Ruze Cake House, the Scottsdale Arts District bakery meets tea and coffee shop that opened in August 2016 at 7033 East Main Street, has some new menu items – including natural boba teas, new macaron flavors, and coffee from Cartel Coffee Lab.

Owner Jessica Rose Boutwell says the Ruze Cake House's former tea vendor, Teaspressa, moved out on January 31, and as of February 1, the bakery started serving boba teas, up to four cold brew teas on tap, and Cartel coffee.

“We like them because they’re a local business," Boutwell says of Cartel.

The boba teas and recipes are created in-house, she adds. “Because we’re bakers, we like playing around with the recipes,” she says. She also emphasizes how the natural teas are just that – natural. “We really wanted to do something that was understated,” she says, “just back to basics, just a few ingredients each.”

The Ruze, the shop’s signature drink, is quickly becoming its most popular. It’s created with prickly pear tea, prickly pear purée, a house-made rose syrup, whole milk from Danzeisen Dairy in Laveen (or you can substitute organic almond milk), and the tapioca pearls. The drink arrives as a stunning glass of hot pink liquid, which happens naturally thanks to the fresh prickly pear pulp the shop receives from Napa Valley (though they use prickly pear concentrate made in Tucson in many of the desserts).

The Strawberry Macha (Boutwell’s personal favorite) arrives resembling the Mexican flag as sand art, and consists of fresh strawberry puree, matcha tea, and Danzeisen Dairy's whole milk. The London Fog boba combines fresh brewed lavender and whole vanilla bean syrup with milk and the pearls, while the Potted Mint Boba resembles a small budding plant at the head of the drink.

And there are more new menu items. Chai and Vietnamese Cold Brew (with organic sweetened condensed milk) were also added to the menu, as well as new macaron flavors like cake batter and London Fog.

Since opening at the end of last summer, the shop has grown to include eight employees, though operations are still overseen by Boutwell and her mother, Joyce Boutwell – who still create the custom cakes that ignited the start of Ruze Cake House.

To keep up with more Ruze Cake House creations, check the website or Facebook.

• Restaurant News