What is bubble tea?

Originally bubble tea (also known as pearl milk tea, boba tea, boba milk tea and bubble milk tea and in Chinese it is 珍珠奶茶) was a term given to drinks that consisted of tea, milk and chewy tapioca pearls which are shaken together to form a bubbly foam on top of the drink.

These days, bubble tea is given to a wide variety of fruity and milk infused teas that are produced in this way.

The origins of Bubble Tea come from Taiwan in the 1980s and have become increasingly popular across the world. The ‘drink that you chew’ has become a phenomenon in the UK and our home city Bristol. Drinking through an oversized straw to slurp up your tea and chew tapioca or pop the popping bubbles is a sensation and an experience that everyone should try.

At CUPP we make bubble tea in a unique way. We only use quality loose leaf tea, we make our own fresh fruit puree in store and only fresh milk or soya goes into our milk bubble teas.

We create your bubble tea in an express çafe/bar environment. Everything is mixed in cocktail shakers and we even have a special shaking machine to ensure your tea concoctions are perfectly shaken.

We seal your bubble tea in our sealing machine so you can transport your bubble tea with ease or save it for later, just like you could if you were in Taiwan and in other countries in Asia.

Our bubble tea is healthy. We don’t use any nasty sugary powders or non dairy creamer which contain sweeteners like other bubble tea shops.

We use fresh ingredients, seasonal fruits and we keep the sugar content low. However, if you want to add more sweetness to your bubble tea then it’s fine by us, just ask when you order.

All our teas have health benefits especially matcha green tea and some of our toppings have loads of health benefits like our basil seed. Tapioca pearls are also low in calories too.

So yes, our bubble teas are healthy!

Tapioca is made from a root starch from the cassava plant so it’s a natural ingredient that is also gluten free. Tapioca pearls are quite difficult to cook as they need to be the right consistency of bouncy and chewy. Thankfully we’ve mastered the art of bubble tea!

The fruit popping bubbles are rather special as they have a unique seaweed extract skin that keeps the fruit juice inside. Once you bite down, they pop and it’s releases the fruit juice inside. Quite amazing!