Page 26 - 151 Varsity Ebook

24 / LIFESTYLE

Camera Eats First!

Foodstagram phenomenon has a strong influence on the
bubble tea market

By Tiffany Chong

hewy tapioca pearls with a ing milk and tapioca balls (粉圓) into balls are all handmade with no colour-
photogenic pattern of stripes the tea drinks. But Hanlin Tea Room ings and preservative. In a bid to get a
Cmade of brown sugar – bubble (翰林茶館), another Taiwanese tea share from this sweet market, Wong
tea, has become a fad in Hong Kong house selling black and white bubble invents new products like the avocado
recently. Taiwanese bubble tea lov- tea for more than 32 years, insists this special drink and brown
ers are willing to endure a long wait bubbly drink was developed by Tu sugar cold drip cof-
for this comfort food. Once bubble Tsung-ho, who added semi-transpar- fee for adult cus-
tea fans grab the drink, they always ent tapioca balls into milk tea. tomers.
let their camera take a zip first. So- Nowadays, bubble tea addicts do “Bubble tea
cial media platforms are flooded with not pay any attention to the dispute of is for the ladies,
check-in posts featuring the latest Tai- its origin. They only care if they have young ladies love
wanese bubble teashop. missed any latest bubble tea shop on bubble tea a lot. If
Two Taiwanese teahouses claim their checklist. the drink is photo- Maggie Wong
as the founder of bubble tea. Chun Maggie Wong Lai-kei, director of genic enough, it re- Lai-Kei
Shui Tang (春水堂), a Taiwanese tea BaBo The Drink Shop, imports this ally attracts them,”
house which serves cold Chinese tea bubble tea brand from Taoyuan to Wong says. That is why the store is
says bubble tea was invented in the Hong Kong due to her children’s af- decorated with a vernal freshness
mid-1980s by their manager Liu Hsiu- fection for bubble tea. Wong finds this of young girls. The walls are painted
hui. She created this beverage by add- is a healthy brand because the tapioca in pink and bunches of flowers are