SnoCream Company
When The Block opened in late 2016, owner Arturo Mei’s SnoCream Company finally found its home. Previously, Mei—whose background is in accounting and finance—was serving the Taiwanese shaved ice/ice cream combo out of a bus. Since then, he has expanded his business at this brick-and-mortar location to include soft-serve ice cream, milk teas and brewed teas. Much like the chillier desserts offered there, SnoCream Company’s teas can be dressed up with boba flavors, jellies and “classics” like grass jelly, red bean, aloe, taro pudding and custard pudding. And this summer, the “purple drank”—made of dragon fruit, lychee and coconut water—was a favorite.
4221 John Marr Drive, Annandale
Teas’n You
This playfully named place doesn’t mess around. It offers an assortment of traditional loose-leaf teas, plus fruit-infused ones that get even more off-the-beaten-path when milk, chunks of fruit and various jellies are added, or when blended into slush for an icier treat. From light greens and reds and yellows, to oranges and browns and lavenders, Teas’n You’s Thai, milk, matcha, slush and specialty teas come in all sorts of colors. The red-orange fusion fruit tea starring a trifecta of strawberry, passion fruit and lychee is popular, as are the classic Thai tea, green Thai tea, horchata matcha and white rose cream tea. And be on the lookout for another Teas’n You, slated to pop up in new Rosslyn food hall Happy Endings Eatery in the fall.
8032 Leesburg Pike, Vienna