By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Tryyaki Asian Cuisine in Hays now offers bubble teas, milk teas, smoothies and new entrees.
Tryyaki opened in Hays eight years ago and is owned by Eric and Ivory Han.
Milk tea consists of tea and milk and is found in many cultures.
Boba, or bubble tea, contains tea, milk, water, sugar and tapioca pearls.
The fruit teas come in a variety of flavors like lychee and dragonfruit.
The Hans have a variety of toppings that can be added to one of the teas, including fruit pearls such as mango, strawberry, cherry, passion fruit, kiwi, lychee and peach.
All beverages come with one free topping, but you can add fruit or boba pearls for an extra 75 cents per flavor.
"With the different syrups and toppings, you can make your own flavors," Eric said.
The milk tea flavors are banana, iced mocha, honeydew, matcha green tea, Okinawa brown sugar and taro.
Taro is a root. Depending on how you prepare it, it can taste sweet, like vanilla.
Smoothies come in flavors, including mango, peach, strawberry and pina colada.
Last week, Tryyaki started offering fruit teas open to close every day.
The Hans hope to hire more staff to offer the full drink menu daily.
Milk tea and smoothies will have specific hours. Watch Tryyaki's Facebook page for hours.
Eric and his wife have been considering expanding their menu to include milk tea for several years. Three years ago, during the Thanksgiving holiday, they traveled to Overland Park and found people in the Kansas City area enjoying milk and bubble teas.
The Hans had considered opening a separate location for the tea business but ultimately decided to integrate the concept with Tryyaki.
"Bubble tea, milk tea, and fruit tea are pretty popular in China and Taiwan," Eric said. "Just like American people like coffee, Asian people love tea."
Both Eric and Ivory are from China. They lived in Lawrence and studied at the University of Kansas before moving to Hays to open Tryyaki.
Tryyaki is a drive-through restaurant, so customers sometimes buy their drinks from other businesses. Eric said they wanted to encourage customers to buy drinks from their restaurant.
The restaurant has also added entrees.
New food menu items include teriyaki (chicken, beef, shrimp, tofu) bowls, general chicken bowls, orange chicken bowls, general tofu bowls and sesame chicken bowls.
New sushi rolls include golden crunchy crab roll, golden crunchy Philly roll, golden crunchy tuna roll, golden crunchy eel roll and golden crunchy veggie roll.
"We are really thankful to our Hays community. Without our community’s support, we cannot go that far," Eric Han said.
You can find Tryyaki's menu and order for carryout or delivery through DoorDash at https://hays.tryyaki.com/.