Who Invented Bubble Tea?

Bubble tea was invented in the 1980’s by Ms. Lin Hsiu HuiIt - Product Development Manager for Chun Shui Tang - a Taiwanese tea shop serving cold Chinese tea.

The creation of bubble tea came about when Ms. Lin Hsiu Hui was bored at a staff meeting and decided to dump her Taiwanese dessert called 'fen yuan' - a sweetened tapioca pudding - into her Assam iced tea and drink it. It tasted so good that they decided to add it to the menu, where it soon became the franchise’s top-selling product.

Following the success of this drink at Chun Shui Tang tea house, concessions all over Taiwan started adding tapioca pearls and different fruit flavours to their iced teas, and so began bubble tea as we now know it!

From Taiwan, its popularity has spread throughout China, the US, Australia, and now right here in the UK.

What Are Bubble Teas?

Bubble teas are refreshing fruit or milk drinks that can be served hot or cold, with added signature “bubbles” which sit at the bottom. The milk drinks are deliciously creamy whilst the fruit flavours are more like a traditional iced tea. Bubble tea is basically a quirky snack and drink in one - what’s not to love?

The drink is called bubble tea not only because of the tapioca balls, but also the floating “bubbles” created by the vigorous shaking involved in its blending. Fun fact: the tapioca balls are sometimes referred to as ‘Pearls’ or ‘Boba’, which has evolved into the word ‘Bubble’.

Bubblebase: Wales’s First Bubble Tea Shop

Just like in Taiwan, Bubble Tea shops are popping up all over the world, including Wales. We are incredibly proud to be the first business to bring Taiwanese bubble tea to Wales and the first to fill the gap in the Welsh market.

Our story begins in 2012 when, travelling around Singapore, our founder Kishan first discovered the glorious delight of a bubble tea and decided to bring it back home to Wales with him.

We believe a large part of our success is down to the authentic flavour of our drinks. We use exactly the same methods as they do in Taiwan and have our ingredients imported to make sure that we are giving our customers true bubble tea, not a Westernised version.

Our family run enterprise is proudly independent, where we strive to put our local Welsh community at the heart of our business and aim to continue to deliver the highest quality of service to them.

Making Bubble Tea is our passion. It's a beautiful drink to be shared with the world and we're so proud to be able to serve it to all the lovely people in Cardiff. We're constantly looking to better our shop, so if you have any questions or wish to get in touch about something, please contact us.

We Have Something For Everyone!

Since the very beginning, we have consistently served refreshingly tasty bubble tea in several unique flavour combinations, as well as a wide range of coffee, smoothies, ice cream, fat-free frozen yogurt, and tasty snacks straight from South-East Asia. We sell over a thousand bubble tea combinations & a great selection of toppings to add to your drinks, so you'll never be stuck for choice.

The vast majority of our drinks and toppings are vegan friendly and gluten free. All of our fruity teas and the majority of the bubble tea toppings are vegan friendly and our milky flavours are suitable for vegetarians.

At Bubblebase, we truly have something for everyone. Check out our full menu or why not read our FAQs to answer any questions you may have about our teas!

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Written by Kate, for Bubblebase.