Bubble, taro milk tea, dessert shop opening second Kentucky location in Lexington

Janet Patton

Fans of taro milk tea and other specialty drinks are about to have a new place to check out.

Bumble Bites is opening a location in Lexington’s Palomar shopping center at 3735 Palomar Centre Dr., in the former location of Bobi Cones, which closed August. 2023.

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It’s the second location for owner Ria Rahardja, who opened the first Bumble Bites at 521 Leighway Dr. in Richmond 2021 after building a following with pop-ups in the area for couple of years.

Taro milk tea is a purple drink made from the starchy root vegetable with a nutty flavor, often with chewy tapioca “boba” pearls.

Bumble Bites has a menu of drinks including boba, milk tea and other options.
Bumble Bites has a menu of drinks including boba, milk tea and other options.

“Richmond has given me such great support, people have been very warm,” Rahardja said.

She hopes to have the new location open by the end of April or in early May.

The menu will be similar, with lots of boba or bubble tea, milk tea, matcha and cream-top drinks as well as non-alcoholic mojitos and fruit teas, including lychee. Both locations will have desserts, including macarons and bright purple ube cakes.

Ube is another purple starchy vegetable, popular in Filipino specialties like halo-halo, with a flavor that’s a bit like vanilla pudding.

Bumble Bites, coming to Lexington’s Palomar Centre, will feature sweets including macarons.
Bumble Bites, coming to Lexington’s Palomar Centre, will feature sweets including macarons.

But Rahardja said that she plans to have a little more on the dessert menu in Lexington, when she gets ready.

And she’s always adding new things, including her latest additions: Onigiri, Japanese grab-and-go bites in myriad flavors in rice including chicken curry and chicken karaage, a kind of japanese crispy chicken tender.

The usually triangular snacks come in loads of flavors, wrapped on the bottom in seaweed to keep the filling in the rice.

Bumble Bites has added savory onigiri, rice-wrapped treats, to the menu.
Bumble Bites has added savory onigiri, rice-wrapped treats, to the menu.

Bumble Bites

Where: 3735 Palomar Centre Dr.

Hours: Not set yet

Online: bumblebitestea.com

Bumble Bites, a Richmond cafe that sells boba tea, coffee drinks, sweets and savory snacks, is opening a second location in Lexington.
Bumble Bites, a Richmond cafe that sells boba tea, coffee drinks, sweets and savory snacks, is opening a second location in Lexington.

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