|
|
|
|
|
[CONTINUED BELOW]
GOLDSEA |
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?
|
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.
[CONTINUED BELOW]
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?
This interactive article is closed to new input.
Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
CONTACT US
|
ADVERTISING INFO
© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.
|
|
|
|
WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:53:45 PM)
Boba Lover in H-Town:
While there is an abundance of Asians in Sugar Land/First Colony (11% of the population), it is not predominantly Asian like Alief/Sharpstown (Westside Chinatown) is. That area is still predominantly White, but Asians are the largest minority there--there are more Asians in Ft Bend County than there are Latinos or Blacks.
Still, gotta luv that Boba tea!!!
Andrew Xiaoliang Campbell
Thursday, August 29, 2002 at 06:22:58 (PDT)
Higher Grounds has the best boba in the world!!!!!!!!! in northridge!
they also have a mobile unit that does any and all events from movie sets to high schools to car shows!!!
try them out bestballsinyourmouthever@hotmail.com
boba lover in san diego
Wednesday, August 28, 2002 at 14:08:19 (PDT)
yes actually i do know, although i don't consider sugar land/first colony non-Asian :) i actually run a webpage trying to keep up with all these different places. the one in memorial city is fuji teahouse, don't know when it'll actually open though. please, if you know of others besides what i've listed, let me know in the guestbook for my site (see below for url).
boba lover in houston
http://home.earthlink.net/~jl126603
Tuesday, August 27, 2002 at 16:08:40 (PDT)
Boba Lover in Houston:
Did you know that there are boba tea places in non-predominately Asian areas of the Houston Metro area? The most obvious are 1st Colony Mall and some strip centers in Sugar Land. Another Boba place is opening in Memorial City Mall in the next few weeks. So, get out that thick straw and suck them Tapioca balls!!!
Andrew Xiaoliang Campbell
Tuesday, August 20, 2002 at 08:11:18 (PDT)
to bubble tea fan:
i think you're missing an important point though - and that's the time and effort it takes to MAKE tapioca, something which i highly doubt starbucks would be interested in doing. especially considering that even non-taiwanese asians often don't make tapioca quite right, i doubt that the majority-white company of starbucks would succeed in any efforts to make tapioca. and as for the new coffee drinks, many tapioca places offer such coffees, often up to 15 different varieties.
boba lover in houston
Tuesday, August 06, 2002 at 20:27:02 (PDT)
The truth is that once starbucks adds the pearl drinks into their menu, all the small tea shops will be out of business. Every small bubble tea chain owner knows that. There is a bubble tea in seattle called Yunnie bubble tea. And I have been there a couple times to experience the a new creation of coffee added to basic flavor mixing that creates one wonderful drink with the tapioca. One would gain the orignal coffee with a bit a something new. It is wonderful. I would recommind taro coffee or coconut coffee. It sounds like a weird mix but it does fix the problem presented in the issue.
bubble tea fan
Sunday, August 04, 2002 at 01:30:37 (PDT)
Though boba will not replace Starbucks Coffee, it will sure be a fun alternative. Southern California has the best boba shop in the country. Located in Garden Grove, this Americanized boba shop is cleverly named Tastea. If anyone is in town, I sure recomend this place for a try. You can really taste the difference in quality and quantity at a reasonable price. They hook it up! Located on Brookhust & Westminster in the Assi Supermarket plaza. Enjoy!!!!!!
Mr. Boba
Friday, August 02, 2002 at 12:24:32 (PDT)
It will probably do for tea what Starbucks did for coffee.
BUT, Starbucks is getting boycotted all over the middle east because its CEO supports Israel, so maybe pearl tea will doom Starbucks in the Middle East???
TAG
Friday, August 02, 2002 at 08:31:25 (PDT)
they're all over the place in san diego. the best and most common places are on convoy street in clairemont mesa. my favorite, though they don't have as many choices is at sam woo in the 99 ranch supermarket on clairemont mesa blvd and the 805.
san diegan drinking boba right now
Monday, July 29, 2002 at 12:51:31 (PDT)
Hellz yeah it is! boba is bomb! I love this stuff. Houston has a pretty big Boba Community!
Riki
tokyoracer2005@aol.com
Saturday, July 27, 2002 at 22:33:37 (PDT)
to need franchise number:
it's 1-888-887-1616 and they also have a website (www.tapiocaexpress.ws) with info on the franchise. good luck!
boba lover in houston
Monday, July 22, 2002 at 21:10:36 (PDT)
Can anyone tell me the number for Taipoca Express for Franchise information? They advertised it on their plastic cups.
I had one in NYC and I damn forgot to keep the cup. I want to open one up in my neck of the woods and share this Asian treasure to all the White red necks here in Ohio.
Need Franchise Number
Monday, July 22, 2002 at 01:24:36 (PDT)
we are the bubble tea cup sealer manufacture, if you are interested in manual or auto. cup sealer, please inform us or visit http://www.packsealer.com. firstly
bubble tea cup sealer
vencilwu@ms7.hinet.net
Sunday, July 21, 2002 at 00:08:32 (PDT)
NEWEST COMMENTS |
EARLIER COMMENTS
|