Today everyone in the world knows about bubble tea and loves it. Black tea milk ice and tapioca pearls are mixed in a classic way to make boba tea. The drink is cold and bubbly with an extra large straw to slurp the pearls. People love bubble tea because it is sweet , relaxed , fun and has different bubbles to chew on. You can make bubble tea just right for you with other types of tea such as fruit cheese foam jellies and syrups. It is no surprise that bubble tea is famous worldwide and there are many kinds to choose from.
The Origins Of Bubble Tea History
The concept of iced tea is relatively new even though tea has always been a popular beverage worldwide. Since the late 1940s Taiwanese tea shops have sold cold milky tea shaken in cocktail shakers to make foam on top. Hand shook tea didn’t have any pearls yet but it was the start of what we now call bubble tea history.
In 1986 Lin Hsiu Hui the product manager for the Chun Shui Tang bubble tea chain said he came up with the idea of putting tapioca pearls in iced tea. This is when bubble tea as we know it today first emerged in Taiwan. She mixed her dessert with her drink and served it to coworkers at a staff meeting. It quickly became their best selling iced tea and was put on the market. This is the most common story about how bubble tea came to be.
There is another claim though about where it all began. Tu Tsong Ho, an entrepreneur , tried adding fu yuan tapioca balls to his green tea. His drink with clear tapioca was called zhen zhu lu cha which means pearl green tea.
It went well. After that he tried the more giant black tapioca balls meaning a special straw had to be made to fit them. In October of that year his store Hanlin opened. However after a lengthy lawsuit that ended in 2019 it was decided that no transparent creator of the invention could get a patent for it and anyone could make bubble tea.
No matter where it came from, the bubble tea craze of the late 1980s spread to China and Hong Kong in the early 1990s. Japan also got into it in the late 1990s. In 2002 there were a lot more bubble tea shops in Vietnam. As Taiwanese move to other countries and bring their favorite drinks with them it won’t be long before bubble tea is drunk all over the world.
Bubble Tea Expands To The Usa
Bubble tea history came to the United States in the 1990s in San Gabriel Valley. Alan Yu and Marvin Cheng opened Lollicup in San Gabriel California in 2000 and it became more popular. By 2006 they had more than 60 stores. After this many other brands came out like Quickly in 2002 Fantasia Coffee and Tea in 2005 and Chatime in 2006.
A lot of others followed. Early brands that used syrup and instant powders were quickly pushed aside by real boba tea shops that used authentic teas and flavors. A spit formed as bubble tea popularity grew. People on the East Coast called it bubble tea while people on the West Coast called it boba tea.
The largest bubble tea company in the world, Chatime , began in 2005 in Taiwan. In 2006 it opened its first store in California. It opened its first store in Australia in 2009 quickly becoming a huge hit. It now has over 70 stores worldwide.
The first store in Malaysia opened in 2010 and the country now brings in almost half of Chatime money. Air Asia was the first airline to serve bubble tea on board in 2012. Now there are Chatime shops in 38 countries and they are still going. Chatime is Taiwan’s first and only bubble tea company to be on the stock market.
Bubble Tea In Europe
In 2009 British investment banker Assad Khan tried taro bubble tea for the first time in New York. Khan opened Bubbleology’s first store in Soho London. Drinking quickly became a trendy way to live.
Around the same time Bubble Tea history became well liked in Europe. France and Spain are home to brands like Chatime and Bubbolitas. BMW BoboQ which also came out in 2009 even caught the attention of McDonald which started selling its bubble tea in 2012.
New Directions For Bubble Tea History
Bubble tea is a drink for young people and how it has changed over time shows how young people live today. Flavors constantly change to stay fresh while still having the classic tastes people love. Today you can get cheese bubble tea, new flavors and tea, hot drinks and popping pearls.
Brown Sugar Bubble Tea
Brown sugar bubble tea is the most popular new twist. It is made with fresh milk and brown sugar caramel which runs down the sides of the cup like tiger stripes. Interestingly it doesn’t even have tea in it. Tiger Sugar was one of the first to offer brown sugar boba tea. It opened in 2017 and was an instant hit in Taipei. Their drinks are so good that they now have Hong Kong and Singapore stores.
Cheese Tea
It’s hard to understand when you hear cheese and tea together in the same sentence. Adding cheese and milk foam with salt to the top of a bubble tea is a new idea that has become a big hit. Around 2010 powdered cheese was mixed with cream and salt at stands in Taiwan famous street night markets. This is where the idea for the dish came from. HeyTea, a Chinese company, used real cream cheese and milk instead of powders when they came up with the idea in 2012.
Cheese Tea is still being sold in stores in the West. Over in Australia more and more bubble tea shops sell cheese for sale. In the US the idea is still spread. The American company Boba Guys made fun of this weird combination on their website in 2018. They said they would sell the highest quality Brie and blue cheese to toppings including Kraft singles and Cheez Whiz perfect for layering. They also noted on their fake menu that they sold melted cheddar mozzarella balls and grated feta.
Popping Pearls
You can put more than tapioca balls in the bottom of your tea. You can also add things like aloe vera coconut jelly custard red bean and rainbow jelly. It might be most fun to pop pearls though. Pearls are several colored blobs that taste sweet. They are usually made of water, sugar and fruit juice and covered in a layer of seaweed extract. They pop in your mouth to give you extra flavor.
Conclusion
From a modest Taiwanese invention in the 1980s bubble tea history has become a popular worldwide trend. There are different stories about who invented it. Some say Lin Hsiu Hui added tapioca pearls to an iced tea drink while others say Tu Tsong Ho added tapioca balls to green tea. No matter where it came from, bubble tea quickly spread across Asia and then to the rest of the world.
Bubble tea became more popular in the United States in the 1990s and early 2000s. Brands like Lollicup and Quickly were at the forefront of this trend. People on the East Coast liked the term bubble tea while people on the West Coast liked boba tea. One of the biggest bubble tea chains, Chatime , started in Taiwan and has since spread to the US, Australia and Malaysia among other places.
Around bubble tea became popular in Europe with brands like Bubbleology and BoboQ becoming more well known. The drink keeps changing as new flavors and variations are added constantly. You can make the classic drink in new and exciting ways like brown sugar cheese tea or popping pearls.
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