Stats
Price: $
Service: Counter
Open Since: 2008 (Taiwan), 2024 (OC)
Addresses
6608 Irvine Center Dr.
Irvine, CA 92618
Instagram: @macutea.irvine