Gulp Element
THE ART OF BREWING BUBBLES –
EMERGENCE OF A NEW BEVERAGE CULT
By y : RHYS RAJAN - Research Analyst with Adroit Market Research
B
ubble Tea, generally
referred to as pearl
milk tea or boba,
has its origins in Taichung,
Taiwan. Amidst various
speculations regarding the
tea house which invented
this drink, the Chun Shui
Tang tea house is credited
with the development of
this product, when the
teahouse’s development
manager, Ms Lin Hsiu Hui
added sweetened tapioca
pearls into the tea that was
offered to her during a
meeting. The new product
that was brewed took the
local market by storm and
spread to the neighbouring
countries such as: South
Korea; and Japan like
wildfire.
The bubble tea evolved
in terms of flavour, with
purveyors introducing
fruit boba with the help of
fruit powders and syrups.
Furthermore, the list of
toppings grew to include
elements such as: almond
jelly; egg pudding; grass
jelly; and swapping of milk
tea with non-dairy creamer
to increase the shelf life of
these drinks. Thus, bubble
tea came to be known for
its sweetness and creamy
texture.
The Genesis of a
New Cult Globally
After hitting the Taiwanese
market by storm, the bubble
tea market was embraced
throughout the region of
Asia in the early 1990s. The
drink’s success catapulted
and it migrated to Europe
and North America. In the
U.S. this drink became a new
craze in the ’90s as there was
widespread immigration of
Drink Asia
18
Taiwanese people coupled
with the growing popularity
of the café culture due to
the emergence of brands
like Starbucks. In 2017, 84
billion servings or over 3.8
gallons of tea was consumed
in the U.S. out of which 80
percent was iced tea. This
high consumption of tea
has opened opportunities
for purveyors to introduce
innovative products such as
Kombucha tea, bubble tea
and other kinds of ready-
to-drink brewed beverages.
Bubble tea entered the
mainstream market in
the U.S. as a result of the
establishment of places
like the ‘Boba Guys’ which
offer high-quality bubble
tea and a comfortable
casual option. Similarly, in
Europe, bubble tea is gaining
a significant preference
among consumers. BoBoQ,
a Taiwanese bubble tea
company, which set shop
in Germany in 2010, has
more than 100 stores across
Europe, which clearly
projects the emergence of
a niche market.
So, what has caused the
dramatic emergence of the
product in the global market?
The success of bubble tea is
The bubble tea evolved in
terms of fl avour, with purveyors
introducing fruit boba with the
help of fruit powders and syrups
March-April 2019