For as long as he can remember, Maxwell Blessen has felt a calling to create an exceptional, unrivaled product — something which would excite others by its one-of-a-kind experience, packaged and delivered with a smile.
And eight years ago, the River Forest native and Fenwick High School graduate was finally able to channel his energy into what he loved.
It was in a dream that Blessen first envisioned the idea of Joy Tea — a mission of concocting teas with extraordinary flavors and delivering a healthy, feel-good drink to consumers.
For Blessen, what he’s consistently found frustrating is the fact that mass-produced teas in the U.S. seem to lack a certain joie de vivre, and that the beverage world has heavily focused solely on quick jolt sources like coffees and energy drinks, leaving teas silently kicked to the curb.
“Tea in America is boring, which is a terrible tragedy,” Blessen says. “The typical tea experience in America is ordering some random generic tea like black tea or green tea, getting a little sachet and water that’s way too hot for that tea… [and] everyone wonders why more people don’t drink tea?
Simply put, Blessen says, Joy Tea is essentially a movement to shine the spotlight on tea — specifically ancient Chinese teas — and reveal the abundance of hidden culture, stories and flavors these teas hold.
“I don’t say this with any romantic exaggeration — tea (Camellia Sinensis) is one of the most influential plants on Earth,” he explained. “It is the basis of early global trade, it was an early precursor to medicine in China with history dating back to about 5,000 years ago, and it fueled both wars and peace, emperors and people alike.
“There is so much more out there, so our job is to bring those flavors, experiences and stories to you with fun, healthy, delicious drinks.”
Blessen’s precursor to Joy Tea started back in late 2017, when he first created Joy Milk Tea. He was tired of drinking coffee every day and wished there was a great milk tea in the market instead. Having grown up in an Asian family, he had discovered milk tea at a young age, and frequently wished there were comparable options for the drink like the variety of coffees out on the beverage market.
After finding the market fell short of his expectations, Blessen took matters into his own hands and started making his own tea. Quickly, Blessen said, his product grew to become the largest American canned milk tea brand.
Using real tea, no powders and all-natural ingredients, Joy Milk Tea blossomed to being sold in retail stores including Meijer and Whole Foods, while selling simultaneously at local farmers markets across Chicago.
In 2024, Blessen decided to turn things up a notch.
With the of hope of serving a newer, more refined product and developing a brand-new vision for his brand, he decided to wind down operations of Joy Milk Tea and pivot to focusing more on tea broadly, dialing in to Chinese tea and rebranding as Joy Tea.
Establishing a mobile tea trailer, Blessen’s new enterprise has popped up daily this summer at various sites across the Oak Park and River Forest, including outside the Oak Park Public Library, Keystone Park, the Marion Street business district and the Oak Park Farmers Market.
“I feel like this idea has always been somewhere deep in my subconscious,” he said, “but the clarity of [my] vision has never been as crystal clear as it is now, with the experiences I’ve had in the tea business and the time I’ve had to observe and learn.”
As for the name of his business, Blessen says the idea was simple — tea makes people happy and his flavors bring customers joy.
“It just works,” he said. “Tea is one of the only clinically proven drinks to lower stress (cortisol), so basically, drinking tea makes you less stressed, which is kind of like being full of joy.”
On Instagram, Blessen promotes Joy Tea as using ancient tea to make modern drinks, boasting options including jasmine green silk tea, green mango jasmine green tea and grapefruit jasmine green tea.
“People would generally feel a lot better if they drank more tea,” Blessen said. “Our products are designed to be the perfect afternoon drink, a great morning ritual or a little treat at the end of your day.”
The teas he sells today have been in development for close to a year, but are the result of years of experimentation. He’s tasted hundreds of teas, worked with dozens of farms and estates all over China, and experimented with time, temperature and concentrations across hundreds of different variables to land on his new products.
“For our first product line, we don’t just use green tea,” Blessen explained. “We use a special, seven-times scented jasmine green tea, grown 1,800 meters above sea level in Fujian, China — the birthplace of jasmine green tea over 1,000 years ago. This specific jasmine flower only opens at night, and when it does, it releases its beautiful, delicate fragrance.”
Blessen says Joy Tea’s mission is to provide teas that impress customers with a healthier option making them feel good, all while preserving ancient Chinese tea traditions.
“We don’t just use any tea, we use ancient tea; tea with rich history — centuries, if not millennia, of tradition and cultivation,” he said. “We are not chasing perfection; I don’t think that’s attainable. We want you to drink a Joy tea and uncontrollably say the word, “wow” — which happens quite a lot, much more than you’d think or I imagined. I think we are on the right track.”
With Joy Tea, Blessen zeroes in on flavor and tea integrity with caffeine and L-theanine, fueling customers with a savory drink without the crash of traditional coffees and energy drinks, and the added benefit of stress-reduction that comes from tea consumption.
Joy Tea also doesn’t incorporate syrup water like other teas branded as “refreshers;” rather, Blessen makes layered and flavorful drinks, which he says evolve with dilution, open up and become more fragrant.
“The more people drink tea, the more we can share these wonderful stories and flavors, and the more we can support the farmers and people that have preserved these ancient teas for thousands of years,” he said. “Tea is the antidote for modern life.”
Though Blessen is the only person working the Joy Tea trailer, he feels immensely supported, from family and friends to investors and customers.
“I’m just the driver, I guess, but I would actually say I’m more in the passenger seat with God, family, friends, customers and supporters in the driver seat,” he said. “I knew I needed to bring the story to the customer, and not wait for them to come to me.”
After months of success and frequent days of selling out of product completely, Blessen says his new, long-term goal for Joy Tea is to open a physical location. He’s currently scouting the Oak Park, River Forest and Forest Park business districts for the ideal location to launch a 2026 store opening.
“We want to be the Starbucks of tea, meaning when someone thinks “tea,” they think “Joy,” he said. “When you come to Joy, you’re going to get a short story, a tea that makes you say ‘wow’ and a better day — simple.”
For more information about Joy Tea, including the trailer’s rotating location schedule, visit @joy_tea_usa on Instagram.