While the tea-based drink from Taiwan has been sold in some enclaves of large American cities since the 1990s, it took more than two decades for a true "boba tea explosion."
Over the last year, Dunkin-owned Baskin-Robbins and Peet's Coffee both added it to their menus while Taiwan-based chain Gong Cha neared a milestone in its U.S. expansion with nearly 200 locations across 17 states. At $2.4 billion in 2019, the global boba tea market is projected to reach $4.3 billion by the end of 2027.
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Long-time Californian burger chain Jack in the Box (JACK) the became the latest big fast food name to experiment with their own take on the Asian beverage.
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Social Media Is Lit Up With These New Jack in The Box Boba Drinks
As first reported by food industry website Chewboom, three boba tea drinks are currently undergoing a test run at stores in California's Long Beach, Torrance and San Diego. The drink is also referred to as "bubble tea" — the latter term is more common on the East Coast.
Modeled after the original Brown Sugar Boba, Milk Tea with Boba is the simplest version of the drink — a black tea base mixed with sweet cream and vanilla extract and poured over ice.
Iced Coffee with Boba uses coffee instead of tea while the Vanilla Shake with Boba plays with the ratio — tea flavor is added to the milk and ice cream blend that is then also topped with whipped cream. All three drinks come with "brown sugar boba," or the tapioca pearls that for many are synonymous with the drink.
While these boba tea drinks are only available at a few very select locations, social media users were quick to jump on the unfamiliar problem with their takes — some were happy to see mainstream brands embrace a drink that they grew up with while others criticized the overly sweet and "Westernized" version.
"It's got the classic milk tea and the chewy tapioca type of boba," YouTuber Janice Yamanaka wrote in a minute-long video of her trying the drink. "This is a different drink from Jack in the Box because I don't think they've ever had a milk tea before."
Jack in the Box is reportedly selling the Vanilla Shake with Boba for $6.24 while the other two drinks will set one back $4.74.
This Is the Business Path From 'Ethnic' to Mainstream
As American palates become more diverse, mainstream brands are keen to experiment with flavors that would formerly have been perceived as too niche to be sold at the level of a national chain.
While boba tea has long ago broken the dam with soaring popularity, widespread availability of both smaller immigrant-run shops and big chains from Asia have left both limited market space and consumer interest in a more "westernized" take.
After a brief run in the spring of 2022, Baskin-Robbins' Tiger Milk Bubble Tea went into the vault of other trial runs and limited-time promotions while Starbucks (SBUX) also briefly tried testing an "Iced Chai Tea Latte with Coffee Pearls" but did not end up adding it to permanent menus.
At the same time, more Asian shops continue to open across the United States as the global boba tea market continues to grow at a CAGR rate of nearly 9%.
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