If you like Milk Tea then you’ll absolutely love Taiwanese milk tea powder products, you don’t have to make a trip out to the local milk tea vendor any more as you can make delicious milk tea directly from the comfort of your own home. Also known as ‘bubble tea’, these delicious drinks have become ever more popular with ‘bubble tea’ vendors popping up in malls and shopping markets, but what is all the fuss about and where did it all start?
What is bubble tea?
Bubble tea is also known as pearl milk tea and as the name suggests it is a milk-based drink that was born in Taiwan around the early 1980’s. Why is it called bubble tea? The ‘bubble’ part of the name actually comes from tapioca balls that are chewy and slimy, the teas can be made with the bubbles or without, the choice is yours and depending on where you get your tea from there could be other toppings available too. If you purchase your own instant milk tea powder from JoozeJuice then you can literally put anything you want in your bubble tea making it a truly unique experience.
Most people would think the name ‘bubble tea’ is given because of the look of the tapioca balls that float in the tea, although it actually came from the bubbles themselves in the milk that are created during the ‘shaking’ process. When the tea settles, they are less obvious, but straight after the shaking process, they are very clear to see.
Not only for Asia anymore
Around the 1900’s, bubble tea started to become really popular all over the South East Asia, becoming a trend among young people. In places like Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mainland China, Korea and Singapore it was big business and the popularity grew really quickly, today some studies suggest that in places like China bubble tea consumption is up to 5 times that of coffee!
All over Asia there are different variants, so popular that the tapioca balls have even been introduced to certain foods like bubble tea ice cream, bubble tea pizza, bubble tea toast, bubble tea sushi and even bubble tea ramen. In Taiwan itself, April the 30th was declared as National Bubble Tea Day back in 2020 and in the same year there was a proposal of an alternative cover design to Taiwanese passports incorporating a bubble tea image. If you want to make your dinner more enjoyable, you can add bubble tea in your meal!
Because of its ever-growing popularity and the increase in visitors to and from South East Asia as well as things like social media and digital marketing, bubble tea has become available globally with companies making packaged sachets so that you can enjoy the tea wherever you are.
What’s all the fuss about?
Some people will think the same, especially if you are from the west, this might seem like another trend that will fade in the distance, along with flairs and ankle swingers but, if you haven’t tried bubble tea, then you really should although, if you are ordering products from abroad do make sure you are up to date with the latest from the government. Despite any preconceptions of it just being ‘another’ tea it really is delicious and if the weather is hot, then it is one of the most thirst-quenching drinks that you could make.
