Tpumps is pure hype

My mouth waters as I look at picture after picture. Pink and green and purple with tapioca at the bottom, each of the colorful drinks looks so good. After days of scrolling through these pictures on Facebook, I just knew I had to try out Tpumps, the new pearl milk tea shop in Cupertino. Little did I know that my expectations would be crushed.

On a Tuesday evening, my friend junior Allison Chan, who had already been to Tpumps several times, and I arrived at the store and met the line that was 15 feet out the door. Surprised at the store’s enormous popularity, I figured this place must be either super cheap, super tasty or have super modern decorations on the inside.

To pass the time in line while we waited, my friend gave me some background on the restaurant. I learned that Tpumps has many different flavors of fruit that customers can combine together into a drink. Such drinks usually cost between $2.95 and $4.95.

After waiting about 20 minutes, we finally stepped inside the store. I was shocked, and not in a good way.

The store was literally a partially brown closet. I say “partially” because only half the store was painted brown, while the other half had white primer or paint — I couldn’t tell. There was no flooring, only cement with scratch marks from tiles that had been previously removed. There was also little furniture, only a single black table with no chairs.

My friend and I had to wait another 10 to 15 minutes inside the store before finally arriving at the register. Because it was my first time and I didn’t know what to order, the lady at the counter suggested I try the peach mango strawberry tea.  I ordered a peach mango strawberry green tea without milk, while my friend ordered honeydew blackberry green tea with milk.

She charged me $2.95, which at first glance seems cheap for a drink. However, it is important to note that this is only $.50 cheaper than Verde, another very similar pearl milk tea shop that also sells assorted fruit flavored milk teas and even freezes. As a result, the ridiculously long line and unusual interior of Tpumps made the cheaper price not worth it.

After ordering, I crammed into a corner with all the other people waiting for their drinks. It was a mess. People could not get in or out, and my friend and I ended up squished against the wall.

About 15 minutes later our drinks were finally ready, but we had to wiggle our way out of the corner to get to the counter to pick them up. Then, because they did not give us straws, we had to squeeze over to the corner with straws and move slowly out the door to enjoy our drinks.

My drink was only OK. It really was not much different from any of the other fruity drinks at Starbucks, Verde or any other pearl milk tea places. The boba, or the tapioca on the bottom, tasted the same as any other boba.

I would not recommend going to Tpumps unless you truly have an hour you want to waste. The taste and price are only average, and the decorations and seating are way below average.