National Bubble Tea Day

Wichita Bubble Tea Locations

• Boba Zone Inc.
• Boss Tea ICT
• Dolphin Tea 3570
• Feng Cha Wichita Boba Tea
• Kung Fu Tea
• ICTea
• Panda Boba
• Joy Tea
• Leaf Teahouse
• The Teahouse at Clifton Square
• Dolphin Tea
• Sweet Pops
• Mad Boba Gallery
• Crafted: Coffee, Tea, Poke
• Kimlan Sandwiches
• The Bean Scene
• Kratomict

April 30 is National Bubble Tea Day, and with new bubble tea places popping up across town, now is the perfect time to sample them all and find your favorite! For those who haven’t had the chance to try it, bubble tea, also called boba tea, is a dark-brewed tea with some kind of milk, a sweetener, and the trademark “bubbles” visible in the bottom of the drink. This sweet drink is a popular beverage choice for many, but the origins are a source of mystery. 

Known around the world as boba tea or pearl milk tea, bubble tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. According to the website National Today, there are two Taiwanese shops that claim its origins: Chun Shui Tang tearoom in Taichung, Taiwan, and Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan, Taiwan. 

National Today explains that the version created in the Chun Shui Tang tearoom in 1988 was accidentally produced by product development manager Lin Hsui Hui: “While playing with her glass of iced tea during a meeting in 1988, on a whim she dropped some pudding with tapioca balls into her glass of cold tea.” Her coworkers loved her concoction, and it was immediately added to the menu of the tearoom, and was an instant hit with the customers. 

In contrast to Lin Hsui Hui’s accidental discovery, the owner of the Hanlin Tea Room, Tu Tsong, created his version of pearl tea with intention in 1986. Tu Tsong garnered inspiration from “white tapioca balls that looked like pearls in the Ya Mu Liao day market.” He added some of the “pearls” to cold tea, resulting in the first pearl tea. Regardless of who can truly claim the origin of this tasty confection, it has certainly placed its stamp on the United States!

For those wondering how to recreate this wonderful combination, the ingredients are relatively accessible. The little bubble-shaped balls in the bottom are made from tapioca, or cassava flour, which is “mixed with boiling water, cut, and rolled into spherical shapes of different sizes,” according to National Today. The bubbles, or bobas, are then added to a basic recipe of your choice of fresh brewed tea, milk, sweetener (honey or sugar) and other flavorings, and of course ice. Recipes are plentiful online for both the bubbles and for the tea proportions and combinations. It would be fun to craft your very own version of bubble tea!

Or, if you would rather leave it to the professionals, there are plenty of excellent options for bubble tea in Wichita. Be sure to find a way to celebrate this fun holiday with a sweet treat!