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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Will Tapioca Pearl Tea Conquer Starbucks?
n 30 years a single Starbucks cafe in Seattle's Pike Place Market has spawned 4,700 attitude-packed locations worldwide. Its secret? Taking the Italian espresso bar and fitting it to American values by upsizing cups and downsizing chichi. How successful has that been? Starbucks has replaced McDonalds as the bladder break of choice for discriminating panhandlers and savvy cabbies.
A more evolved brew?
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But no sooner had cultural pundits and standup comics retooled their schticks for an Italian-roast future when from the mysterious east (Taiwan, to be exact) emerged an unlikely challenger.
Some call it tapioca pearl tea. Others call it bubble tea, or even boba (mama's breast) tea. The "pearl", "bubble" and "boba" refer to tapioca starch balls typically the size of the plumpest, most expensive salmon roe you've ever seen. They are usually the shade and translucence of beluga caviar but also come in an array of rainbow colors -- or are even colorless. They settle several layers deep at the bottom of an ice-cold cup of sweetened milk tea -- or any flavored beverage from lychee or mimosa to coconut. They are served in clear plastic cups with a fat 1/2-inch-diameter straw. The moment of truth is when the first sip rolls up the straw and you feel, along with the beverage, one or more pearls invading your mouth. It's an alien sensation -- and that's half the fun. The other half is chewing them while swallowing the drink.
Since 1999 cafes selling pearl tea have been mushrooming in every major Asian population center in the U.S. on the heels of hundreds of bubble tea parlors that have opened in Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and China. The explosion of boba shops has made the Starbucks growth seem downright sober. Boba tea was first concocted around 1988 by a Taipei street vendor for sale to a local clientele of grade-school kids. The kids loved it. So did their elders. By the early 90s the craze had swept the island and spilled over into Southeast Asia. In about the time it took for Starbucks to open its 17th location, tapioca pearl tea became the beverage of choice for tens of millions in a dozen Pacific Rim nations. And their enthusiasm is very very catching.
The sheer fun of sipping a visually and sensually oddball beverage is an important part of it, but other factors may explain its legs. Tea is healthier than coffee, and milk tea is far healthier than the rich concoctions served up by Starbucks and similar establishments. Even the tapioca bubbles are a healthful component made from cassava roots which actually supply modest but significant amounts of iron and calcium. Some even consider tapioca a promoter of regular bowel movements.
Is boba tea destined to wean the world of its coffee addiction? Or is it just another crazy teen fad?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:53:46 PM)
KM, 24,
It's made with sugar, cream, and red tea. It should have enough caffine in it. Not as much as an expresso.
AC Dropout
Friday, May 03, 2002 at 11:41:33 (PDT)
Does it have any significant amount of caffeine like coffee does? That in itself might hinder its popularity.
KM, 24
Friday, April 26, 2002 at 17:38:46 (PDT)
I think Boba is a fad. Only time will tell if it will stay the test of time. It's definitely not in the mainstream and not in all Asian circles. (I'm from Southern Cal), but I remember I was on a business trip in Atlanta, a year ago. I was in Doraville (where there are lots of Asian restaurants and shops). I asked people around where was a place I could get Boba and all I got were blank stares.
I remember first having Boba tea 10 years ago in a Taiwanese cafe in the San Gabriel Valley in the L.A. area. So, Boba is not some new thing. Now, it's popular among young Asians. I know some places like Tapioca Express where they also place a small lounge in the store with books, magazines to read, board games and music playing (similar to Starbuck's). A bunch of Asian teens and twentysomething hang out at the Tapioca Express in Irvine, in Orange County, California.
Yo Boba
Thursday, April 25, 2002 at 14:56:42 (PDT)
No way pearl tea will ever be as popular as coffee. If it catches on, its popularity will be equivalent to the American milkshake at best. The sweetness of pearl tea and the fact that people who drink it tend to be in their teens means pearl/bubble will be perceived as a kiddie drink (like the milkshake) or a dessert drink, not something that you seriously drink every day like coffee. As good as milkshakes are, people don't drink it evreyday like they do coffee.
It's not considered to be an "adult drink."
bubblehead
Thursday, April 25, 2002 at 01:46:00 (PDT)
interesting the points being brought up....but i personally am happy for the bubble tea fad but like starbucks chocolate brownie frap in fact i call it an addiction
swt tooth babiee
Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 17:40:38 (PDT)
baybee510,
Yeah, I can't really see coporate north america sipping bubble tea during their coffee breaks. I don't think bubble tea will, by any means, REPLACE Starbucks or any of those coffee places. Those places seem to still be going strong in spite of bubble tea's popularity where I live (Vancouver, BC).
I do hope that bubble tea is not just a fad, though. I hope its popularity stays and it will be established as an asian contribution to North America. After all, I do see white teenagers in bubble tea shops or walking around drinking it. I don't see it often, but I've seen it occasionally.
I, too, have also seen people spit out the tapioca balls. One of my best friends, who is white, detests them! She spat them out, saying that "It's so weird drinking something and having these weird solid things come up the straw into your mouth!"
My first reaction when I first tried boba tea was that I thought the sensation was kind of odd, but I quickly grew to adore it...
To getting thirsty reading all this,
Bubble tea is sweet, but it's a different kind of sweet. It's not that artificial soft drink/cola sweetness, it's more of a fruity kind of sweetness. If you get the kind with REAL fruit, it'll also be less sweet (and healthier) than if you get the kind with flavoured powder. Go try some.
Cute Chinese Girl
Saturday, April 20, 2002 at 12:32:07 (PDT)
I think the tea is ok as an occasional novelty drink, but I don't see myself drinking it every day, the way people do coffee. Too much chewing.
It's unlikely that pearl iced tea will displace coffee. And there's no way in hell it will do away with Starbucks. If the tea becomes popular enough, Starbucks will simply start selling it themselves. Those bastards are here to stay.
Long live Dunkin Donuts.
Time to make the donuts, baby
Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 15:56:54 (PDT)
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