Community Highlights: Meet Tyler Doty of Ouro Bubble Tea Co.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Doty.

Hi Tyler, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Ouro Bubble Tea Co. was started as an idea almost six years ago. It started from a love for bubble tea initially, and its initial inception was to just be a typical track boba shop. After looking into the products and exploring the history of bubble tea, we fell in love with the steep heritage and craftsmanship that goes into the production of the pearls. We came from a restaurant that focused on product quality and handcrafted menu items, and took all of the concepts and methods we learned and applied them to our menu. We were looking at a physical location about three years ago, but due to life circumstances, we had to put the concept on the backburner. We never stopped our love for the products we created and we continued to perfect our recipes and focused on finding boutique vendors that aligned with our core philosophy of quality, fairtrade and ethically sourced produce, and natural ingredients. In April of 2024, we decided to officially launch through a booth at the local farmers market. Since then, we’ve been building a loyal following and customer base at the farmers markets. We take pride and are thankful we had the six years of product development, through the ups and downs, because it allowed us to bring our customers the best product and we do our best to provide an exceptional customer experience to the Ouro Family.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been an easy road. We faced several challenges in getting to this point. Our founder had faced several medical issues during this period as well as having to adjust the launch plans several times due to funding. Outside of life circumstances, our business model alone is very difficult as we import product globally so that we can keep the tradition of each product alive. Supply chain issues are constantly a threat so inventory management has been a critical skill in operating the business as well as developing product. We learned this during COVID. It also has been incredibly difficult to find other businesses that align with the expectations of quality and philosophy of Ouro.

Besides the core fundamentals of the business operation itself, there are always product development challenges that are faced on a daily basis. We use our own unrefined sugar blend crafted from sugars all over the world as the base for the pearls and because of the nature of the sugar and the tapioca, the product takes six hours from the time we take the raw ingredients, to the time it reaches a drink. We did hundreds (no exaggeration) of attempts to try to get the dough to a place where it could be consistently replicated, because the ingredients are so temperamental. Even though developing each of the products was a struggle, we refused to sacrifice the quality for the sake of ease.

We’ve been impressed with Ouro Bubble Tea Co., but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Ouro Bubble Tea Co. prides itself on being a one of a kind bubble tea experience. We specialize in handcrafted black sugar boba and quality ingredient beverages. We work exclusively with real ingredients, without any artificial flavors or dyes. We pay homage to culture and the quality of the ingredients by sourcing them from the country of origin. From the way we prepare our Japanese Teahouse Grade Matcha, to our Masala Chai that we get from India, to our Authentic Horchata, to our scratch-made, fresh root Taro, we try to use each drink to tell a story of that product and take the customer to a truly authentic experience. We source our products from vendors that offer fairtrade payment to the farmers for their produce, and we ensure that the farmers use sustainable farming methods. We use BPA free, quality PET plastics, instead of PP, for our drink containers to reduce our footprint and ensure that our business practices are sustainable. Lastly, we believe that our customers define our brand. Our goal is simply to offer an elevated bubble tea experience, from our product to our services.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
Most of our staff was born and raised in Arizona. We love Phoenix, and are especially enjoying Park West Farmers Market, the current market we are located at. The community is fantastic, positive, and genuinely happy to be there. Arizona offers a wide variety of things to do and who doesn’t love the sunsets!

The only downside is the heat!

Pricing:

• All 16oz beverages are $7 and include boba
• All 24oz beverages are $10 and include boba

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ourobubbleteaco/