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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)
is there a place in san diego? where?
jd
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 23:53:37 (PDT)
A few things to keep in mind.
It will be difficult to market this in mainstream America. Americans generally are not accustomed to chewey textures in beverages.
Second of all, in Taiwan, the tea shop fad happened before not after the coffee shop fad.
Finally, surely tea is more healthy than coffee, but is that still true after dousing the tea with cream sugar, and tapioca pearls that are nearly pure starch? (I doubt it).
If Pearl teas are to take US, they need to target high concentrated Asian markets and generate buzz. Other desert beverages must be created to cater better to American tastes. One quick solution would be to serve HOT pearl milk tea. The tapioca pearls are softer, while retaining the same sort of chewey feel. From there customers can be acclimated to the product.
a sensible opinion
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 00:47:14 (PDT)
I am white, and my husband is Hispanic, and honestly we don't know many Asians even though I've grown up in Houston; sadly every racial community seems so segregated here. When we visited Vancouver BC I was introduced to bubble tea, and then when we visited Toronto I sought it out and had it every day. I don't think bubble tea will have a problem catching on at all in the Houston community. If anyone offered bubble tea in the Galleria area, my prediction is it'd do phenomenally well.
I've never been a big coffee drinker or Starbucks fan - trying to stay off the caffeine as much as possible - but bubble tea, I can't resist. I agree with God of Asia that the formula should not be changed - however, McBoba already exists in the form of Tea Shop 168, which has just opened a franchise in New York.
Marlo
Sunday, June 02, 2002 at 12:53:52 (PDT)
Albi said:
No tapioca pearl tee in Arizona. So I went mocha... Haha
I say:
Gee, Albi... I thought you had a fetish for Asian women. Now, you're going for the mocha women, too, huh? Well, I guess, snow white albi's go better with mocha cream-colored nubian queens.
Marilyn Monroe
Tuesday, May 28, 2002 at 00:27:03 (PDT)
Mmmm...Tapioca drinks are so good.
Some of the best: Strawberry milk bubble, Watermelon w/ pearls, and passionfruit snow bubble. ("snow bubble" just means it's blended w/ ice) It is cheaper than starbucks, and so much more tasty!
wuzzlepow
Sunday, May 26, 2002 at 23:11:38 (PDT)
Marilyn Monroe,
i like drinking bubble tea just like i like drinking milkshakes doesnt mean
it will be replacing daily coffee.
i still like it though it tastes great.
which is why my nick is 'bubblehead.'
bubblehead
Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 13:36:56 (PDT)
I love boba, and have it almost every week! I used to crave Frappuccinos in college, but all those calories scared me away.
Gotta have the boba.....
Monday, May 20, 2002 at 15:51:45 (PDT)
No tapioca pearl tee in Arizona. So I went mocha... Haha
Albi
Friday, May 17, 2002 at 10:14:44 (PDT)
Hey, MM,
Oh, yeah! You sound like my kind of woman.
I get off on pearl tea too, I especially like to roll those big juicy bobas around in my mouth and derive maximal pneumatic pleasure squeezing them before biting into them.
It's almost better than sex.
TT
Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 12:32:30 (PDT)
Yes it tastes good, I've had it, but I prefer coffee. Also I would think that the only places that serve pearl tea are on the coasts, and not in the south or midwest. Starbucks is here to stay. America is a land of coffee drinkers.
no way
Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 08:08:35 (PDT)
bubblehead said:
It's not considered to be an "adult drink."
I say:
It's not an adult drink, huh? And your name is, ahem, bubblehead? I love to suck on the straw and get those balls up, and then slowly savor the balls as I suck on them in my mouth. And as for your bubblehead...
Marilyn Monroe
Friday, May 10, 2002 at 23:25:15 (PDT)
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