Bubble tea, also commonly known as boba, is a tea-based dessert drink invented in Taiwan and now, it has become the latest food trend on Instagram.
What is Bubble Tea, and why is it so popular?
Bubble tea, also commonly known as bubble milk tea, pearl milk tea, or boba, is a tea-based dessert drink invented in Taiwan. It is basically a milk tea with tapioca pearls. The range of boba variations goes wild: it could be fruit-flavoured or coffee, matcha, sesame, you name it! The best part about bubble tea is of course the bubble! You can choose from multiple variations of tapioca pearls, fruits jelly, pudding, fruits, crème, etc.
On Instagram, more than 2.4 million posts are made using #bubbletea and 2.3 million photos are posted under the hashtag #boba. Research has shown that Europe would witness the fastest growth of bubble tea, which will grow 8.2% during the period 2020 and 2027 (Allied Market Search, 2021).
The target market of bubble tea is usually young people aging from 18 to 24 years old. The drink is especially popular within the Asian community due to its origin. It has even been considered the symbol of Asian culture abroad. With the growth of the Asian community and the number of Asian tourists coming to the Netherlands every year, bubble tea businesses would expect to develop even more.
Health benefits and risks.
Bubble tea’s main ingredients are tapioca pearls, black or green tea, milk, and sweeteners (usually fruit syrups).
Some of the benefits that bubble tea provides:
- Providing energy and strengths due to the caffeine and antioxidants in tea, carbohydrate, and calcium in milk.
- A good mood enhancer and stress reliever: the antioxidants in tea help calm you down. And overall, just a sweet drink would be perfect to lift your mood.
However, it packs a lot of sugar due to the syrups and thus, the calorie intake is huge. This amount of calories can cancel out the health benefits of milk and tea. Therefore, consume your bubble tea in moderation. After all, it is a DESSERT drink and should not be consumed every day.
Consider having it on your menu?
As mentioned above, Bubble tea is a growing concept and will gain more popularity in the future. Many believe that bubble tea is not just a trend, but it is here to stay. Moreover, bubble tea has low cost with high profit with a markup of 350% in an average store. The ingredients are very cheap, and you can charge it pretty high to the customers. Moreover, making Bubble tea is as easy as making a cappuccino or a cocktail if you train your employees properly.
Below is a list of the best Bubble tea places around the Netherlands according to my experience as a “professional” Bubble tea drinker:
As you can see, there are many places to get your bubble tea in the big cities of the Netherlands. Amsterdam is the one with the most boba shops because the city is the Netherlands’ main tourist attraction spot, and it has a huge Asian community.
In the end, Bubble tea is becoming famous around the globe and maybe, it is time you try it out and see for yourself if this drink should be on your menu or not.
