Happy Lemon

Originally launched in 2006 by Taiwan’s Yummy-Town Group, the Happy Lemon fruit tea chain has had an unusual local trajectory. After quietly operating for years from a counter inside Sunmerry Bakery at Walnut and Jeffrey in Irvine, Happy Lemon recently opened three stores in Orange County, including locations in Newport Beach (2022, Fashion Island), Garden Grove (2023), and most recently Tustin (2024, the Market Place).

At Sunmerry, Happy Lemon’s drinks complimented a large collection of freshly baked Taiwanese pastries and Japanese desserts, but were only available hours after the bakery opened each morning for business. Meanwhile, as the parent company rapidly expanded across the world, opening over 1,000 stores in under 20 years, there was no local sense of what Happy Lemon could become on its own.

In what could be a sign of changing local preferences – or just shifting mall space availability – Happy Lemon’s new Tustin location replaced a Starbucks next to the also new Everspring Modern Chinese restaurant. During this hot summer, we fell in love with their Lemon Slushy, think icy lemonade with bits of real lemon mixed in, returning over and over again to try mango, strawberry, and… well, the original lemon again, because it’s just that great.