Did You Know? Bubble Tea Was Invented in Taiwan — And Two Tea Houses Still Argue Over Who Did It First

There are few things more Taiwanese than queuing for a cup of bubble tea. But the drink now served in 30,000+ shops worldwide almost wasn’t invented at all.

The story begins in Taichung, 1988, at Chun Shui Tang (春水堂) — a tea house already famous for serving cold tea in a country where hot tea was the only option. During a routine staff meeting, product manager Lin Hsiu-Hui was eating fen yuan (粉圓) — chewy tapioca balls from Taiwanese shaved ice desserts. On a whim, she tipped them into her iced milk tea.

The table loved it. The drink hit the menu. Within a decade, it had swept across Asia.

But There’s a Twist — Taiwan Has Two Founding Fathers

Meanwhile, in Tainan, Tu Tsong-He of Hanlin Tea Room (翰林茶館) claims he was already serving a version with white tapioca pearls — shaped like actual pearls — around 1986. His drink inspired the original Mandarin name: 珍珠奶茶 (zhēnzhū nǎichá), or “pearl milk tea” — before the world settled on “bubble tea” or “boba.”

The two men took each other to court. The ruling? Both drinks were different enough that neither claim cancelled the other. Taiwan has two founding fathers of bubble tea — and both shops are still open today.

From Staff Meeting Snack to Global Icon

Taiwan’s bubble tea industry now generates over NT$200 billion annually. The global market is projected to hit USD $7.5 billion by 2030. What started as a lunchtime experiment became the island’s most globally recognized cultural export — more visible than Din Tai Fung, more ubiquitous than the pineapple cake.

At the heart of it all is something quintessentially Taiwanese: take something good, and make it more fun. Whether it’s adding taro balls to tea, inventing scallion pancakes layered a thousand times over, or stocking the world’s most inventive night market food stalls — Taiwan runs on creative food energy.

It’s the same spirit behind Taiwan’s renowned oolong tea culture — centuries of craft, constantly being reimagined.

And if you’ve ever waited in a queue for black sugar boba at 11pm, you know exactly what that means.

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