Few drinks have travelled as far or inspired as many friendly debates as bubble tea. What started as a small experiment in Taiwanese tea shops in the 1980s has grown into a global phenomenon, with bubble tea shops now found everywhere from Taipei and Toronto to London and Los Angeles.
Along the way, it has gained a worldwide following and even earned a nickname linked to a Hong Kong film star. This is the story of how a simple cup of iced tea with chewy tapioca pearls became one of the world's most iconic drinks.
This article is about the history of bubble tea. If you want to know how to order at a bubble tea shop in Chinese, check out our recent podcast episode:
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Before the Bubbles: Taiwan’s Love for Texture
To understand bubble tea, you first have to understand something about Taiwanese food culture: texture matters just as much as flavour. Crispy, chewy, springy, and bouncy textures are celebrated in all kinds of dishes, from noodles and savoury snacks to desserts.
Long before anyone thought of adding pearls to tea, Taiwanese people were already enjoying chewy tapioca and sweet potato starch balls served with sugar water or shaved ice. Bubble tea’s real breakthrough wasn’t the pearls themselves but putting them together with tea.
There’s also an earlier part of the story that often gets overlooked. After World War II, as Taiwan’s tea culture started becoming more about enjoyment and creativity, a tea shop owner named Chang Fan Shu introduced a new technique. Having worked as a bartender during the Japanese colonial period, he borrowed cocktail-shaking methods and began shaking iced tea until a layer of foam appeared on top.
Customers called it “foam tea.” There were no pearls involved yet, but this simple idea of shaking tea—known as shou yao (手搖)—became one of the foundations of modern bubble tea. For many people, that refreshing texture is just as important as the chewy pearls at the bottom.
Two Shops, One Legend
The bubble tea we know today—iced tea with milk and chewy tapioca pearls—is usually traced back to the mid-1980s. But exactly where it was created remains one of Taiwan’s most famous food debates.
One side of the story comes from Chun Shui Tang, a tea house in Taichung. According to their version, founder Liu Han-Chieh was looking for ways to make iced tea more interesting and encouraged his staff to experiment with new ideas. During a meeting, an employee named Lin Hsiu Hui reportedly added some tapioca balls she had brought as a snack into her Assam tea.
Everyone loved the unexpected combination, and soon the drink became one of the shop’s most popular items. Chun Shui Tang also argues that it helped popularise the hand-shaken style that became a signature of bubble tea.
The other side comes from Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan. Founder Tu Tsong He says the inspiration came from a traditional Taiwanese snack: small tapioca balls called fenyuan, usually served in sugar water. Remembering the chewy treat from his childhood, he wondered what would happen if he added them to tea instead. The white pearls floating in green tea reminded him of his mother’s pearl necklace, leading to the name zhen zhu lu cha (珍珠綠茶)—“pearl green tea.”
Tu later replaced the small white pearls with larger black tapioca balls and combined them with milk tea, creating something much closer to the bubble tea enjoyed worldwide today. The pearls were too big for normal straws, so Hanlin even worked with a factory to create the extra-wide straw that has become a defining feature of the drink.
Both shops are still open today, and both continue to claim they created bubble tea. The disagreement eventually went beyond regular competition, leading to a legal battle that lasted about a decade.
In 2019, the court ruled that no one could own the invention because the drink had never been patented—the recipe belonged to everyone and no one at the same time.
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Where “Boba” Came From
While bubble tea is the name most people use for the drink as a whole, especially outside Taiwan, many people know it simply as boba. Today the two terms are often used interchangeably, but originally they meant slightly different things.
“Boba” referred specifically to the large, chewy black tapioca pearls used in milk tea, while the smaller white fenyuan pearls were the more traditional version found in Taiwanese desserts.
The story behind the name is one of the more unusual chapters in bubble tea history. Most accounts trace it back to a drink vendor in Tainan who was inspired by the nickname of Hong Kong actress Amy Yip, a name that jokingly referred to her breasts. The vendor used the same nickname for the large, round tapioca pearls to distinguish them from the smaller pearls already popular at the time.
Over time, “boba” lost its original meaning and became a familiar, global name for one of Taiwan’s most famous drinks.
Extra Chinese glossary for bubble tea:
| Chinese | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 珍珠奶茶 | zhēn zhū nǎi chá | Pearl milk tea — the formal Chinese name for classic bubble/boba milk tea |
| 波霸奶茶 | bō bà nǎi chá | "Boba" milk tea — milk tea made with the larger black tapioca pearls |
| 波霸 | bō bà | Boba — the large black tapioca pearls, named after a Hong Kong actress's nickname |
| 粉圓 | fěn yuán | Tapioca/starch balls — the traditional, smaller pearls used in Taiwanese desserts |
| 手搖 | shǒu yáo | Hand-shaken — the technique of shaking tea (often with ice) to aerate and mix it |
| 手搖飲料 | shǒu yáo yǐn liào | Hand-shaken beverage — the broader category of drinks bubble tea belongs to |
| 泡沫紅茶 | pào mò hóng chá | Foam black tea — the frothy shaken tea that predates bubble tea |
| 椰果 | yē guǒ | Coconut jelly, a common bubble tea topping |
| 布丁 | bù dīng | Pudding, another popular topping |
| 黑糖 | hēi táng | Brown/black sugar, used in brown-sugar boba drinks |
| 甜度 | tián dù | Sweetness level — a customization customers choose when ordering |
| 冰塊 | bīng kuài | Ice — customers can also adjust how much ice goes in the drink |
| 珍珠奶茶店 | zhēn zhū nǎi chá diàn | Bubble tea shop |
| 飲料店 | yǐn liào diàn | Beverage shop — the general term for a drink stand or tea shop |
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A Drink of Its Moment
Bubble tea did not appear out of nowhere. Its rise in the late 1980s happened during a period of rapid economic growth and social change in Taiwan. As people became more prosperous, food and drinks were no longer just about necessity—they became a way to enjoy life, try something new, and spend time with others.
Tea shops began appearing everywhere, from busy city streets to suburban neighbourhoods, creating a new casual drinking culture. Bubble tea fit perfectly into this moment: it was affordable, portable, and offered something familiar with a modern twist. For many, bubble tea became a symbol of Taiwan’s creativity—a local invention that could represent the island around the world.
That cultural pride was highlighted in an unexpected way in 2004, when Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense used bubble tea to explain the cost of a proposed weapons purchase. Officials suggested that giving up one cup of bubble tea a week for 15 years could help cover the expense.
The comparison did not go as planned. Many bubble tea lovers and brands criticised the idea, joking that other everyday expenses could have been chosen instead. The controversy, known as the “bubble tea for arms” debate, only showed how deeply the drink had become connected to Taiwanese identity.
Instead of weakening its image, the episode reinforced bubble tea’s status as more than just a drink—it had become a small but powerful symbol of Taiwan itself.
Going Global
By the 1990s and 2000s, bubble tea began its journey beyond Taiwan, spreading first across Asia and later to North America and Europe. Taiwanese communities abroad played a major role in introducing the drink, with small shops opening in Chinatowns and university towns, one cup at a time.
Its bigger breakthrough in Western markets came later, as entrepreneurs discovered bubble tea and saw its potential. Many were drawn to its unusual combination of tea and chewy toppings—a drink that felt part refreshment, part dessert.
One of bubble tea’s greatest strengths has always been its customisation. Customers can choose the tea base, milk, sweetness, ice level, and toppings, making the drink easy to adapt to different tastes and cultures. That flexibility helped turn a Taiwanese invention into a global favourite.
A More Recent Controversy
Bubble tea’s cultural importance came into the spotlight again in 2024, when actor Simu Liu challenged comments about the drink on a Canadian TV show.
During a “Shark Tank”-style program, two entrepreneurs described bubble tea as a trendy, overly sweet drink whose ingredients were unclear. Liu pushed back, pointing out that the drink has a clear history and cultural background, and questioned the idea that it needed to be “improved” without acknowledging its origins.
The exchange sparked a wider online discussion about cultural appreciation, appropriation, and the importance of recognising bubble tea’s Taiwanese roots—even as the drink continues to evolve around the world.
Bubble Tea Today
Modern bubble tea has evolved far beyond the original iced milk tea with tapioca pearls from the 1980s. Today’s menus offer everything from classic black and green tea to oolong, jasmine, and floral blends, with dairy options joined by oat, almond, soy, and coconut milk alternatives.
The toppings have expanded too. Traditional tapioca pearls now share the spotlight with popping boba, coconut jelly, egg pudding, grass jelly, and countless other creations. Some newer versions barely resemble the original drink, combining fresh milk, brown sugar pearls, fruit, biscuits, or even cake to create something closer to a dessert.
What started as a simple Taiwanese tea drink has become a constantly evolving playground for flavours and creativity.
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