Pochi Tea Station

I can’t do it anymore. It’s not what it once was. Or maybe it was always this bad and it was the only decent option for bubble tea back then. Or maybe I just associated it with my experience as a student rather than what I thought was a good quality cup of bubble tea. Regardless, I can’t do it anymore.
I stated in my previous review that this place tends to be hit or miss, and lately it seems to be a miss more often than not. You can order the same drink 10 times but end up with 10 very different drinks every time. If you’re lucky, one of them will taste just right. You’ll end up with boba that is either still frozen or overdone, a smoothie that is either too runny or – no wait, it’s usually just too runny, and flavor that is either not sweet enough or has no flavor at all.
The lazy, careless staff makes White Castle workers look like world beaters.
I used to be able to excuse this place for all its flaws, but I can’t anymore. I’m done.

On a cold winter day in the end of December, eight years ago, I went on a date with a really cool dude that I barely knew. Since I had never heard of bubble tea before and had no idea what boba balls were, he took me here. You might not notice this place as it’s a tiny tea station located down the steps underneath another store. I’m glad he noticed it.
It was here that my love for bubble tea was born. The delicious flavors swirling around the squishy, black tapioca balls were incredibly weird and amazing! I wanted more! The world needed more places like this! Because of my newborn love for the strange drink, this was one date that I never forgot. And I really felt the need to give this place a shout-​out and a thank you. (Oh, the guy? We never ended up together but we still keep in touch. He rocks.)

I love boba tea and haven’t found a great place since I had moved to Ohio from Los Angeles but this place is the closest for me. They have a good selection of flavors and the tea taste good. The only problem is the wait but it’s not that bad as other reviewers make it out to be, it’s a tea station, tea is suppose to relax. Order ahead if you’re really busy.
Also, this station is UNDER Buckeye books, so if you can’t see it while driving just park near the bookstore and walk around and you’ll find it easily.
EDIT: I lost my patience with this place. I must have been on a streak the first five times I went to this place because they were always open but the numerous times I’ve came after they have literally been closed all the time. It makes me wonder if this guy is getting a lot of cash to be closed as much as he is. This is no way to run a business, if he is too lazy to work he should consider hiring employees to open and close for him.

(I’m going to base the content of this review on the «Tip» I composed on my iPhone.) I get a weird vibe here, as the facility’s a little run-​down yet colorful. My mango green tea with milk pudding cubes was a little too watered-​down for the price I paid for it. Coming from a metropolitan area with a very high Asian and Asian-​American population (for the Mid-​Atlantic, anyway), I have easy access to quality bubble teas at home, and the one I got at Pochi just doesn’t compare to ‘em.
All the more reason I should check out the selection at ZenCha, I guess … but at least the Taiwanese music videos on the television are sort of interesting … –ish.

Great when they are open, but often the place is closed despite hours posted that would say otherwise. I love the honey milk tea with boba. I hate the music videos.

On our way back from Columbus, I sent Hubby in to get some bubble tea for our drive. He calls and asks, «Do you want pudding in your tea?» I asked him what that was while envisioning a dollop of thick American (?)-style vanilla pudding at the bottom of my cup. «It’s too hard to explain, I’ll just order it for me and you can try it.» Well friends, pudding is nothing short of amazing. Firstly, «pudding» is like the gelatinized stuff you get at dim sum rather than the stuff you get from Jell-​o. It’s diced up and tastes like egg custard. The end result is a very pleasing complement to your milk tea. I highly recommend it!
As for the milk tea itself? It’s pretty good. I was hoping it’d be like other Taiwanese black teas where there is a slight hint of coffee flavor (had this in LA and OKC) but it was «normal.»

Good old Pochi! my new favorite place in Columbus because it reminds me of a place i went to back home in CA. The establishment itself is not the best. couches are town up, trash is always full, ant its not the cleanest place i have seen. The food and drinks however are amazing and not too expensive.
i recommend the pot stickers and the chocolate/​coffee milk tea mixed together. YUMM!
also i have heard from many people that they are closed quite often.. haven’t personally experienced this but that’s the word around town.

So, their bubble tea is great, I love it. Ginger bubble tea is nice and spicy and all.
I’d like to be able to give them more stars, but I just can’t. The wait for drinks is fairly significant. So, if you go, be prepared for that.

Jiggly Puff makes the best bubble tea in town! Great variety!

I love Pochi’s. I love their teas and smoothies. I come here all the time. It’s the only place I’ve actually filled up a «frequent buyer/​buy ## get one free» card, and I’ve done it like 4 or 5 times.
Great teas and smoothies, well priced.
The food that I’ve tried, however, has been less impressive. The appetizers were all generally fine, but the few times I’ve gotten entrees there, I did not like them (or even finish them).
Also they have a 5 $ minimum for credit card purchases, which can get you in trouble if you don’t think ahead.
They also recently started playing Tae Yang, Big Bang, and Wondergirl music videos, rather than Jay Chou, which always makes my day 1000x better.
One of my favorite places to go. I love the chocolate almond milk tea. Yum!

Best Bubble Tea in columbus! good snacks too. love the taro milk tea and spicy chicken noodle.

How long do you want to wait for your drink? The bubble tea here is good, but expect to wait at least 20 minutes on a good day or upwards of 45 on when its moderately busy. I don’t know why they only have one blender or incompetent workers, but it makes me want to make it myself at home.
When I commented today that 32 minutes is a rather long wait, the girl told me «oh we had a rush.» I counted. 6 people got their drinks in the time we sat there and there was one person in line when we first ordered. Some rush.
This time my tea was good but the pearls were overcooked and not at all chewy. Bummer. 30 minutes for a mediocre tea.

Great Bubble tea! I absolutely adore this place. If you frequent it, you’ll see your fair share of Dungeons and Dragons type World of Warcraft costumed players. It’s their local spot to open up and play their new Magic card deck.
Other than that– free WiFi, good atmosphere, cheesy typical Asian music, and great bubble tea. It may take awhile for your order to come, but worth the wait.
I recommend the crispy tofu! Oh, and park in the 1hr spot by Staters.
$ 5.00 minimum on credit.

I frequented Pochi in ’06/’07 when I was attending OSU. I lived less than two blocks away and was there at least once a week, and for good reasons. The bubble teas (with flavors ranging from fresh/​unsweetened to syrupy/​sugar-​overload) were the best in town. Their menu was comprised of hundreds of options (I didn’t count — they number everything!) of teas and snacks. I especially liked the teas with bits of fruit in them, brick toast, crepes, and the gyoza (potstickers). Most of all, I was addicted to their Chicken Congee!
Not being accustomed to the cold Ohio weather and endless snow, I was either getting sick, was sick, or was barely recovering from a cold from Dec. ’06 to March ’07. Pochi’s Chicken Congee (with the 1000-​year egg, yum!), paired with a cup of warm Azuki Bean Milk was my remedy! I still have not found a congee I like as much as Pochi’s and I will definitely stop in for some, if I ever find myself in Ohio again. The four-​star rating comes from the occasionally slow service and messy tables.

Tea is not bad, but the bubbles is a hit or miss. 80% of the bubbles in my drink were fine, but the other 20% were gross — cut in half… or gritty… or abnormal looking and tasting. Don’t think I’ll ever get bubbles in my drink from here again.

I wish I could rate this N/​A because this review is more of a notice than a review of the establishment itself. I went by Pochi after lunch today and it was closed. This was around 2:30pm, totally normal business hours. There were no signs indicating any explanation as to why, it was just closed. I don’t know if maybe they close for the summer because of lack of business, if they permanently closed their doors without notice, or if someone was just out to lunch. Whatever the case, I’d recommend calling first.

The clearly have the best bubbles in town. The tea is pretty good, although I prefer Teavana. Pochi is a bit more syrupy /​processed but it sitll def hits the bubble tea spot! My fav is the iced bubble tea with strawberry and peach mixed. Their potstickers are also awesome. Pretty cheap eats! $ 5 minimum on credit/​debit card purchases.
If you don’t go here just get a bag of potstickers from the frozen aisle of Costco (they come with packets of soy sauce).

Pochi will always be a place of great nostalgia for me, although over the years it has been open it has slowly lost some of its polish and become just a tad dull. This isn’t a problem of the adorably loud paint job fading, though, it’s something about the soul of the place that hasn’t died or even disappeared, but has certainly just lost a touch of shine.
In my days as a wayward college student in the Manga Club at Ohio State, I spent a lot of time at Pochi, enjoying my first heady experiences with Bubble Tea, playing Jenga, and setting record times at eating crepes. In those days, Pochi played a wide variety of music from Eurobeat to 80s classics, all with accompanying music videos on a television (and of obviously varying degrees of legal procurement). But at some point the music selection at Pochi tapered off, slowly, and there was less and less variety to the music. When I go to Pochi now it always seems to be Jay Chou or another megapop star performing a very operatic and very horrible concert for millions of people. O do I long for the days of a Gigi D’Agonosto video! Or even a bootleg video of Rollergirl! Anything else!
I’m guessing that college hooligans are to blame for the fact that the games at Pochi are no longer left out for all to play with; as far as I can tell they’re kept safely behind the counter now. This is very understandable, unfortunately, but while the open, relaxed atmosphere of walking in, grabbing an Uno deck off the shelf, and getting to business lasted, it was a great place to be.
For what it’s lost in atmosphere, though, it’s never lost in quality of product. Pochi makes the best bubble tea in town, hands down, and their selection of flavors has probably induced insanity in less hardy travelers than yours truly. The food doesn’t disappoint either– try the french fries, which are amazing. Better yet, try the crispy tofu– whatever that pink sauce is that comes with it, I’m in love with it.
Thanks for years of memories, Pochi. I still can’t stop coming in for a hot almond milk with boba on a cold, rainy day!

I’m not quite sure what to make of Pochi Tea Station — or bubble tea for that matter.
I’m a bit of a late-​comer to the bubble tea scene. Sucking chewy tapioca balls soaked in milk, tea and honey through a neon yellow straw. Hmm. I love tea and so I wanted to try.
The ambiance is very relaxed. The guy working was just hanging out at a table when I walked in. He was eager to help me, though. I ordered up a green tea with honey, milk and bubbles (the tapioca balls).
The wait wasn’t as long as most of the other reviewers indicated. About three or so minutes after placing my order, I got to try the tea. Interesting. Maybe on a day that isn’t so hot? I’m not convinced. I’m not giving up either.
The music videos playing on the television were fun, if not eventually annoying.
We’ll see next time.

Whenever I describe Bubble Tea to someone, I always get this horrified look in return. «You like chewy warm black gobs of balls in your tea?» If by chewy warm black gobs of balls you mean tapioca pearls, then yes!
Pochi Tea Station is located in the basement of Buckeye Mall, and it literally is a hole in the ground, and you might miss it from the street. Bubble Tea is an Asian concoction, and thus Pochi Tea Station has a certain faux Asian flair to it. Jay Chou music videos play on the TV while the whiney Taiwanese vocals make pleasant conversation nearly impossible. This wasn’t always the case, as the owners used to play really great bootlegged house and trance music videos. Ever since the switch in music choices, the ambience has really taken a nose dive.
But despite the disappointing atmosphere, the food and drinks really pull through. Pochi Tea Station serves the best Bubble Tea in the city of Columbus, and they have so many different flavors to choose from. There is Apple Tea, Watermelon, Lychee, Green Tea, and Coconut Milk just to name a few flavors. All days are served hot or cold with your choice of boba (tapioca), jelly (think jello) or pudding. Many flavors even come in a smoothie version. Hot Almond Milk Tea is great in the winter, while a Red Bean smoothie is perfect for the summer.
Tea is not the only thing on the extensive menu. Pochi also serves a number of appetizers, crepes, toasts and soups. I suggest the cinnamon apple crêpe, or a basket of their fries or spicy chicken.
The food and Bubble Tea is amazing at Pochi, but the music and the lime green walls makes me want to flee as soon as I’m done with my drink. My suggestion is bring earplugs, sunglasses, or at least a lot of friends to keep you entertained.