Bubble tea, also called pearl milk tea, tapioca milk tea, boba tea, or boba, is a drink made with tea, chewy tapioca pearls, milk, and flavoring. It was first created in Taiwan during the 1980s and later became popular in countries with many East Asian communities.
Bubble tea is usually made with tapioca pearls, also known as "boba" or "balls," but it can also include other toppings like grass jelly, aloe vera, red bean, and popping boba. There are many types of bubble tea, but the two most common are pearl black milk tea and pearl green milk tea. The word "pearl" refers to the tapioca balls at the bottom of the drink.
People are still discussing the effects of bubble tea on health. While it often includes green or black tea, which can be good for health, the drink also has a lot of sugar and calories. Drinking it too much every day might increase the risk of long-term health problems.
Description
Bubble tea is divided into two groups: teas without milk and milk teas. Both types use black, green, or oolong tea as a base. Milk teas often include powdered or fresh milk, but they may also use condensed milk, almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk.
The oldest known bubble tea was made with hot Taiwanese black tea, tapioca pearls (Chinese: 粉圓; pinyin: fěn yuán), condensed milk, and syrup (Chinese: 糖漿; pinyin: táng jiāng) or honey. Bubble tea is most often served cold. Tapioca pearls, which give the drink its name, were originally made from cassava starch. Larger pearls (Chinese: 珍珠; pinyin: zhēn zhū) later became common. The nickname "boba" (Chinese: 波霸; pinyin: bō bà), used in the United States but not in Asia, comes from a name for Hong Kong actress Amy Yip.
Some cafés specialize in making bubble tea. Large global bubble tea chains include Chatime, CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice, Gong Cha, and Kung Fu Tea.
Bubble tea has many variations, including black tea, green tea, oolong tea, and sometimes white tea. One variation, yuenyeung (Chinese: 鴛鴦, named after the Mandarin duck), mixes black tea, coffee, and milk.
Other types of bubble tea include blended drinks, which may use ice cream or combine tea and fruit into smoothies.
Popular bubble tea flavors include taro, mango, coffee, and coconut. Syrups or powders determine the flavor and color, while tea, milk, and boba form the base. Milkless teas often use fruit as a base, such as fresh fruit, fruit syrup, or fruit powder mixed with tea. Common fruit flavors are mango, lychee, winter melon, and lemon.
Tapioca pearls (boba) are the most common ingredient, but other chewy spheres may be used. Pearls can be black from brown sugar or colored with other ingredients.
Jelly comes in shapes like cubes, stars, or strips and has flavors such as coconut, konjac, lychee, grass jelly, mango, coffee, and green tea. Azuki or mung bean paste, often found on Taiwanese shaved ice, adds flavor and texture to bubble tea. Other toppings include aloe, egg pudding (custard), sago, and popping boba with fruit juice or syrup inside.
Some shops add milk or cheese foam on top, giving the drink a texture like whipped cream and a slightly salty taste. Cheese foam is described as reducing the bitterness of tea and letting the sweetness return as the drink is consumed.
Bubble tea shops let customers choose how much ice or sugar they want. Ice levels are usually listed as "no ice," "less ice," "normal ice," or "more ice." Sugar levels are often given in steps of 25% (e.g., 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%), though options vary by shop. Some shops also offer hot bubble tea.
In recent years, alcoholic versions of bubble tea, called "boozy boba," have appeared in bars and specialty shops. These drinks mix traditional ingredients like milk tea or fruit tea with spirits such as vodka, rum, or soju. Boozy boba has become popular among adults and shows how bubble tea is changing with global trends. One example is a sparkling vodka seltzer with four fruit flavors called "Boozy Boba."
In Southeast Asia, bubble tea is often sold in plastic takeaway cups sealed with plastic or rounded caps. Some newer shops use bottles or other shapes. Others use sealed plastic bags.
Most Taiwanese bubble tea shops serve the drink in plastic cups and seal them with heated plastic cellophane. This allows the tea to be shaken in the cup and prevents spills until the customer is ready to drink. A large straw, called a boba straw, is then used to drink the tea and toppings.
Tea can be brewed in advance during the day or night. Different teas require different temperatures and times. For example, green tea is brewed at about 80–85 °C (176–185 °F) for 8–10 minutes, while black tea is brewed at about 95–100 °C (203–212 °F) for 15–20 minutes. A tea warmer dispenser keeps the tea hot for up to eight hours.
Tapioca pearls are made from tapioca starch. Most stores buy uncooked pearls in packages. When uncooked, they are hard and white. They become chewy and dark when cooked and sugar is added. Uncooked pearls can be stored for about 9–12 months. Once cooked, they are kept in sealed containers in the refrigerator. However, most stores do not sell cooked pearls after 24 hours because they harden and lose their chewiness.
The traditional way to make bubble tea is to mix ingredients like sugar, powders, and flavorings in a shaker cup by hand. Many modern shops use a shaker machine, which reduces the need for shaking by hand and allows one barista to prepare multiple drinks quickly.
Bubble tea has inspired snacks
History
Milk and sugar have been added to tea in Taiwan since the Dutch ruled Taiwan from 1624 to 1662, although this was not a common practice.
Before bubble tea was invented, a similar drink called bubble foam tea (Chinese: 泡沫紅茶; pinyin: Pàomò hóngchá) was created in Taiwan. This drink was made by mixing tea with fructose syrup and shaking it with ice cubes in a shaker. The shaking created a fine foam, giving the drink its special texture. Unlike modern pearl milk tea, bubble foam tea did not include tapioca balls at first.
There are two competing stories about the invention of bubble tea. One story is connected to the Chun Shui Tang tea room in Taichung. Its founder, Liu Han-Chieh, started serving cold Chinese tea after seeing coffee served cold in Japan during a visit in the 1980s. This new way of serving tea helped his business grow, and many other shops began offering the same tea. Lin Hsiu Hui, the company’s product development manager, said she created the first bubble tea in 1988 when she added tapioca balls to her tea during a staff meeting. The drink was well-received, and it was later added to the menu. It became the franchise’s most popular product.
Another story claims that the Hanlin Tea Room (Chinese: 翰林茶館; pinyin: Hànlín cháguǎn) in Tainan invented bubble tea. The tea room says that in 1986, its owner, Tu Tsong-he, was inspired by white tapioca balls he saw in the local market of Yā-mǔ-liáo (Chinese: 鴨母寮). He later used these traditional snacks to make tea, creating what is now called "pearl tea."
In 2009, Hanlin and Tu Tsong-he went to court because both claimed to have invented bubble tea. However, since neither had filed for a trademark for the drink when it was first created, the legal case lasted 10 years until 2019. The court ruled that neither side could be declared the original creator, as bubble tea was not patented and could be made by anyone. In 2020, Tu Tsong-he said the legal battle was about finding the truth, not about personal matters.
Popularity
In the 1990s, bubble tea became very popular in East and Southeast Asia. In places like Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore, young people began enjoying bubble tea quickly. At some popular shops, people sometimes waited more than thirty minutes to buy a drink. In recent years, bubble tea has grown beyond just a drink. People have created bubble tea-flavored foods, such as ice cream, pizza, toast, sushi, and ramen.
In Taiwan, bubble tea is more than just a drink. It has become an important part of the culture and food history of the country. In 2020, April 30 was officially named National Bubble Tea Day in Taiwan. That same year, the image of bubble tea was suggested as an alternative cover design for Taiwan’s passport. According to Al Jazeera, bubble tea is now closely linked to Taiwan and represents the identity of the country both in Taiwan and around the world. Bubble tea is also used to symbolize Taiwan in the Milk Tea Alliance. 50 Lan is a bubble tea chain that started in Tainan.
Hong Kong is known for its traditional Hong Kong-style milk tea, which is made with brewed black tea and evaporated milk. While milk tea has been part of daily life for many years, the arrival of Taiwanese bubble tea chains, such as Tiger Sugar, Youiccha, and Xing Fu Tang, in Hong Kong introduced a new trend called “boba tea.”
Bubble tea became popular in China after tapioca pearls were added to milk tea in the 1990s. By 2020, it was estimated that bubble tea was consumed five times more than coffee. According to data from the QianZhen Industry Research Institute, the tea-related beverage market in China reached 53.7 billion Renminbi (about US$7.63 billion) in 2018. In 2019, bubble tea shops in China earned about 140.5 billion Renminbi (roughly US$20 billion). While bubble tea chains from Taiwan, such as Gong Cha and Coco, are still popular, local brands like Yi Dian Dian, Nayuki, and Hey Tea are now leading the market.
In China, young people’s love for bubble tea has influenced how they interact with others. Giving someone a cup of bubble tea has become a way to thank them informally. It is also a common topic among friends and on social media. People often wait in long lines for up to an hour at popular shops to take photos of their orders, as bubble tea has become a symbol of urban identity online.
Bubble tea first came to Japan in the late 1990s but did not become popular at first. This was partly because Japanese people saw it as a mix between a dessert and a drink because of the tapioca pearls. At the same time, other desserts entered the market and became more popular. It was not until the 2010s that bubble tea became a trend in Japan. Shops from Taiwan, Korea, China, and local brands began opening in cities, and bubble tea has remained a popular trend since then. Teenage girls in Japan created a slang word for bubble tea: “tapiru” (タピる), which means “to drink tapioca tea.” This word won first place in a survey about middle school girls’ slang in 2018. A bubble tea theme park opened in Harajuku, Tokyo, in 2019.
In Singapore, bubble tea is known as 泡泡茶 (pinyin: pào pào chá). It was sold there as early as 1992 and became very popular among young people in 2001. However, competition and price wars caused most bubble tea shops to close by 2003. When Taiwanese chains like Koi and Gong Cha arrived in Singapore in 2007 and 2009, bubble tea had only short periods of popularity. In 2018, interest in bubble tea grew rapidly again when new brands like The Alley and Tiger Sugar entered the market. Social media also helped increase its popularity.
Bubble tea was introduced to Malaysia in the late 1990s and became more popular in the early 2000s, especially in cities and night markets. The arrival of the Taiwanese chain Chatime in 2010 changed the industry, as franchised stores began opening in major cities. By 2013, Malaysia made up about 50% of Chatime’s global revenue.
In 2017, a legal dispute between Chatime’s franchisor and its Malaysian licensee, Loob Holding, led to over 160 stores being rebranded as Tealive. Tealive has since become the leading local bubble tea brand in Malaysia, with hundreds of stores nationwide and expansion into other parts of Southeast Asia. Other international and local brands, such as Gong Cha, The Alley, and Chizu, also remain popular.
The bubble tea market in Malaysia has grown significantly in recent years, becoming an important part of the country’s beverage industry. Bubble tea has become a common drink among people, driven by the arrival of international chains and the rise of local brands.
Taiwanese immigrants brought bubble tea to the United States in the 1990s, starting in California. Some of the first standalone bubble tea shops were in Arcadia, Southern California, and Fantasia Coffee & Tea in Cupertino, Northern California. Chains like Tapioca Express, Quickly, Lollicup, and Happy Lemon appeared in the late 1990s and early 2000s, spreading the trend to the U.S. Among Asian Americans, bubble tea is often called “boba.”
As bubble tea became more popular in the U.S., it grew beyond a drink and became a cultural symbol for Asian Americans. This idea was called “boba life” by Chinese-American brothers Andrew and David Fung in their 2013 music video, “Bobalife.” Boba represents a way for Asian Americans to define their identity and express their desire for cultural and political recognition. The term “boba liberal” is sometimes used to criticize mainstream Asian-American liberalism. Bubble tea shops are also popular in the Northeast and Southwest regions of the U.S. These areas have many stores, including Boba Tea Company in Albuquerque, New Mexico; No. 1 Boba Tea in Las Vegas, Nevada; and Kung Fu Tea in New York City. In the Southwest, bubble tea is especially popular among Hispano, Navajo, Pueblo, and other Native American, Hispanic, and Latino communities. Bubble tea stores have become more than just businesses; they are social spaces where Asian American students connect and build communities.
In addition to American bubble tea chains, large coffeehouse chains like Caribou Coffee (2018), Dunkin’ Donuts (2021), and Starbucks (2024) have added bubble tea drinks to their menus, often as seasonal summer items.
Cultural influence
In 2020, the Unicode Consortium added the bubble tea emoji (U+1F9CB 🧋 BUBBLE TEA) to its version 13.0 update.
On January 29, 2023, Google created a doodle to celebrate Bubble Tea.
Potential health concerns
In July 2019, Singapore's Mount Alvernia Hospital advised people to be cautious about the high sugar levels in bubble tea, as the drink had become very popular in Singapore. The hospital noted that drinking green tea and black tea can help lower the risk of certain health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and cancer. However, it warned that adding ingredients like non-dairy creamer and toppings to the tea can increase the fat and sugar content, which may raise the risk of long-term health issues. Non-dairy creamer is a milk substitute that contains trans fat made from hydrogenated palm oil. The hospital said this type of oil is strongly linked to a higher risk of heart disease and stroke.
A 2016 study found that bubble tea fits the definition of a sweetened beverage according to the US Dietary Guidelines. The study warned that drinking one 16-ounce bubble tea daily could cause people to consume more added sugar than is recommended. It also expressed concern that the high sugar levels in the drink might worsen public health problems.
Another issue with bubble tea is its high calorie content. This is partly because of the tapioca pearls, which are high in carbohydrates. These pearls can make up to half of the total calories in a 500 ml (18 imp fl oz; 17 US fl oz) serving of bubble tea.