in Seattle
The First Bubble tea
Ambrosia Cafe (1997- now)
619 S King St, Seattle, WA, 98104
Ambrosia Café is the first bubble tea store in the Seattle area, located on South King Street, international district.
The Chinese name of Ambrosia Café is “忘情水”, which means love-forgotten potion in English. It comes from a well-known song in 1994 by one of the most famous Hong Kong singer, Andy Lau.
Claudia Wang and her husband opened the shop in 1997.
Chinatown, 1980s - 2000s
Kris Kwok
The current owner of Ambrosia
"The first owner of Ambrosia is a couple from Taiwan. I call them uncle and auntie.
At first, they started a grocery store as the same location as the bubble tea store right now. They have run the grocery store for two years before they switched to a video-rental store for another two and half years.
The first time auntie tried the bubble tea is in Vancouver. Disappointed in the taste of the tea, she thought about improving the quality. Not long later, she went to Taiwan and started to learn from the actual, authentic Taiwanese style milk tea store. She brought it back to Seattle, started the first bubble tea store, Ambrosia."
Being surrounded by the coffee vibe in Seattle, Ambrosia's first year was difficult. Most local people found bubble tea simply odd. They were not familiar with this kind of beverage.
But as young Asians discovered it the second year, it has been accepted and widely spread in the next years.
Ambrosia Cafe offers more than 50 additional flavors and concoctions for the teas, including strawberry, melon, taro, red bean, coconut, lychee, watermelon, peanut, mango and so on.
Music and MV credit to Andy Lau
Old pictures of Chinatown are from Seattle Gov
Resource: Seattle Times
Photos and video credit to Fan Lu & Esther Pan
Fan Lu
lufan0929@gmail.com
