East Idaho Eats: Delicious boba tea is just one of the things available at the Purpose Center

POCATELLO — On the surface, Purpose Tea looks like a shop selling tasty teas. But there is so much more to the Main Street business.

Inside what could be described as the building’s lobby, customers can get one of several tea options — with or without classic tapioca or flavored boba. Further inside the building, though, is an event hall which can be rented for daily use, two floors of office space which can be rented for longterm use and an AirBnB capable of sleeping 25 in a fifth-floor loft overlooking Historic Downtown Pocatello.

Owner Craig Yadon told EastIdahoNews.com that the Purpose Center event hall has hosted several events of different types, in less than one year of operation. The future, he continued, could hold more self-hosted events.

“We do plan to host our own events. We, kinda, feel like music and art are things that, in a diverse community, we can come together and enjoy. So that’s what we want to feature here at the Purpose Center,” he said.

Purpose Tea, from Main Street in Pocatello. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoNews.com

The storefront — Purpose Tea — serves a wide selection of flavored teas and milk drinks, with the option to add boba of numerous flavor options.

There are also loose leaf teas, from Tea Forte, as well as local honey, from Fort Hall-based Macy’s Apple and Hives. For a quick snack to go along with your tea, Purpose offers cookies, brownies and other pastries.

“Our pastries are made in-house, and so we’re pretty proud of those,” Yadon said.

For our visit, Yadon provided EastIdahoNews.com a mango tea with chili bursting boba and a taro milk tea without boba.

Taro is certainly an acquired taste, but the tea was deliciously creamy and refreshing.

And the light spice of the chili boba blended perfectly with the mango. It was a strangely satisfying summer drink but would no doubt provide a little punch in the winter.

A view from the upper floors of the Purpose Center includes the Chief Theater Sign. The P’s on the windows of the upper floors of the building have been kept from the its time as Peterson Furniture. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoNews.com

As for the goings on beyond the tea store, Yadon explained that the office space on the second and third floors is for rent.

“We’re hoping to attract a professional firm, to take up a whole floor,” he said.

But there is even more than that.

At the top of the building is a full floor of bedrooms, kitchen and dining space, bathrooms and a piano — an AirBnB overlooking Historic Downtown Pocatello, across Main Street from the Pocatello Chief Sign.

“For many, you may have outgrown your home when all the relatives come back to visit, so this is a place where everybody can be together.”

The expansive common space included in the AirBnB rental. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoNews.com

The Purpose Center is located at 224 North Main Street and is open Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. 5 p.m.

For more information about the business, you can visit their website — here — or Facebook page — here.

If you would like to make a recommendation for the next destination to be included on East Idaho Eats, email [email protected] and include “EATS” in the subject line.