The big boom of boba tea in the US

The boba tea invasion is real. I will try not to offend coffee drinkers, but I’m like the one person in my family that never took to coffee. When I discovered bubble tea or boba tea 🧋 about 3 years ago, it blew my mind 🤯

In this article, I’m going to discuss the incredible food & beverage invention that is “boba tea”. I will answer looming questions like what exactly is boba tea?, what do all these tea shop options look like?, what is tiger sugar?, how much money is the tea craze making?, and what are the best boba tea shops?

According to Google AI, boba tea, also known as bubble tea or pearl milk tea is a Taiwanese drink made with tea, milk or fruit, and chewy tapioca balls called “boba”. The tapioca balls are made from tapioca starch or flour, water, and brown sugar. Most people tend to enjoy adding boba to their drink. Its worth trying if you’ve never had it.

What makes the boba tea menu so unique?

The variety. Many of the boba tea shops will have their menu displayed with different sections of tea types, a few coffee options, and possibly a desert menu. Common examples of these different tea drink types are “boba tea”, “milk tea”, “fruit tea”, “smoothies”, “slushies”, “shake”, “shaved ice”, “pure milk series”, “blended series”, “stormy series”, and the list goes on.

Some of them might even have different types of boba or fruit chunks you can add to a drink. The smoothy and slushy options are amazing. Each boba tea shop has their own menu of beverage inventions that are usually a “must try”, especially at the local and regional boba tea shops.

What are my favorites?

I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of tapioca balls. However, I absolutely love the green tea fruit tea drinks. Boba tea shops are similar to coffee shops in that you can customize your beverage. This includes selecting what type of tea you want (green, black, white, matcha, oolong, and more), the level of sugar and ice, whether to add boba or chunks of fruit, and more (depending on the tea shop).

Overall, my favorite type of tea has been green tea. I’ve found “jasmine green tea” to be less tasty, but I will still drink it on occasion. There are several tea shops where “jasmine green tea” is the only green tea option.

There are a number of health benefits to drinking green tea. Green tea has a high concentration of antioxidants. It’s good for brain, heart, and skin health. It helps with weight management, fat burning, regulating your blood sugar, supports digestion, and can help prevent certain types of cancer and dental cavities.

As someone who enjoys a soda, boba tea is not only tasty, but a great health choice. A large fruit tea can have about the same amount of sugar as a can of soda. However, I usually get mine with 50% sugar and I still find it incredibly refreshing and enjoyable.

My go-to boba tea drinks thus far has been the mango fruit green tea and the cookies and cream smoothy from Tea n Me in Eagle Rock, California.

I also enjoy the Hawaiian fruit tea from R & B Tea. This drink is so refreshing. It includes chunks of watermelon, orange, and lime. The Pasadena location closed, but they are also in Rancho Cucamonga here in California.

How are boba tea shops different?

So, how have I found the boba tea shop experiences to be different? You will find that each tea shop or franchise has a unique menu. They all tend to be largely either Taiwanese (Gong Cha, Yi Fang, R & B Tea, Tiger Sugar) or a kind of “Americanized” local boba tea shop (Tea n Me, Boba Time).

Some of the boba tea shops are designed for beverage carryout while others have more of an ambiance for work and study like Bubble Puff in Pasadena across from Pasadena City College. Aside from a refreshing boba tea menu, they also have an amazing appetizer selection for snacking while finishing a work project or studying for class.

I recently discovered what is called “tiger sugar”. Tiger Sugar located in Little Tokyo here in the Los Angeles area. They also refer to this invention as “black sugar”. Taste-wise, tiger sugar kind of has a coffee taste to it. I wasn’t a fan, but it was a fun experience. You will find every boba tea shop to be unique in its own way, especially in Los Angeles.

It’s Boba Time was founded in 2003 by Eunice Pak in Los Angeles and is now owned by entrepreneur John Kim. In LA, they are everywhere. They have more than 100 locations primarily in California and the southwest, but are adding some new locations to Florida. On top of featuring a unique beverage menu (seen above with the top 20 sellers), they also have a beverage category for shave ice, and premium deserts like flavored cheesecakes and macarons.

Even Starbucks is diving into the boba tea craze. On May 7th, Starbucks added boba tea to its menu at some locations. This included “raspberry-flavored pearls”. As someone who loves the Starbucks ambiance for work and study, and use to be a regular with their Starbucks Refreshers - I can see the boba tea menu expanding in the future. However, the competition is strong with both boba tea franchises and local tea shops.

The total revenue of bubble tea in the United States is an estimated $1 billion through 2024, and has an expected compound annual growth rate of more than 9% through the year 2030 according to several industry research reports.

Boba tea shops have expanded rapidly across the west coast and Asian communities in the United States, but are entering a new phase of growth after being picked up by nationwide coffee leader Starbucks this past summer and popular regional chains beginning to expand into new markets.

If you haven’t tried boba tea, its a refreshing experience. I recommend checking Google or Yelp for local options if you’re looking for something new and fun to do this weekend.