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What the Hell is Bubble Tea?

2018-02-23 ShanghaiWOWeng


If you’ve spent any time at all in Asia, chances are you’ve had a bubble tea or two. But what are they? Where do they come from? What are the bubbles? Here’s a bit of a crash course on bubble teas, along with some of the most prominent bubble tea names in Shanghai. 


HOW DID THIS START??


At No. 30 Siwei Street in Taichung, Taiwan, you can find Chun Shui Tang, which claims to be the first to serve ‘Pearl Milk Tea’ (otherwise known as bubble tea). Photo source: trottinghorse


You have one person to thank for the bubble tea craze: Ms. Lin Hsiu Hui. This product development manager for Chun Shui Tang teahouse was incredibly bored during a business meeting one day and decided to dump her tapioca desert into her cold tea. It was so delicious that she added it to the menu. The drink quickly became their best-seller and thus kicked-off bubble mania. 


The concept caught on quickly in Taiwan, but mainland China’s bubble obsession wouldn’t get going until around 2006. That’s when Happy Lemon opened their first Shanghai location, followed shortly afterwards by CoCo in 2007. Both brands then began a rapid expansion, joined by a gaggle of copycats and new competitors offering an endless array of variations on the drink.  


BUT WAIT, WHAT ARE THE BUBBLES??



The bubbles are (or were originally) tapioca balls*. They are made by passing moist starch (derived from cassava root) through a sieve under pressure. Color varies depending on exact ingredients, but they are often times black due to the addition of brown sugar and caramel. 


*One other point that should be made is that the term 'bubbles' wasn't originally meant to refer to the little tapioca balls, but rather the bubbly foam at the top of the drink. Over the years this has pretty much been forgotten.



As you might guess, the explosion of bubble tea’s popularity raised a lot of issues surrounding exact ingredients of different brands’ bubbles and the safety thereof. In 2011  there were concerns raised about the use of DEHP, which has been known to affect hormone balances. Then in 2012, following a scientific study of the bubbles inside an ‘unnamed’ chain stores' bubble teas, German scientist Manfred Möller announced the bubbles contain "all sorts of crap." This led to a bit of a PR hit for many brands, followed by the tightening of regulations surrounding the production of bubbles, which are now regarded as generally safe to consume. 


WHO ARE THE BIG SHANGHAI BUBBLE TEA NAMES??


CoCo



Founded in 1997 by Tommy Hung, this Taiwan-based milk tea shop is one of the most popular in Shanghai. They currently have over 2500 locations around the world.  


Happy Lemon



Happy Lemon is the main competitor to CoCo, the Shanghai-based milk tea chain shop was founded in 2006 by Yummy Town Holding Corporation. It has aggressively expanded since then, with hundreds of locations around the world, including mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, the United States, the U.K., Canada and Korea.


Gongcha



This Taiwan-based milk tea store originated in Kaohsiung, and has expanded from there to become a powerhouse in the bubble tea world. They currently have locations in Macau, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, mainland China, Canada, the United States, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, Japan, and Brunei.


Royal Tea



Guangdong-based Royal Tea is quite popular in Shanghai, but even more so in Guangdong and Shenzhen.


World Tea House



Another Shanghai-based company that has been rapidly expanding throughout mainland China. 


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