A hot new string of New York tea shops has begun operating as “? Tea” thanks to a legal dispute with its China-based parent.
Several New York outposts of Molly Tea, best known for floral milk teas, went nameless after a judge earlier this week ordered them to stop using the company’s trademarks. The move, which created a brouhaha among its passionate local following, comes after the chain’s Shenzhen-based parent filed a lawsuit alleging that the store owners were operating outside of its agreed licensing agreement.
Molly Tea, whose name comes phonetically from the Mandarin pronunciation of jasmine, first arrived in the US in 2024 with a location in Flushing, Queens. Its success, with sales that were hitting about half-a-million dollars a month, spawned additional locations across the city and the US.
Chinese beverage chains are looking to the US as their next frontier for growth as their home market becomes saturated. Luckin Coffee Inc. , the Chinese chain that overtook Starbucks Corp. in China with cheaper prices and a focus on mobile orders, opened its first store in the US last year. Other chains such as Chagee serve tea beverages not commonly available at competitors such as Dunkin’.
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The US District Court overseeing the case issued a preliminary injunction on June 8 ordering all of the shops managed by the local chain, including the original Flushing location and one in Manhattan’s Chinatown, to stop using the brand’s name on storefronts, products, uniforms, online ordering platforms and social media. Videos of a newly-unbranded shop went viral, showing hand-drawn “?” logos on cups and on its menu screens.
Chowbus’s online ordering page shows those two locations are closed, while orders in Brooklyn are currently paused. An Uber Eats page for Molly Tea’s Chinatown address is now listed as “? Tea- Chinatown.”
The injunction followed a May 15 complaint filed by the parent company that alleges the plaintiffs, including MHL NY LLC and Genesis Brand Management LLC, used registered Molly Tea trademarks without authorization at a store near Columbia University that opened earlier this year. It also cited their use at a food court stall in Long Island City, Queens, that was in development. The parent company formally terminated the brand license agreement on May 1, but the New York stores continued operating, according to the court filing.
DJ Liu , the founder of Genesis Brand Management, said he had been in regular discussions and purchased materials from the parent company in advance of opening his Columbia University store. Tensions later arose over the location’s lease and franchise disclosure documents that were sent to his other stores, he said.
“I’m not stupid enough to open a fake Molly Tea in Columbia University to influence my other stores,” Liu said in an interview. “My Flushing revenue is like 10 times of Columbia University — and I knew it before I opened Columbia.”
He plans to continue operating the shops under the “? Tea” brand, which he said is “a scream for myself, for my team, for my staff.” The business has enough supplies to operate for another month, Liu said.
Molly Tea’s limited launches, of drinks, collectible pins and other items, drew a dedicated customer base. Molly Tea’s first New York store generated a monthly average of $480,000 in revenue, according to a July 2025 press release from Chowbus , the point-of-sale system used by the company.
A line of customers at a Brooklyn location on Friday stretched out the door.
(Corrects the location of the shop in the first photograph)
The case is Shenzhen Molly Tea Food and Beverage Management Co., Ltd. et al v. MHL NY LLC et al, 26-cv-04051, in US District Court, Southern District of New York. Yimin Chen, who represents the New York-based stores, declined to comment as litigation is still pending. The parent company, and its New York-based lawyers, didn’t respond to requests for comment.