Mango, Falooda, and Rooh Afza…with Boba?

In the 1980s, hot tea wasn’t enough to entice people to the Taiwanese teahouse Chun Shui Tang. Liu Han-Chieh, the founder, thought the problem might be the temperature of their drinks. “With hot tea, you can only sell to old people,” he once observed. Iced tea seemed to do the trick. But Liu wasn’t satisfied. He asked his staff to add more texture, and one of them added tapioca pearls.

They had no idea they’d stumbled onto a global phenomenon. That experimental drink became known as bubble tea — or boba — and today, it’s one of the most recognizable beverages in the world. In the past few years, South Asians have also started to put their own spin on it — adding flavors ranging from thandai to falooda and Rooh Afza — and customers can’t get enough.