For National Boba Day (also referred to as National Bubble Tea Day) on April 30th, consumers across The United States will celebrate the fun and delicious beverage, which has steadily grown in popularity since its inception in the 1980s.
The traditional boba drink combines tea, milk and boba pearls derived from cassava root turned into tapioca starch. While introduced to The United States in the 1990s, the adoration of the beverage grew in the mid-2000s with the explosive growth of social media.
National Boba (Bubble Tea) Day was founded in 2018 by an international chain of boba shops looking to promote the tea-based and versatile drink.According to a March 2022 survey (see footnote 1) of consumer shopping habits related to boba, nearly 74 percent of respondents were familiar or extremely familiar with the beverage. Of that group, nearly 91 percent drink boba at least monthly and nearly 63 percent drink boba once a week or more.
Additionally, the global boba market was valued at $1.89 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach $3.49 billion by the end of 2026, according to Fortune Business Insights (see footnote 2).
“It's not surprising to see the growth in popularity of boba as younger demographics, who are looking for new and innovative culinary experiences, have embraced this yummy and delightful drink,” said Jasmine Pak, a boba expert and BuzzFeed Tasty creator. “In December 2020, Google searches for boba surpassed Google searches for cupcake, further highlighting this category segment’s impressive growth.”
Boba shops have become an alternative option to coffee shops for a social gathering, meeting spot or place to grab a treat. Today, there are a wide range of flavors with boba pearls being added to beverages – from milk and coffee to smoothies and cocktails.
According to Yelp as reported by Medium, so far this year, page views for “bubble tea” or “boba” businesses in the food and restaurant categories in The United States are up fivefold since 2012, and the share of reviews mentioning boba is about double what it was eight years ago.
On the whole, the global bubble tea industry generated $2.4 billion in 2019 and is anticipated to generate $4.3 billion by 2027, witnessing a CAGR of 7.8 percent from 2020 to 2027, per Allied Market Research’s 2022 Bubble Tea Market report.
Boba Bam and Innovation with Bubble Tea
With boba shops popping up all over The United States, more and more companies are innovating with boba tea. For example, BEK Foods recently introduced Boba Bam, so boba lovers can make their favorite boba drinks – with all the taste and texture of boba shops – from the convenience of home.
The Boba Bam packet goes from freezer to microwave to cup in about a minute. Consumers can add the sweet and chewy boba pearls to any beverage, including traditional milk, plant-based milks, coffee or tea.
“Just as Starbucks expanded the market by introducing coffee shop-quality products for home use, Boba Bam has done the same for the boba industry,” said Brian Khoddam, CEO of BEK Foods. “Our instant boba kit lets you make delicious boba from the convenience of home, anytime and any way you want. By making boba more readily available, we are helping to grow the category's popularity, increase the frequency of use and introduce the drink to new audiences.”
Because Boba Bam is gluten-free, vegan, nut free and all-natural, it can be customized to meet a range of dietary needs. It can also be used as a topping for food or integrated into more sophisticated recipes like protein shakes, cocktails and breakfast parfaits.
Boba Bam is currently available at Costco, Sam’s Club, select ALDI locations and other retailers.
BEK Foods, which produces Boba Bam, is a well-funded, high-growth food company that focuses on trends at the intersection of taste, culture, convenience, and value. The company specializes in food curation through retail and foodservice channels. With a combined total of 75 years of experience in food logistics (ambient, refrigerated and frozen), wholesale food distribution, supply chain management, business consulting, technology and food marketing. The company focuses on pioneering new food categories, supported and validated with data, and it's the first food brand to successfully bring frozen instant boba to the mass retail market.
A Better-For-You RTD Boba Alternative
BUBLUV, Inc. – a New York based start-up on a mission to craft delicious, convenient, better-for-you, Asian-inspired food and beverages – is also innovating in the boba tea space.
The company recently announced the launch of its BUBLUV Bubble Tea, the first ready-to-drink, better-for-you boba alternative that boasts no added sugar, no artificial ingredients, and less than 50 calories per bottle.
Available now, exclusively on BUBLUV.com, BUBLUV Bubble Tea offers a lightly sweet and refreshing taste with no mixing or at-home preparation needed.
BUBLUV Bubble Tea recently amassed a 28,000-person pre-launch waitlist after the founder's bubble tea story highlighting health concerns with calories and sugar in traditional boba tea went viral on TikTok and LinkedIn in January 2022.
“After learning how unhealthy boba tea could be, I decided to create BUBLUV Bubble Tea so I could enjoy one of my favorite drinks without worrying about how much sugar I was consuming,” said Diana Ark Chen, CEO and founder of BUBLUV Inc. “The incredible pre-launch demand has been a clear indicator that I was not alone in my sentiment. Consumers deserve to experience bubble tea in a simple and better-for-you way, and we're excited to bring this first-of-its-kind beverage to market.”
Regular tapioca pearls in bubble tea are typically made of tapioca starch and brown sugar and/or food coloring, and reportedly can contain 200 or more calories per quarter cup serving (see footnote 3). BUBLUV Bubble Tea's tapioca pearls, on the other hand, are a blend of tapioca starch and konjac (a root vegetable), and have no added sugar. The addition of the konjac gives the pearls in BUBLUV Bubble Tea a texture in between jelly and a regular tapioca pearl.
In addition to its “better-for-you” tapioca pearls, BUBLUV Bubble Tea provides antioxidants (like Vitamin C), is keto-friendly and gluten-free and is available in three varieties: Black Milk Tea with Tapioca Pearls, Matcha Soy Latte with Tapioca Pearls and Passionfruit Oolong Guava with Tapioca Pearls. With less than 1g of sugar per 9.5 oz serving, each flavor is brewed with loose leaf tea and is sweetened with all-natural sweeteners, including monk fruit and erythritol, resulting in a lightly sweet and refreshing taste, with a calculated up to 98 percent less sugar and up to 80 percent fewer calories than the classic boba shop chain boba tea flavor (see footnote 4).
For more information about BUBLUV, visit bubluv.com.
For more information on Boba Bam, visit BobaBam.com.
Plan to Attend or Participate in the
World Tea Conference + Expo, March 27-29, 2023
To learn about other key developments, trends, issues, hot topics and products within the global tea community, plan to attend the World Tea Conference + Expo, March 27-29, 2023 in Las Vegas, co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo. Visit WorldTeaExpo.com.
To book your sponsorship or exhibit space at the World Tea Conference + Expo, contact:
Veronica Gonnello
(for companies A to G)
e: [email protected]
p: 212-895-8244
Tim Schultz
(for companies H to Q)
e: [email protected]
p: (917) 258-8589
Fadi Alsayegh
(for companies R to Z)
e: [email protected]
p: 917-258-5174
Also, be sure to stay connected with the World Tea Conference + Expo on social media, for details and insights about the event. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
FOOTNOTES:
Footnote 1 – Survey of 500 consumers ages 18-44 through Amazon Mechanical Turk, conducted in March 2022. Contact BEK Foods for study details.
Footnote 2 – Fortune Business Insights. Contact BEK Foods for study details.
Footnote 3 – Tapioca Pearl calorie count based on leading U.S. boba shop chain reported calorie count as of March 2022.
Footnote 4 – Sugar content based on leading boba shop chain reported Black Milk Tea product sugar, adding tapioca pearl sugar count from leading boba industry supplier, per 16oz serving, as of March 2022 Calorie count based on applicable, average calorie counts of Black Milk Tea with Tapioca Pearl products as reported by the top 5 boba shop chains in the U.S., as of March 2022