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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, 05:53:45 PM)
I'ved decided to bring both worlds into one, with internet access for all the gaming freaks. How does it feel sipping on a cap or chunking on a boba while killing all your friends on the lan or net? It's heaven, well the first one will be opened in Arlington, TX. I j/need a couple of more months and bamm. There once was a guy who tried so hard to changed the lifestyle of people who likes latte's. Whatever he had done it j/made it worse. So one day he said what the heck, if you can't beat them then join them, so the theory of boba and latte's working together was born.
Love bobalatte's
net_port@hotmail.com
Friday, July 12, 2002 at 00:23:04 (PDT)
Marlo:
Where in H-Town do you live? With the exception of 1998, when I was on a job assignment in Seattle, I have lived in Houston since 1991. I've interacted with a ton of Asian American folks all over Houston, with concentration in Southwest Houston especially/WestChase, Sugar Land and The Galleria Area. I am White and my wife is Asian American. A number of our circle of friends are Asian American as well.
We live around the corner from Suzhi Tea house and several other Tapioca Pearl places over off of Bellaire Blvd and Beltway 8 in the Sharpstown/Westside Chinatown area. We are both very fond of the stuff--my wife likes the Red Bean Milk Bubble Tea while I like the Blueberry Milk Bubble Tea, with extra Tapioca pearls in both cases.
Perhaps we'll see ya'll around some time!
Hank Lewis
Monday, July 08, 2002 at 13:03:13 (PDT)
no way! thai tea adds something else to their teas (it's sweeter, and something gives it a red tinge), the two are definitely different.
and to Former Ch-exan, where in houston did you try? there are so many more places now, including really good ones that came from taiwan and cali. just check out:
http://home.earthlink.net/~jl126603
boba tea lover in houston
Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 08:01:47 (PDT)
Well what about Thai Iced Tea which has the sweet milk and red tea?
Isn't it the same without the little concoctions?
Thai tea and Boba comparisons
Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 12:41:08 (PDT)
To answer the question, there's quite a few pearl tea shops in seattle a mile or two from starbucks' corporate headquarters. So it wouldn't surprise me if starbucks caught on to the fad in a few years.
x
Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 17:59:33 (PDT)
I've tried the bubble tea in Houston and the bubble tea in San Jose. One point I'd like to make...You reddish-yellow necks down in the south are reading from the wrong "How to make Bubble Tea" manual.
On a lighter note, the San Jose bubble tea shops have already advanced to Level 3 on the sophistication scale...with the introduction of "spicy chicken nuggets" and "hand rolled crepes" to compliment your cup-o'tea.
Former Ch-exan
Monday, June 10, 2002 at 13:36:39 (PDT)
I don't know if Boba tea will be as popular as coffee, but one thing I know is that the 5th Tapioca Express just opend last month in the city where I lived. It is amazing cause the city I live in does not have a large Asia population. Therefore most of the poeple who went in are nonasians. I just want to say that I am proud of Boba Tea!!!
Snoopy
Friday, June 07, 2002 at 11:26:58 (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."
Haha... this is so true. I couldn't agree with you more. Then again, I don't drink coffee or bubble tea. I just go to the shops to kick it. All I know is that the pearl tea shops are always filled to the rafters with fine young hunnies. =)
TSJ
Eric@KristinKreuk.net
Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 12:11:03 (PDT)
I love Boba and I think it's far more interesting than Starbuck's ANY DAY. In fact, I love it so much, my family is puting Boba into our restaurant here in Chandler/Gilbert, ARIZONA! I'll be great and for Arizona, an exotically refreshing Libation!
Chopstixx, The Asian Eatery
jusitn_c_tang@hotmail.com
Tuesday, June 04, 2002 at 22:00:23 (PDT)
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