Ma's Tea House expands into Rio Rancho

A little bit of flavor just got added to Rio Rancho, and fans of boba will be pleased.

Ma's Tea House, a bubble tea shop, opened a location near Enchanted Hills, just a quick walk from Turtle Mountain North. Owner Lorenzo Trujillo and his wife already have a location off of Paradise and Universe in Albuquerque.

"We opened when what a lot of people consider the worst time ever to jump into business: 2020. We were slowly coming out of lockdown when we had decided to open up," Trujillo said.

The reason they opened in the first place was because Trujillo's wife loves boba so much.

"My wife worked for an insurance broker prior to this and I owned a financial agency. We were doing that throughout the pandemic and we just kind of sat down and were like, 'What do we want to do outside of this?' We couldn't figure it out whether we wanted to open up a restaurant. I coached gymnastics for a long time, even up to the pandemic. Whether we wanted to open up a gym or whatever and we couldn't really figure out what we wanted," he explained.

The duo would meet to brainstorm ideas at a boba shop every day.

"It was an addiction for my wife. She would get two cups every time we'd go. So she loves it. She's Vietnamese. Not that that really matters but she does love boba. And one day we were sitting there and I just had an epiphany and was like, 'Why don't we open up boba shop?' And she's like, 'You would do that?' and I was like, 'Yeah, I mean we spend enough money here anyways; we might as well stop going broke doing this," he added.

One of the notable aspects about how the shop is decorated is the numerous Asian relics sitting around the shop. This has mostly to do with the Trujillo's Vietnamese background, but it is also an ode to their grandmother.

"The name Ma's Tea House is a dedication to our grandmother. We wanted to have something to live for her for the remainder of eternity. She got to see it through and, unfortunately, we just lost her May 1 of this year, so it is nice that she knew that we opened this for her and that her legacy, generosity and friendliness are going to live on," Trujillo said.

Ma's Tea House

He added that she inspires him to be the person he is every day but especially when it comes to customer service.

"It just resonates how she cared for me when she first met me and welcomed me into her home. That's what I wanted to do with everyone who walks through our doors," he said.

That was one of the influences of opening in Rio Rancho, too. His family has lived in the Rio Rancho area for a long time.

"This is where I had my eyes on since day one, where I wanted to go, because there was nothing out here. I mean, it's coming up and there's tons of communities, tons of new families and just nothing to do. So I figured why not try to get into this neighborhood? The same way that I'm in the neighborhood that I live in in our Albuquerque location," Trujillo said.

His goal is to give back to the community in a couple of ways, the first being school involvement and sponsoring athletes locally. Many of his employees used to be on his gymnastics team or are athletes in Rio Rancho high school sports. However, the location of the Rio Rancho shop is in an accessible area to all the surrounding schools.

"The other thing that I do, and I give back heavily, is the car shows, so I do a lot of car meets. The reason for that is prior 2020, there was this huge car meet called Desert Fest. I mean, hundreds of cars. Everyone had a great time. The community was rich and successful and positive, and coming out of 2020, it was just gone. A lot of people had built up a lot of cool cars during the pandemic, and now they had nowhere safe to show them off," he added.

While there is a rich car community in central New Mexico, Trujillo says many of the so called "takeovers" involve illegal activity and give true car enthusiasts a bad name.

His "Cars and Boba" car meet has become popular at his Albuquerque location, and he intends to bring something similar to the new location.

"I tie into putting on car shows for the community, and the majority of them have been free and we have done raffles to raise money for events such as Make-A-Wish Foundation or the Leukemia Lymphomas Society. So, that's another way that we give back, but also it's to show the people that, 'Hey, car enthusiasts aren't bad'," he said.

Trujillo is also always sure to invite law enforcement to the car meets to not only keep the peace but show the community that law enforcement isn't all bad either.

"They have a presence there, and that way the people and the enthusiasts feel safe because nothing's going to happen. But they also realize that police officers are just normal people like us. They're just in a uniform to protect us," he added.

At times the officers at the car meets become part of it. Trujillo says they always add them to their social media posts.

The hope for Trujillo is that the Rio Rancho shop be exactly like the Albuquerque location in the aspect of customers returning and becoming part of the boba family that is Ma's Tea House.

"The atmosphere that we have set there, I would never want to change it. People know us, people know my whole family, and that's the transparency that we want that we're not here just to make a quick buck but here to impact the community. We're here to know you guys," he said.

He also wants people to let them know how they like things and if they are needed for any community events. Additionally, he asks people bring their pets in with them instead of leaving them in the hot car outside.

A grand opening for the tea shop will be held Saturday, June 22.

For information about Ma's, visit the Instagram page.