Bubble tea has had a marked rise in popularity in the past few years. It has become a staple in global city culture. There seems to be no end to the numerous instagram stories, snapchat pictures, and youtube videos on people drinking bubble tea. So what has caused this sudden and mysterious rise to fame recently?
Firstly, bubble tea is very instagrammable. It sounds like a gimmick, but the trendiness happened to feed on itself and its popularity grew exponentially. People wanted to get the drink purely to post a picture of it on social media, so that they could show off to their followers about how trendy they were. It is also generally a very attractive drink to take a picture of, enhancing its popularity.
Personally, I prefer taro milk bubble tea. It is said to have a flavour akin to that of cookies and cream, and that’s why I like it so much. Unlike certain other types of bubble tea, it is not too sweet, but at the same time it manages to sate your taste buds. I regularly drink this.
Secondly, bubble tea is the typical comfort food. Similar to ice cream, it has a wide variety of flavours. It is also a cold beverage and comes with different choices of sweetness and amount of pearls or toppings. These combine to make bubble tea a drink that everyone can enjoy, be it healthy people who wish to reduce their sugar intake, or simply people who like to enjoy sweet stuff. The wide audience of this drink has contributed to its rocketing sales in the past 3-4 years.
So, if you’re interested in this and want to start drinking bubble tea, I’ve compiled a few of the best places to do so:
1. Professor Brawn
It should come as no surprise that Professor Brawn is on this list. Every Wednesday, they set up shop at the Rajaratnam Block Foyer and sell a variety of foods including bubble tea. For more information on other foods, refer to our other article on Professor Brawn: Brawn Stars. The bubble tea sold there has a decent variety of flavours, but sadly it does not have different options on sweetness or amount of pearls. It is lower-priced compared to other stores that sell bubble tea, at only around 3-4 dollars per cup. This is why it is a good alternative to other stores and I would highly recommend anyone with a sweet tooth to go there and try out the bubble tea.
2. LiHO
LiHO has a wide variety of flavours, and selections for sweetness level. It is a very popular bubble tea shop and is well-known around Singapore. There’s one right next to our school at our beloved Junction 8, so next time when you’re taking the MRT back home, you can stop by and try some of it. It is priced slightly higher than Professor Brawn, but it is still within a reasonable range.
3. KOI
KOI is another prevalent bubble tea shop in Singapore and it probably has the most varied menu, with many interesting flavours and options to choose one. The reason not as many people frequent this shop is the fact that its prices are exorbitant. Prices sometimes even hit 8 dollars, which is twice as much as that of other shops! This has discouraged people from buying it, as they do not believe that bubble tea should be worth that much. Again, there’s one store at Junction 8, so (wallet permitting) you can give it a try next time!
Singapore has had a boom in bubble tea sales recently and there are many new shops all around the island selling it, so maybe you should give in to the hype and try it out.
All in all, bubble tea is a very enjoyable beverage and I definitely recommend you to go and try it out!
