Where Did it Come From?
The combination of tea, milk, and sugar was introduced and became popular in Taiwan in the 1600s during the partial Dutch colonization of Taiwan. The culture of milk tea drinking continued to modern times. It was also during the colonization times that tapioca was introduced to all of Asia, and Taiwan. Tapioca comes from a plant native from South America, the cassava root.
This introduced another type of starch in Asia and Southeast Asia. Familiar dishes started using Tapioca starch and the use of it started to become more popular over time. For example, sago pearls started to be replaced by tapioca pearls, mainly because tapioca was a cheaper option.
Before boba tea was invented, shaved iced and tapioca pearls were already relatively common desserts in Taiwan.
The exact origins of boba are considered a topic of debate. Different people claim to have discovered the delicious drink.
Two Origin Stories
1st Story
The Hanlin Tea Room of Tainan claims that bubble tea was invented in 1986. The story says that the teahouse owner Tu Tsong-he saw tapioca balls in the local market of Ah-bó-liâu. There he thought of the idea of using the tapioca pearls in his tea. This new tea with tapioca bubbles became a hot seller at his shop!
2nd Story
The founder of the Chun Shi Tang tea room in Taichung, Liu Han-Chieh, visited Japan during the 1980s. There she was served cold coffee. Inspired by Japan, she decided to serve cold Chinese tea. She invented the first bubble tea in 1988. During a staff meeting, she poured tapioca balls into her cold tea and gave it to everyone to drink. Everyone in the company loved the boba. Soon, the newly invented bubble tea became popular and the top-selling product!
