Family-run tea house offers dozens of flavors and Filipino-inspired baked goods
Ribbons Tea House offers customizable hot and iced drinks and other snacks in Litchfield Park.
LITCHFIELD PARK, AZ (AZFamily) — A West Valley tea shop is making sure local youth have a safe place to go while also offering dozens of delicious drinks and homemade baked goods.
Ribbons Tea House has been serving Arizona families since 2015 on the corner of Honeysuckle Street and Desert Avenue, right next to the Wigwam, in Litchfield Park.
Owner Joel Mounce and his wife love to visit tea houses when they travel, so it just made sense to open one of their own. Since then, the customers are what have solidified the business in the community.
“We started out selling loose tea first, and then kids started coming in looking for boba, so we do the best of both worlds,” he said.
Ribbons Tea House offers 50 different blends of tea that can be served hot or iced.
Joel says this tea shop is different from others because you don’t have to add sweeteners to get a flavorful cup, and everything is freshly brewed.
“Everything’s from scratch, you know, no powders, no overly sweet things,” he said.
Joel’s favorite blend is the Mediterranean pomegranate green tea, which “has a lot of antioxidants, has a subtle natural sweetness, and it’s a nice crispy green sencha green tea.”
However, if you want to add some extra sweetness, they have a lot of options. The shop makes tapioca boba from scratch every day and offers other fruit-flavored jellies and fun additions.
“You can add in milk, you can add in the bobas and jellies and make it really fun, or you can just go traditional and have something without any sweetener,” Joel said.
One of his favorite extras is yuzu—an Asian fruit that adds a light citrus and honey flavor to any drink.
Joel said the shop has become a great after-school hangout spot with Litchfield Elementary School right across Wigwam Boulevard and a handful of other schools within two miles.
He was a district volunteer for eight years and loves that his shop can be a safe place for kids after school. Mounce’s two children also grew up in the area and his daughter, Sereena, works at the tea house.
“I’ve been coming here since I was in middle school as well. Now I’m graduated from university, and we still see the same crowds of kids coming around just the same as it was like 9 years ago,” Sereena Mounce said.
Ribbons Tea House is also near the recently opened City Square Park, built to include more play areas like a climbing structure and rope system.
The Mounces also make sure there’s plenty of food for the students to snack on for $10 or less.
They offer $1 snacks like chips, along with paninis, popcorn chicken and Filipino-inspired baked goods, which Joel’s wife bakes every morning. Two of the popular treats include the moist ube cake with rich ube ganache and the ube cheesecake.
Joel and his wife both have other jobs but make sure the shop is taken care of each day. There’s a patio for customers to relax and a food truck to help keep up with demand.
The shop also sells loose leaf tea, which Joel can show you how to brew and customize at home.
Ribbons Tea House
Location: 111 W Honeysuckle St, Litchfield Park, AZ 85340
Hours:
- Monday – Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Sunday: Closed
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