The dessert and tea spot, known as Meet Fresh, has increased in popularity in this past year. There are more and more locations sprouting up everywhere, including one in our local mall! Most of the items on the menu are delicious, but have you ever stopped eating and thought about where these desserts and teas originated? Here is some background on Meet Fresh and my review on their desserts and teas.

In being a fairly new company started in 2007, Meet Fresh’s history is all pretty recent. Originating from Taichung, Taiwan, the youngest brother of the Fu family began this worldwide company. Most of the items on the menu were the Fu family’s traditional and home-cooked recipes. The dessert shop did so well in Taiwan that many new locations were opened in various countries, including China, South Korea, and Australia. The first location opened in California is in Irvine today. This Taiwanese dessert empire now has over 500 locations in the world.

Even though Meet Fresh has become very well-known, many people have still never heard of it, let alone tasted its food and drinks. You’ve probably seen handfuls of people on Instagram or Snapchat take videos and boomerangs of bowls filled with unusual-looking, shiny substances. It might look disgusting, or delicious. When you try it, you might either love or hate the mixture, but you can’t deny that it’s insanely fresh, living up to its name. If you didn’t already know, these dessert bowls mostly consist of grass jelly, brown sugar, condensed milk, and chewy taro balls. It’s actually really healthy and an amazing treat on a hot summer day. Moving onto the drinks, Meet Fresh sells the basic kinds of Taiwanese milk and green teas, along with other tea flavor variations, but also gives you the option to add different toppings like taro and not just boba. The executive partner of Meet Fresh, Jason Sun, states, “It’s the taste of home.”

Personally, I absolutely adore Meet Fresh. The first time I tried it, admittingly, I found it disgusting and not worth the hype at all. The bowl my family ordered for me had red beans, making the entire mixture taste like herbs. I felt it was overpriced for what I got. The next few times I went, I got the most popular item on the menu. This time, it consisted of grass jelly, chewy taro balls, brown sugar, and condensed milk. It was more my cup of tea. From then on, it’s become my regular order. There are so many different flavors in it that I don’t ever get bored of it! The teas are a bit of a different story. I’ve tried their milk and green teas, and surprisingly, they’re bitter and barely have any flavor. They are still fresh drinks; I just wasn’t as big of a fan. I hope to give their drinks another chance sometime soon, so maybe they’ve redeemed themselves.

There are many options for dessert on the Meet Fresh menu, meaning that you might be a little overwhelmed the first time you go. The environment is amazing even though it’s often crowded, with good energy and positivity all around. When you have the chance, give this new place a shot, after all, to many, “It’s comfort food dessert.”