BEACON PHOTO/NAJAH LANE
TAKE A LOOK! — Lianet Ortega decides what to order looking at the menu. The menu consists of several items, from hot drinks to ramen. Different ramen flavors include chicken, beef and shrimp.

Since last May, Deltona has been hiding a delicious treasure. A treasure that can keep you comfortable during the hot weather.

Yi Xin (ee-sin) is a boba tea shop selling a variety of teas and assorted cakes, as well as ramen, and other Chinese cookies and candies. Yi Xin has a modernized style that appeals to everyone, with an inviting light and soft ambient music.

In addition to boba, Yi Xin’s owners, the Chen and Seng family, own Boiled Crab China Taste, a Chinese restaurant a few miles from Yi Xin. The restaurant’s a family-owned business that features their Chinese cuisine.

If you’re unfamiliar with boba tea, boba is the small tapioca pearls you find at the bottom of your tea. At Yi Xin, the boba is made fresh every four hours to ensure the texture is up to standards. Boba is better when it’s not firm or dissolves too quickly. If boba is not your cup of tea, you have a choice not to have it in your drink.

BEACON PHOTO/NAJAH LANE
NEED TO BEAT THE HEAT? —
Yi Xin Boba Tea’s specialty drink, pictured here, is Sparkling Lychee
Lemonade, with boba.

Inside Yi Xin you’re hit with a wave of what smelled like bergamot, a smell this writer finds relaxing for the mind. It gives a sense of calmness to the restaurant, allowing people to feel at ease upon entering.

Katrina Chen, daughter of owners Yen Seng and Bao Chen, works at the restaurant. She’s a 14-yearold eighth-grader attending Heritage Middle School just around the corner from both restaurants her family owns. She works alongside her sister Hannah Chen; both of their schedules consist of commuting from school, to work, and home. Katrina enjoys working at the restaurant due to the family she has created with her co-workers. Everyone at Yi Xin has found and created a home within one another.

“The name Yi Xin refers to both of Chen’s daughters’ names combined. Together it becomes Yixin; it means one heart,” Katrina Chen said.

In addition to its teas, Yi Xin features a ramen section. Entering the restaurant, located on the right, you’ll find a table with the different flavored noodles. Customers can assemble their own bowls.

Ramen flavors include seafood, braised beef, chicken and more. The table consists of a microwave as well. Let a worker know you want to enjoy your ramen in the restaurant, and they’ll help you.

I came into the restaurant not knowing what to order. I stared blankly at the menu, but owner Bao Chen swept in and recommended an oolong boba tea. Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea composed of different spices like ginger and several other helpful vitamins made from a process called oxidation.

“Oolong tea is similar to coffee,” Chen said. “It has the smell of coffee, but it doesn’t have the same taste.”

I trusted his recommendation, and loved it. If you’re into warm smells like cinnamon and sugar, oolong tea might be your new favorite.

Fellow Beacon contributor Carmen Cruz came along to Yi Xin with me, and she ordered a brown sugar boba tea with a red velvet cake. The red velvet cake was very moist and airy at the same time. The icing was spread evenly between three layers of cake, and it shined on top of the red opaque layers.

“You can tell that this cake is homemade!” Cruz said.

Katrina Chen recommends the lychee lemonade, which consists of fresh lychee, lemon juice, artificial sweeteners and boba pearls. It also contains gold sparkles, and Katrina enjoys that aspect of the drink. The best part? Once you shake it up, the drink is a nice light shade of purple.

Before Yi Xin, Katrina’s family started off with their Chinese restaurant called Boiled Crab China Taste, formerly known as China Taste.

While it was my first trip to Yi Xin, I was familiar with Boiled Crab China Taste. My family are regular customers there, and my favorite menu item is their fried wontons! Biting into the wonton, you’re met with a warm, flaky texture, and the beef inside is steaming.

Katrina says her parents are from Southeastern China. They first settled in New York, but the two soon realized they’d much rather live somewhere quieter and more peaceful. Deltona fit the bill.

While Deltona was their starting point, Yi Xin Boba Tea will be branching out soon with a new shop near Stetson University in DeLand.

— Najah Lane is a Stetson University senior currently working as an intern at The West Volusia Beacon.

YI XIN BOBA TEA
1382 Howland Blvd., Suite 122, Deltona FL 32738
OPEN MONDAY-SATURDAY 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. & SUNDAY Noon – 9 p.m.
CUISINE: Southeast Asian with vegan options
SPECIALS: Brown Sugar Milk Tea, Dirty Tao Tea, and Sparkling Lychee Lemonade
ALCOHOL: No
SEATING OPTIONS: Wheelchair-accessible
DRESS CODE: Casual
FAMILY & PET-FRIENDLY!
PRICES: $6-$18
MORE INFORMATION: 386-259-5100
Follow Yi Xin Boba Tea on Instagram and Facebook for updates, menus and new drinks!

1 COMMENT

  1. The owner always park the car on the fire line for whole day. The family is terrible. Force the owner call towing company to tow the customers car. Everyone was angle about that.

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