At Boba House, the drinks can be as much a visual as a refreshment: layered colors, big colorful cups and a wide straw meant for more than sipping.
“It’s not like just going to the coffee shop and getting a coffee,” Keaton Truman said. “It’s kind of a whole experience. It’s fun.”
Keaton Truman and his wife, Trang Truman, opened Boba House about a month ago at 227A E. Main St. in Montrose, in the same parking lot as AutoZone. The shop specializes in boba — sweet milk teas and fruit teas served with chewy tapioca pearls or other add-ins — alongside Vietnamese coffee and a growing lineup of snacks.
Trang Truman, who moved to the U.S. in 2016, is originally from southern Vietnam and said she studied near Ho Chi Minh City before continuing her education in France. She later followed her sister to Colorado, and said her parents have since joined her in the United States. Before opening the shop, she worked at LA Nails.
Keaton Truman previously served seven years in the U.S. Air Force and later attended college in Grand Junction, where the couple eventually met.
The idea for the shop started with family.
Trang Truman said her niece and nephew kept talking about wanting a boba shop in Montrose. When the couple traveled to Denver, stopping for boba became part of the routine, and she began to wonder why the same kind of place didn’t exist closer to home.
“Every time we go to Denver … we always stop,” she said. “So like, why not here?”
At first, the couple considered opening a food truck. They looked at buying a trailer but backed out after hearing concerns about the quality of some units. Not long after, they found the small storefront on Main Street and decided it would be a better fit.
“We kind of saw this place and were like, ‘Oh, it’s perfect,’” Keaton said.
The space was previously used as an office for a roofing company, and the couple said it required significant remodeling to convert into a drink shop.
“We had to put in everything,” Keaton Truman said.
They began renting the space in July and quietly opened the shop weeks ago, planning to hold a formal grand opening later. But word spread quickly.
“We were going to do the grand opening in a couple weeks,” Keaton said. “Then we kind of just opened … and people just kept coming in.”
Now in its fourth week, Boba House has already attracted steady traffic, though the couple said they are still figuring out how much boba to prepare each day.
“Somebody will come in and get like five drinks with extra boba,” Keaton said. “That’s a lot.”
The tapioca pearls used in the drinks arrive dried and must be cooked, stirred and rinsed before serving — a process that takes time and careful attention.
“It took me an hour to cook the whole pot of boba,” Trang said. “You have to cook it and stir it and let it sit.”
The shop offers traditional tapioca boba along with popping boba, crystal boba and other toppings. Some drinks are tea-based, while others are not.
The house milk tea uses black tea and jasmine tea, Trang said, while fruit teas are made using jasmine tea as a base. Drinks like taro lattes and brown sugar milk tea contain no tea at all.
Another highlight is Vietnamese coffee, brewed using robusta beans known for their stronger flavor and higher caffeine content. The coffee is made with a traditional Vietnamese drip filter and served with condensed milk.
“It’s condensed milk and the drip coffee,” Trang Truman said. “No extra sugar.”
Keaton said the drink hasn’t yet becomeone of the shop’s biggest sellers but believes it’s one of the best.
“It’s not one of our higher sellers,” he said. “Which is crazy, because I think it’s one of the better drinks.”
For Trang Truman, boba’s appeal goes beyond taste.
“It’s tasty and then it’s fun,” she said. “It’s a drink and then something you can eat.”
Boba drinks often feature colorful layers and chewy toppings, which she said is part of what makes them popular with younger customers.
“My target is for the young kids,” she said. “They grab a cute drink and then have fun drinking it.”
In Montrose, many customers are trying boba for the first time. For those unsure about tapioca pearls, the shop also offers fruit smoothies made with fresh strawberries and mangoes.
“If they don’t want to try boba, we have smoothies,” Trang said.
The couple hopes Boba House becomes more than just a place to grab a drink. They said they’d like it to be a fun experience for kids and adults alike.
Boba House is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and is closed Mondays.
For Trang, seeing customers enjoy the drinks is already rewarding.
“I’m so happy that people like the drinks,” she said.
Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.
