What is bubble tea

Bubble tea appeared first in Taiwan in the early 1980s. There were two major claims saying that they were the inventor of bubble tea.

It was first created by Han-Chieh Liu, who combined milk tea with black tapioca balls. The drink became popular with students, who would buy it from street vendors for breakfast or a snack. Another claim for the invention of bubble tea comes from the owner of Hanlin Tea Room of Tainan City in Taiwan, Tsong-He Tu was inspired to create bubble tea when he saw white tapioca balls for sale in the traditional market. His idea was to create something new that would be popular among customers who were bored of drinking plain old boring teas.  They even went to court to fight for who the inventor of bubble tea was. After ten years of litigation, the court finally ruled that bubble tea was a new type of beverage, and neither party could obtain a patent. 

Before the cafes started to trend in Taiwan, bubble tea stores were the place where students and workers had gatherings. In the late 1990s, some businesses imported the sealing machine which fixed the problem of tea splitting out of the cup. The takeaway model starts to prosper and expand to the world. 

Bubble tea has been a favourite drink in East and Southeast Asia since the 1990s. Its popularity was only getting stronger as it becomes more prevalent around the world today.