Monday through Friday LSU’s campus is bustling with students, professors, campus employees and other visitors. It’s a place that receives plenty of traffic, and JR Malbrough says it was the ideal location to open a loaded tea cart playfully titled The Tea.
As The Tea’s regional manager and an LSU alumni, Malbrough helped get The Tea trailer to campus. Though the original plan was to bring the Mississippi-born brand to LSU for the fall semester, he says they ran into a few obstacles with the university and ultimately opened the Baton Rouge trailer in January.
Passing through South Stadium Drive it’s not hard to spot the little trailer. Maybe it’s because of its bright teal hue or maybe it’s because of the massive crowds that flock to it looking to add some color or caffeine to their school or work day.
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As I approached the cart, I overheard regulars call out their orders, with signature flavors like Oxford Sunrise being a favorite. Student workers were quick to recognize their peers as customers and made conversation about afternoon plans and classes as they mixed up the energy-packed drinks.
“We see thousands and thousands of students every single day that walk right here and make it a point to stop on their way to class or on their way from class,” Malbrough says. “And they don’t have to leave campus.”
The Tea’s menu is bursting with vibrant drink combinations in a variety of fruity flavors with added benefits. The Tea offers four bases: Coconut, Orange, Berry and Dragon Fruit. Each base has about five to eight flavor combos for a total of 29 different drinks with fun names like Swamp Juice, Southern Bell, Gusher, Tigers Blood and more. The teas are served in a large clear cup with plenty of ice so you can see the bright tones and colorful ombre of liquid layers.
Malbrough says the company prides itself on its unique, clean caffeine. The owner of The Tea, CJ Browder, came up with her own caffeine base to set the brand’s loaded teas apart from those served in trendy nutrition shops when she opened the first The Tea trailer in at The University of Mississippi in January 2022. Malbrough says The Tea’s drinks are full of vitamins and have been shown to boost metabolism, burn body fat and contain no artificial flavors, preservatives, aspartame or high fructose corn syrup.
“We have a different caffeine base,” he says. “It’s kind of like our secret recipe. It’s like our Cane’s Sauce. It’s super pure, clean, all-natural caffeine. It’s all a green leaf tea extract, so it’s a true natural caffeine, and you won’t have that crash.”
Each drink can be further elevated with boosters that give the tea more Vitamin C, electrolytes, protein or biotin. These boosters don’t give the drink any added flavor so drinkers can still enjoy the sweet, fruity taste of whatever tea they choose.
While checking out the cart, I saw a facilities worker hop out of his vehicle to try his first tea. Friendly workers educated him on the benefits of the drink and told him he could go for a full 220 milligrams of caffeine, half caffeine or no caffeine. He opted to enjoy his Purple Rain—an orange base with grape, Green Apple and Blue Blast flavors— without the added jolt of energy. Malbrough says he’s not the only non-student customer to try The Tea as teachers and other campus tourers have stopped to get a sip.
Malbrough says The Tea operates with three tiny trailers. One sets up shop on the campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford, another is now at LSU and the third is used to travel around during the summer to sports tournaments and state fairs.
The Tea’s Ole Miss location has been running for a little over a year and usually averages around 400 teas a day. Malbrough says the LSU’s location is on track to achieve those kinds of sales soon. Since opening in January of this year, the new trailer already sells around 250 drinks a day, and Malbrough hopes that number climbs as temperatures rise and final exams approach.
LSU’s trailer has eight student employees who work between classes or on their off days. Malbrough says hiring people who are involved on campus has helped The Tea’s outreach.
While it is not open on the weekends, the teal truck is dragged to on– and off–campus events, helping it become a staple in the LSU community. Malbrough says the trailer is booked for an event most weekends.
In the future, Malbrough says The Tea hopes to be involved with more giveback events on campus. It has already been to many sorority philanthropy events and even plans to help out with an Alpha Phi giveback day to honor Madison Brooks.
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“My owner and I definitely love to give back and try to help out even though we’re a small business,” he says. “We definitely want to get involved and people love that.”
If you can’t stop by campus during the week to try a loaded tea, don’t worry. You can head to The Tea’s website to buy pre-mixed drink packets, rent the cart for events or try to find its setup on sunny Saturdays next football season.
The Tea is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. It is located on South Stadium Drive across from the LSU AgCenter Dairy Store and Tureaud Hall.