Qlicious Opens in OTR Neighborhood

Bubble Tea Shop Brings Boba to Downtown Cincinnati

CINCINNATI (January 12, 2023) – The Over-the-Rhine neighborhood will officially become home to a new business featuring handcrafted bubble tea when Qlicious opens in Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC)’s Perseverance project this weekend.

Qlicious specializes in various flavored teas as well as pastries and other baked goods and will open its 499-square-foot space at 1505 Vine Street to the public on Sunday, January 15.

Bubble tea (or Boba) is tea infused with milk or fruit and served with tapioca balls or other toppings. It originated in Taiwan in the 1980s and has been gaining in popularity more broadly in recent years. Qlicious will offer milk teas like taro and matcha lattes and fruit teas like peach and Sakura lychee with toppings ranging from tapioca to coffee jelly. Customers can select sweetness level and if they’d prefer a non-dairy alternative in their drink. In addition to its tea varieties, Qlicious has a slush & shakes menu, smoothies, crème brûlée, and flavored Yakult – a Japanese probiotic milk drink. The pastry menu will include items like custard buns, Hokkaido sweet cheese bread, and Japanese Cheesecake, which were big sellers during last year’s Blink.

“I always wanted to drink bubble tea, but it’s been really hard to find authentic versions since moving to Cincinnati,” Jerry Liu, owner of Qlicious, who moved to the Queen City in 2018, said. “So, I decided to open my own shop to provide myself and others with different types of milk tea, fruit tea, and Asian-style pastries.”

This is Qlicious’ second location and Liu’s third brick-and-mortar business, including Queens Bakery on Fields Ertel Road, which opened in 2019. Liu will bring some of his Mason-based shop’s pastries to the OTR location to pair with the extensive bubble tea menu. The shop’s operating hours will be Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 7 p.m.

“Bubble tea has so many mix-and-match varieties that there’s something for everyone, even those new to boba,” Lindzie Gunnels, Senior Commercial Leasing Officer with 3CDC, said. “Qlicious offers more than just a drink – it’s also a fun experience for customers, and we’re glad to have something like it in the neighborhood.”

While Qlicious will be open this Sunday, it plans to host a grand opening event in the spring, where customers can get half off a menu item with the purchase of a full-price item.

Cloud Printing, a New York-based design team, developed the branding and the space for Qlicious. Qlicious is the fourth space now open in 3CDC’s Perseverance project, joining Cinema OTR, Joy & Matt’s Bookstore, and All in Style. The $13.9 million Perseverance project, which was a collaboration between 3CDC and Over-the-Rhine Community Housing (OTRCH), consisted of the renovation of three historic buildings that created 32 affordable residential units for those making 50-60% of the Area Median Income, along with 6,700 square feet of street-level commercial space.

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