BROOKINGS — Something new has just joined the Brookings food and drink scene: CupA Tea, the city’s first authentic boba milk tea shop.

“Milk tea is very popular in Asia and bigger cities with large Asian populations, so I’m trying to bring something new to Brookings,” shop owner James Nguyen said in a recent interview. “I’ve been living here for 10 years, but every time I wanted a good milk tea, I (had) to go all the way up to Canada to buy a proper one.”

CupA Tea opened for business in July at 319 Sixth St. Its menu is quite extensive, ranging from multiple milk tea offerings to tropic fruit tea options and more, including arctic smoothies, premium milky tropical way drinks and, yes, even a selection of coffees. Topping choices include boba (tapioca pearls), crystal boba, glass jelly, egg pudding, chia seed and more, with options for popping boba and jellies as well.

“I’ve tried many stores around here, (but) nothing quite gets to what I wanted it because I used to live in California, where we have large Asian communities,” Nguyen said. “So after 10 years I figured, ‘Well, nobody’s going to open, I’ll just have to open one myself.’”

And so he did. But he was busy before that as well, having first arrived in Brookings for a job opportunity all those years ago and, in the years since, having also opened Brookings Nails & Spa at 2035 Orchard Drive, Suite 4. Ever an entrepreneur, Nguyen is always alert for a new opportunity.

“Entrepreneurs always look for something (to) expand investment — I try to bring in what I know to the town and specifically what I know that we don’t have,” Nguyen said. “This might be big in five, 10 years — I don’t know — but we have to start somewhere.”

He continued, “(We) try to get the word out and we try to keep consistency with quality drinks and make (them) like no other place in town. Main reason why? (To) bring something new to Brookings!”

Nguyen is more than succeeding, judging from social media reviews and his own experiences with what customers are loving about CupA Tea, whose phone number is 605-696-9800.

He noted that milk tea is the house specialty, with brown sugar oolong milk tea being especially popular with customers. Oolong is one of two types of tea carried by the shop, with the other being jasmine tea. Nguyen described oolong as a roasted tea, not just dry like green jasmine tea, so it carries a smoky flavor that’s also a little sweeter compared to the jasmine tea.

“Taro milk is a thing that we’ve been seeing people order a lot. … People love that nutty, earthy flavor and creamy taste to it. Everybody tried it, they loved it,” Nguyen added.

For those not familiar with taro, it’s a starchy root vegetable. Nguyen is also prepared for customers new to milk tea and its related drinks.

“In a milk tea, to serve populations not familiar with tea, we have the tea flavors quite faint (and) not as strong we used to do in Asia,” Nguyen said, who originally hails from Vietnam. “We always have the option, if they want to add a shot of tea to make it stronger.”

As a small-business owner, Nguyen is banking a lot on good word-of-mouth when it comes to raising awareness of CupA Tea.

“We’re trying to bring something new here to Brookings,” he said. “I know it’s going to take a while to get the word out for people to try, but hopefully when (SDSU) comes back, they’ll spread the word better. … For the longest time, we didn’t have something like this, so I hope to bring that out to them so that they know we’re here. Have people try something different than just the old school of different coffee flavors — try something new!”

That said, starting small doesn’t mean it’ll stay small, either.

“For now, it’s sort of a mom-and-pop store — we’re trying to keep it small and keep it easily manageable,” Nguyen said. “As time goes on, we might expand into DoorDash and other services, but for now we’re trying to keep it local.”

He encourages folks in and around Brookings to try new things — and, hey, if those “new things” includes drinks from CupA Tea, he certainly won’t complain.

“I keep trying to tell people: If you’ve never tried something new in your life, this is the time,” Nguyen said. “Go in and … try something you’ve never heard of.”

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.