Roanoke gets all the tea with the debut of HTeaO, the nation’s leading iced tea franchise (is there more than one iced tea franchise?), which opened its first-ever Roanoke store on Saturday, November 22 at 1320 N. Hwy 377 #300, at the northeast corner of Marshall Creek Road.
The new store is owned and operated by franchisees Dana Ellis, Jared Lee, and Mark Ellis, and marks their second HTeaO location following the location in Arlington at Arkansas & Cooper.
HTeaO is a Texas chain founded in Amarillo that serves tea, water, and coffee products, both in-store and drive-thru. Each location boasts 20+ flavors of sweetened and unsweetened tea, made using a proprietary water filtration system. AI says there are currently more than 150 locations, and that includes 19 in the DFW area.
Flavors come in sweetened or unsweetened versions and include options such as coconut, Georgia peach, dirty cherry, mango, mint, watermelon, raspberry, strawberry passion, Texas chai, and the Razzler Refresher, which they describe as “a crisp fusion of Monin Glacier Clear, Blue Raspberry Syrup, and lemonade.”
To their credit, they list the actual ingredients on their website. The ingredients for the sweetened Razzler Refresher are as follows: ascorbic acid, citric acid, coffeeberry whole coffee fruit extract, FD&C blue #1, guarana extract, gum arabic, l-theanine, malic acid, maltodextrin, methylcobalamin (vitamin b12), natural caffeine, natural flavors, potassium sorbate (preservative), pure cane sugar, sodium citrate, titanium dioxide, water, and yellow 5. … pretty similar to drinks such as Gatorade.
The coffee menu has loads of sweet flavored options such as the Marfa Morning, described as “a cozy blend of rich Free Rein Homestead Espresso with hints of hazelnut and Irish cream, perfectly balanced with creamy whole milk and finished with a touch of maple drizzle.”
Iced drinks include options such as the Iced Honey Cinnamon Macchiato, with their Free Rein brand espresso, whole milk, and vanilla syrup, served over ice.
They also have a so-called “secret menu” — which is not so secret since it’s listed in plain sight on their website — with various teas combined to make other drinks such as the Cotton Candy, which combines watermelon- and coconut-flavored tea. Secret menus are part of the schtick of these beverage chains, along with dumping tons of eco-unfriendly single-serving disposable plastic cups onto the planet, critics say.
The store is on one of Roanoke’s busiest stretches of Highway 377, in a small center that’s home to a Discount Tire and a SuperCuts. You get a haircut and grab a tea when you’re done.
The release says it is close to Byron Nelson High School; students and families are a group they’re trying to reach.
“Launching in Roanoke marks an exciting new chapter for us,” says Jared Lee in a statement. “North Texas has embraced HTeaO in such a big way, and expanding beyond the DFW metroplex lets us reach even more communities.”