Bubble Tea_Success Story | Part 2

Bubble tea was a drink created during a staff competition for new ideas in a teahouse in Taiwan in the mid-1980s ... that has become an international smash hit, spreading through China, Asia, the USA and all across Instagram, with stores popping up and developing as fast as people can queue for them.

In this podcast we find out that bubble tea - or boba tea, depending on your taste for Taiwanese terminology - is much more than a sugary cold tea drink with tapioca pearls, requiring an extra-large straw. It’s a deep cultural symbol for young people of Asian heritage; it’s a signifier of a rise in Chinese culture beyond a history of appropriated “immigrant” cuisines like chop suey and General Tso’s chicken; and it’s a cultural bridge between East and West for a new generation.