Bubbling Boba

Written by: Natalie Yao

History

Boba Tea, also known as bubble tea, can nowadays be found in virtually any place around the world from Europe to South America. That said, there was once a time where it could only be found in one place, a tiny island in East Asia. Boba Tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s rumored to have been first sold at a stand in a night market. The drink’s origins are unclear, as two separate tea houses claim to have been the one to create it, Hanlin Tea Room from Tainan and Chun Shui Tang from Taichung. Chun Shui Tang claims that a product development manager created the drink during a meeting, where she dumped tapioca pudding, called Feng Yuan, into her tea. The founder of Hanlin Tea Room claims to have been inspired by the black sugar starch balls a stand at a night market is selling, and decided it would pair well with tea. In the end, none of them won the case as the court ruled that it was not a patented drink. 

The influence of boba tea began to grow in the 1990s when larger amounts of Taiwanese people started immigrating to the United States, carrying their culture and traditions with them. With the growth of cafes like Starbucks, the atmosphere of boba places became increasingly appealing to American consumers. This began the widespread popularity of boba, not just in the United States, but worldwide. Currently the boba industry is estimated to be worth about 4 billion dollars!

Although the idea of boba began in the 1980s, chewy toppings on desserts started before that. For example, Shi Mi Lu, or sago, is often served with taro, coconut milk, or mango. In spite of its name, boba tea isn’t only paired with tea, but with other drinks like milk, slushies, taro, and lemonade.

How Boba is Made

Boba pearls are made of tapioca starch from cassava root. The pearls are first made by mixing tapioca starch, potato starch, and molasses (brown sugar) together. Then hot water is added to form the dough, and it is kneaded to and shaped into a log. The log is then cut into small pieces and rounded out to make the pearls. Once they are ready, the pearls are boiled, and then they are taken out and put into a brown sugar syrup to sit for 30 minutes. From there, you can choose whatever drink of your liking to be paired with the boba, but traditionally it is paired with either black, green, or oolong tea in milk.