TeaByDo

In the United States, Chengdu – the largest city in China’s Sichuan province – has since the early 2000s become increasingly associated with numbingly spicy Chinese dishes, buoyed by local praise for LA chain Chengdu Taste (and younger offshoot Miàn). Within China, Chengdu is also known as the country’s panda capital, and home to a boba tea chain known alternately as Cha Bai Dao and ChaPanda. After nearly two decades of expansion, the roughly 9,000-location chain has entered Orange County as TeaByDo, and is part of a recent wave of straight-from-China chains (see: Auntea Jenny, Cotti Coffee, Mixue) that generally have several things in common: me-too drink options, depersonalized customer service, and apparently large fan bases elsewhere in the world.

Exterior signage during TeaByDo’s construction claimed that the chain sells a billion drinks each year, and TV-based menus inside list its three “best sellers” by similar metrics: The mango pomelo sago ($8) supposedly sold 400 million, while the signature taro ball milk tea ($6 to $7) sold 73 million, and oolong milk tea with soybean cheese foam ($7 to $8) sold 48 million. There’s some room for confusion – another banner showing the mango pomelo sago claims only “92 million cups sold every year,” which is to say those “best seller” numbers may have been peaks. Similarly, panda-themed signs inside reading “Hi Los Angeles” suggest that TeaByDo chose OC as the initial location for a broader Los Angeles area expansion, which will almost certainly happen regardless of whether or not this first shop succeeds. That may be tough: Its arrival at Irvine’s Jamboree Promenade plaza follows the closure of multiple tea shops in the same location, most recently Bober and Naricha, which were most noteworthy for offering drinks with toys at the bottom of their cups.

Apart from the panda-themed branding. TeaByDo doesn’t have any obvious asset or gimmick to set it apart from hundreds of already established competitors. The very short menu has only 13 drinks, and focuses exclusively on fruit teas and milk teas. Eight fruit teas ($7.60 to $8.60) include watermelon, coconut, avocado kale mango, grape, and other mango mixes; five milk teas ($6 to $8) range from jasmine to gardenia dew, brown sugar pearl, and the two best sellers. Extra toppings range from 50 cents to $1.60 each; sugar and ice levels are adjustable.

Though it’s unclear whether the menu will remain this limited going forward, it’s worth noting that TeaByDo shops elsewhere in the U.S. offer pineapple and passion fruit drinks, lime and gardenia green tea, and “pure tea” drinks with no fruit. The pure teas are markedly less expensive – $4 or $5, depending on location – and may be omitted from the OC store for that reason.