Those chewy balls at the bottom of a bubble tea aren't flavoured jelly — they're boiled cassava starch, and the way they're made hasn't changed much since a Taiwanese tea house started dropping them into iced tea in the 1980s.
What bubble tea actually is
Bubble tea, also called boba, originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. Its exact birthplace is disputed between two tea houses, Chun Shui Tang in Taichung and Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan, both of which claim to have first added tapioca balls to cold tea. The drink is typically a base of black, green or oolong tea, shaken with milk or fruit syrup and ice, with a scoop of tapioca pearls added at the bottom and served with an extra-wide straw to pull them up.
How tapioca pearls are made
Tapioca pearls start life as starch extracted from the cassava root, a starchy tuber grown widely in South America and Southeast Asia.
- Starch extraction — cassava root is pulped and washed to separate out pure starch
- Forming — the starch is mixed with water and rolled into small balls
- Cooking — the pearls are boiled until they turn chewy and translucent, then cooled
- Sweetening — cooked pearls are usually soaked in sugar or brown sugar syrup so they don't turn bland or sticky
Because the base pearls contain no dairy or gelatine, classic tapioca boba fits naturally into vegan diets, though flavoured versions and any milk added to the tea itself often aren't.
Why the UK can't get enough
Bubble tea arrived in the UK gradually through the 2000s but took off through the 2010s, spreading from London's Chinatown into university towns and shopping centres nationwide via dedicated chains. The brown sugar boba trend, which saw pearls caramelised in brown sugar and swirled through milk, hit UK shops heavily around 2018-2019 and pulled in a new wave of customers, and bubble tea has stayed a fixture of UK high streets and shopping centre food courts ever since.
Frequently asked questions
What is bubble tea?
Bubble tea is a Taiwanese drink made from tea, milk or fruit flavouring, and chewy tapioca pearls, usually shaken and served cold with a wide straw.
What are tapioca pearls made from?
Tapioca pearls are made from starch extracted from the cassava root, formed into small balls and boiled until soft and chewy, often then soaked in sugar or brown sugar syrup.
Why has bubble tea become so popular in the UK?
Bubble tea spread through UK university towns and city centres through the 2010s, driven by dedicated boba chains, social media appeal and the rise of the brown sugar boba trend around 2018-2019.