| Bubble tea first emerged during the 1980s. Prior to this sweet milk tea (usually made with powdered creamer) was already a popular drink and tapioca pearls and shaved ice were common desserts. At some point in time someone decided to combine all three: milk tea, tapioca pearls and shaved ice to create the drink we love today, however who actually came up with the idea is a hotly contested debate. There are two popular competing stories for who invented bubble tea with two teahouses both laying claim to its invention The Hanlin Tea Room (翰林茶館 hànlín cháguǎn) Chun Shui Tang Tea Room (春水堂人文茶館 chūnshuǐ táng rénwén cháguǎn) The Hanlin Tearoom states that they invented bubble tea in 1986 when the teahouse owner Tu Tsong-he saw some tapioca balls for sale on the street and felt a sudden inspiration to go home and add them to tea. Contrary to this, Chun Shui Tang Tea Room claim that they invented bubble tea in 1988. In the 1980s this tea room had already begun serving tea cold after the owner Liu Han-Chieh went on a visit to Japan and saw them serving coffee this way. Then in 1988 during a staff meeting the company’s product development manager Lin Hsiu Hui added some tapioca balls to her tea then encouraged others to try it. During the late 1980s the two tea rooms spent a lot of time suing each other over who came up with the beverage, but it was never settled and both continue to claim themselves as the rightful inventors. However, there is also a third possible theory which is that bubble tea was actually invented by street vendors in famous night markets.  Rise in Popularity In recent years bubble tea has become somewhat of a global craze. You can now find a bubble tea shop in countless city’s all over the globe. Bubble tea shops aren’t just popping up in bigger cities like London or New York but even in smaller places too. It should come as no surprise that bubble tea first started to grow popular across East and Southeast Asia, quickly spreading from China to Korea, Japan, Singapore Malaysia etc. Bubble tea then spread to North America in the 1990s through immigrant communities. The first bubble tea shop was set up in the US was set up in California by immigrants and soon bubble tea chain shops started popping up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, it was in the 2010s that bubble tea craze really got going in the US. It became hugely popular among the Asian-American community, with many Asian-Americans choosing to socialize and hang out in bubble tea shops. From the US it soon become popular in other parts of the world such as Europe, with bubble tea shops becoming common features of China Towns all over the world. Today, there are now multiple global bubble tea chains and you’ll find them across many cities. |
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