International teahouses reflect distinct regional cultures and traditions, while Mr. T-houses just show episodes of The A-Team on repeat. Pity foolish sippers with today’s Groupon: for $5, you get $10 worth of beverages and café fare at Kim’s Tea House Tapioca, located on Bellaire Boulevard and Wilcrest Drive.

Kim’s Tea House Tapioca brews and blends flavorful tealeaves, coffee beans, tapioca pearls, and fresh fruits into palatable potions. Bubbling with a sea of sugary pastels and rich tea leaves, Kim’s menu drips with more than 150 varieties of teas, juices, smoothies, slurpies, and coffee to allay parched windpipes and rehabilitate tongues formerly banished to flavorless tundras. Sweet-seekers imbibe indulgent concoctions by outfitting beverages such as the honeydew cream tea ($3) or jackfruit smoothie ($3.25) with beads filled with tapioca, lychee, strawberry, and other inventive ingredients. Replenish levels of vitamins A and C with a glass of fresh carrot-orange juice ($3.25) or sample soothing leaf-based fusions such as the lavender green tea ($2.75), available hot or on ice. Break up slurping sessions with one of Kim's sandwiches topped with barbecue meat, avocado, and other savory ingredients to prevent teeth from growing restless and file a suit for tooth-fairy adoption.

Reviews

Nine Yelpers give the Bellaire Boulevard location of Kim's Tea House Tapioca a four-star average, and three Yelpers give the Wilcrest Drive location a 3.5-star average:

• This is one of the best places to chill with fresh smoothies or tapioca drinks. I think they started offering banh mi- Vietnamese poboys and I had to try a combination one. It is hot and also fresh…My husband and I go about once a week for a cool treat. – Helen N., Yelp, Bellaire Boulevard location, 9/12/09
• When we were in Houston last year we came here almost every day. I absolutely love the variety of their drinks. – Juancho P., Yelp, Bellaire Boulevard location, 3/22/10