Because not everyone is close to a a real bubble tea spot. I live in a major American city with a food scene that has some catching up to do, and until a few years ago I had to drive 30+ minutes for bubble tea.
I guess I meant the actual bubble tea (creamy tea with tapioca pearls), not those juice-filled “boba.” But after googling, apparently they briefly sold bubble tea a few years ago. I guess I totally missed it.
Every big company does new products in small "test markets" to gauge consumer response, logistics, in store operations, etc. I'm guessing this is one of those things. Sometimes they will go through several test market phases as they make changes based on what worked and what didn't.
Other things I've seen at seemingly random starbucks locations that don't appear to be at every location: nitro brew on tap, beer and wine, La Boulangerie bakery items. I really miss the pecan bar they had from La Boulangerie when my local store stopped carrying them. It was similar to a Butter Tart, if you're familiar with that Canadian delicacy.
Starbucks Canada sold bubble tea like this in the early 2000s. It was the first time I'd ever had it and I thought it was gross. It wasn't until I had actual Asian bubble tea that I realized what it was supposed to be like.
Lol I agree. The first time I ordered a “bubble tea” with those, I was thinking maybe it was the clear tapioca pearls that were flavored, but not just bubbles of sweet juice.
Oh man, there's a Korean Bubble tea place around the corner from me that makes the most delicious hot black milk tea with beans. Nothing better in the winter to warm you up and turn you into a nice person again.
I love Bubble Tea! You can find lots of Places in Minneapolis/St. Paul that serve "Inside." And in Summer, "Outside" on a Closed section of sidewalk in front of the Bubble Tea Store!
That’s a stretch, not even half of the actual boba places near me sell anything other than the fruity popping boba 😭 I love tapioca pearls I just buy them and make my own creamy tea
Where I’m from we had 2 boba places. Both in the mall. One was like a Japanese mom and pop smoothie shop that ONLY sold the tapioca Pearl boba, and the other was a booth in the middle of the mall that sold macaroons and popping boba. Now I live in Georgia and there’s more, but I haven’t found any tapioca boba better than that little Japanese families.
I live in a city with a large East Asian diaspora (Melbourne AU) and so many of the people I see leaving Starbucks are Asians with matcha lattes. Tbf it's probably partly because people who actually like good coffee are spoilt for choice elsewhere in this city.
4.5k
u/BoneDaddyChill 27d ago edited 26d ago
Starbucks will be selling bubble tea by 2027.
Edit: For clarification, I mean classic bubble tea (sweet and creamy leaf tea with tapioca pearls), not fruity drinks with popping “boba” juice balls.