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Straits Times
a day ago
- Business
- Straits Times
New brands pour into Singapore's growing tea scene
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox (Clockwise from left) Teas from ChaPanda, Origin Teahouse at Kada and Petale Tea. SINGAPORE – Tea is brewing up fresh excitement in Singapore's beverage scene. Once overshadowed by coffee, it is now embraced for its health benefits and as a lifestyle drink. Riding on themes of health, wellness and mindfulness, a new wave of tea purveyors is enticing customers with fruit-laden brews, fragrant leaves and modern presentation. The market has seen an influx of entrants over the past year. These range from Chinese brands such as ChaPanda and Luli both making their Singapore debut, to home-grown concepts like LimCha Teahouse Cafe and Golden Seed, which focus mainly on Chinese tea with a modern spin. Floral and herbal infusions, as well as tea balls incorporating Chinese and Western teas, are also gaining popularity. Fresh fruit teas are a major draw. ChaPanda – which has close to 9,000 stores in China and overseas, including in Malaysia, South Korea, Australia and France – opened its first two Singapore outlets in July at youth hub *Scape and Northpoint City. Ms Joanna Jia, 36, country manager of ChaPanda Singapore, notes that the brand has evolved from bubble tea to focus on tea beverages based on fresh fruit. The Mango Pomelo Sago ($5.90 for medium, $6.90 for large) is the brand's bestseller, containing about half a mango and plenty of red pomelo in every cup. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. 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ChaPanda Singapore's country manager Joanna Jia with the brand's Shine Muscat Grape Jasmine Tea and Mango Pomelo Sago at its *Scape outlet. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO Singaporean Jovalene Teo, 44, introduced Chinese tea brand Luli to the local market to offer a healthier, functional alternative to sugary bubble tea. Ms Jovalene Teo, chief executive of Luli Singapore, which opened its first local outlet at Marina Square on Aug 10. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Luli Singapore, which opened its first outlet at Marina Square on Aug 10, sells modern lifestyle beverages rooted in traditional Chinese medicine. An example is its Lingzhi Dragon Ginseng ($9.80), which is exclusive to Singapore. The blend of lingzhi and ginseng is said to support immunity, reduce fatigue and promote longevity, while jasmine tea and milk are added to make the drink palatable to younger consumers. Luli Singapore's Lingzhi Dragon Ginseng. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI F&N Foods Singapore managing director Siew Peng Yim, 57, has observed tea making a comeback as milk tea continues to grow in popularity. The trend inspired F&N Foods to launch its F&N Magnolia Limited Edition Earl Grey Low Fat Flavoured Milk ($2.52 for 475ml, $3.63 for 946ml) on June 2. Made with black tea powder and infused with the distinct citrusy, floral scent of bergamot, the milk is available in stores and online until November. The F&N Magnolia Limited Edition Earl Grey Low Fat Flavoured Milk was launched in June. PHOTO: F&N FOODS Mr Siew notes that tea is trending in Singapore due to a combination of factors, including changing consumer preferences and the rise of speciality tea shops. 'Singaporeans are increasingly seeking out unique and high-quality teas,' he says. Beyond taste and flavour New home-grown teahouses and brands are also promoting tea as a mode to appreciating Chinese tea culture, and as a path to mindful living. LimCha Teahouse Cafe, which opened in the Joo Chiat enclave in May, is on a mission to preserve and promote Teochew gongfu tea culture with a modern twist. It offers five varieties of Chaozhou Dancong – a type of oolong – brewed in gongfu tea tradition, iced teas, cold brews and housemade pastries, such as Strawberry Dancong Cake ($11.90+ a slice) with tea-infused fresh cream frosting and jelly. LimCha Teahouse Cafe in Joo Chiat offers teas brewed in the tradition of gongfu tea, cold brews and tea-infused pastries. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN At Millenia Walk, premium tea atelier Golden Seed, which opened in February, offers tasting flights of high-quality teas to encourage customers to appreciate aroma and flavour layers. Prices start at $36+ for a set of Xi Hu Long Jing. Ms Abby Lim, 42, marketing director of Golden Seed, says the cafe is aimed at both tea enthusiasts and non-tea drinkers. 'We want to cultivate a deeper appreciation for exceptional teas by blending heritage with modern sensibilities,' she says. Ms Abby Lim, marketing director of Golden Seed at Millenia Walk, says the brand is aimed at tea enthusiasts and non-tea drinkers alike. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO Herbal and floral infusions are also stirring up renewed interest. Tea Therapy Singapore, an online retailer specialising in caffeine-free floral, herbal and freeze-dried fruit teas was opened in September 2024 by Ms Sheena Lim, 53. 'Tea has gone beyond flavour and taste,' she says. 'It is about inner peace and calm, and what tea can bring to your health, both physically and mentally.' For some, tea is an entry point to healthier daily habits. 'Coffee gives an energy boost, but tea is about slowing down and socialising,' says Ms Jia. Despite growing competition, sellers see the increased visibility as positive. 'Having more competitors raises the profile of tea and benefits all sellers,' adds Ms Jia. LimCha Teahouse Cafe's owner, Ms Gladys Lim, 24, welcomes the variety that new tea sellers bring. 'There are so many facets to tea, from traditional to floral to herbal infusions. It is a welcome change from the coffee scene and the trend of syrupy bubble tea,' she says. Ms Glady Lim, owner of LimCha Teahouse Cafe, is on a mission to preserve Teochew tea culture. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN From mass-market launches to niche ateliers, here is a closer look at seven purveyors brewing a distinct presence in Singapore's tea scene. ChaPanda: Fresh fruit in every cup Where: 02-07 *Scape, 2 Orchard Link, and B2-162 Northpoint City, South Wing, 1 North Point Drive Open: 10am to 10pm daily Info: @ on Instagram ChaPanda entered Singapore in July with a splash, opening two outlets within a week to introduce its fresh fruit tea drinks. Founded in 2008 in Chengdu, Sichuan, the Chinese brand has shifted from bubble tea to offering fruit-based tea beverages alongside milk tea. Founded in 2008 in Chengdu, Sichuan, ChaPanda entered Singapore in July with two outlets, including at *Scape. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO The Singapore menu features 18 drinks, with the classic Signature Taro Ball Milk Tea ($4.50 for medium, $5.50 for large) made with Mei Zhan Hua Kui tea leaves from Yunnan. This black tea has slightly bitter notes and a floral fragrance that pairs well with milk. The brand's top sellers here, as in China, are fruit teas. Besides the popular Mango Pomelo Sago ($5.90 for medium, $6.90 for large), customers are also drawn to Shine Muscat Grape Jasmine Tea ($5.90 for medium, $6.90 for large). Shine Muscat grapes from China are delivered daily. Each drink is prepared to order, with grapes muddled by hand to release the juice, then blended with jasmine tea and ice. Chunks of grape and jelly give the drink a chewy texture. ChaPanda's Shine Muscat Grape Jasmine Tea (left) and Mango Pomelo Sago. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO No artificial colouring or preservatives are used, with the drinks' colour coming from tea or fruit. Customers can choose sugar levels ranging from zero to 120 per cent. The *Scape flagship spans 1,000 sq ft indoors and 2,000 sq ft outdoors, seating up to 15 inside and 70 outside. Expansion plans include a Chinatown Point outlet in October and more outlets in the next three years. Luli Singapore: Tea meets TCM remedies Where: 02-184/185 Marina Square, 6 Raffles Boulevard Open: 10am to 10pm daily Info: Ms Jovalene Teo, chief executive of Luli Singapore, at the brand's first outlet in Singapore at Marina Square. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Ms Jovalene Teo, 44, chief executive of Luli Singapore, holds the Singapore master franchise of the Chinese brand of modern beverages rooted in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with the aim of providing consumers here with alternatives to sugar-laden bubble tea. The concept from Nanjing, launched in 2023, has about 500 outlets in China and one each in Malaysia and Vietnam. At Luli Singapore's first outlet at Marina Square, consumers can choose from 22 drinks, with the signature range being caffeine-free 'remedy brews' made without tea leaves. These herbal infusions use ingredients such as ginseng, dried pear slices and fresh Namshui pear. Other offerings include milk teas and fruit teas made with jasmine green tea, osmanthus oolong and honey-scented black tea. The formulations for the TCM-based remedy brews are supported by Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine and Jiangsu Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Research Institute. A popular choice is Roselle Tangerine Peel Zest ($5.90 for medium, $6.90 for large), with a tangy-sweet base of aged tangerine peel, plum, roselle, licorice root and hawthorn. In TCM, these are said to aid digestion, support spleen health and soothe the throat. Perfume lemon, imported from Guangdong, adds an aromatic citrus lift. Roselle Tangerine Peel Zest at Luli Singapore's Marina Square outlet. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI In September, the store will launch an AI Mirror, which uses artificial intelligence to scan a customer's face and tongue, and provide a diagnostic report on body constitution and recommend suitable brews. The device will also give lifestyle tips on herbal tonics and recipes for herbal soups. Luli Singapore will soon launch an AI Mirror, which customers can use to get TCM-based diagnostic reports on their body constitution and recommendations on brews. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Luli Singapore will open a second outlet at Keppel South Central in Tanjong Pagar in October. LimCha Teahouse Cafe: Modern spin on Teochew tea culture Where: Level 2, 93 East Coast Open: 11am to 8pm (Wednesdays and Thursdays), noon to 10pm (Fridays to Sundays), closed on Mondays and Tuesdays Info: Go to @limcha_teahousecafe on Instagram or call 8509-2526 LimCha Teahouse Cafe in Joo Chiat invites customers to slow down and savour traditional Teochew tea culture in a modern space. Opened on May 1 by owner Gladys Lim, 24, the 1,200 sq ft cafe offers five varieties of premium Dancong teas from Phoenix Mountain in Guangdong, China. Dancong is a type of oolong prized for its aroma. Prices start at $8.90+ for teas such as iced Longan Ya Shi Xiang and go up to $79.90+ for the Signature Premium Cold Tea Set. Good for up to four people to share, the set includes two 500ml bottles of cold brew Honey Orchid and Orchid Vanilla teas, desserts, fresh fruit and snacks. The iced Longan Ya Shi Xiang blends longan flavouring with Ya Shi Xiang tea, known for its earthy, woody notes. Iced Longan Ya Shi Xiang at LimCha Teahouse Cafe. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN For a traditional experience, the Gong Fu Cha Dancong Hot Tea Ceremonial Set ($35+) features Mi Lan Xiang Dancong with a rich scent of honey and fruit, paired with Chaozhou-sourced spiral nut biscuits and roasted peanuts. The Gong Fu Cha Dancong Hot Tea Ceremonial Set at LimCha Teahouse Cafe. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN For a lighter entry into the world of tea, try the Dancong Milk Grass Jelly ($8.90+), a tea-infused dessert of grass jelly. Ya Shi Xiang tea is added to the whole milk, which tops the grass jelly. Dancong Milk Grass Jelly is a tea-infused dessert at LimCha Teahouse Cafe. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN Golden Seed: Sleek take on artisanal teas Where: 01-71/72 Millenia Walk, 9 Raffles Boulevard Open: 11am to 7pm daily Info: Go to or call 9477-4610 At Millenia Walk, Golden Seed brings together old-world tea heritage and contemporary presentation. Opened in February, the premium tea atelier offers 12 handpicked varieties from across Asia – including the sought-after first flush of Xi Hu Long Jing and the smooth, fruity Li Shan High Mountain Tea – brewed with precision to showcase their aroma and taste. Golden Seed's teas are split into two categories: five premium options under the Tea Awakening Journey, and seven award-winning or aged teas – some more than 20 years old – served as Grand Tea Experience sets. Each set comes with snacks, and most teas yield four to five brews without losing flavour. The Xi Hu Long Jing ($88+) is sourced from Hangzhou's West Lake, using only the first spring shoots and is prized for its refreshing, nutty and slightly sweet notes. The tea is served in a glass teapot to display the leaves, which float to the surface at the start of the brew – a mark of quality and freshness. Xi Hu Long Jing Grand Tea Experience at Golden Seed. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO The Li Shan High Mountain Tea ($88+) is a Taiwanese oolong with a velvety, fruity profile preserved through delicate roasting. While each Grand Tea Experience set serves up to two, each Tea Awakening Journey set serves one, such as the Liu Bao ($36+), a fermented tea from Guangxi that has earthy, medicinal notes. Liu Bao Tea Awakening Journey at Golden Seed. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO Beyond the drinks menu, the space includes a retail section with the in-house designed Harmony Teapot ($108), made of glass and created to make tea brewing accessible at home without complex rituals. Origin Teahouse: Natural tea beverages Where: 01-05A Kada, 5 Kadayanallur Street Open: Noon to 8pm (Mondays), noon to 9.30pm (Tuesdays to Sundays) Info: Go to @originteahouse on Instagram or call 8089-1608 At Origin Teahouse, the Roasted Tie Guan Yin Latte ($6.80) offers a coffee-like experience without the jitters or crash. Roasted Tie Guan Yin Latte at Origin Teahouse at Kada. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO Co-founders Lee Wenxi, 31, and Ethan Keng, 33, came up with a process of deep-roasting tie guan yin leaves from China's Fujian to bring out chocolatey, toasty aromas before grinding them into powder for a 'tea espresso'. Mr Ethan Keng (left) and Mr Lee Wenxi, co-founders of Origin Teahouse at Kada. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO Extracted using a calibrated Taiwanese espresso machine, the concentrated shot is blended with fresh local milk from Viknesh Dairy Farm and Madagascar vanilla beans. French Elle & Vire cream, not non-dairy creamers, goes into the blend for a silky finish. Origin Teahouse, which positions itself as a 100 per cent fresh and natural tea beverage brand, does not use artificial flavourings, additives or sweeteners in its beverages. Opened in December 2024 at Kada, the 30-seat teahouse reflects the founders' commitment to transparency and accountability to customers in terms of the source and quality of ingredients used. The duo took numerous trips to China's tea-growing regions for research and development of their products over a period of 16 months. Also on the menu is its signature Berry Nice Tea ($9.20), a lively brew of gardenia green tea with fresh strawberry puree, finished with the distinct floral citrusy scent and flavour from perfume lemon slices. The perfume lemon, a hybrid lemon, is air-flown weekly from Guangdong. Origin Teahouse's Berry Nice Tea features perfume lemons. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO The brand launched its second outlet, a takeaway kiosk at The Arcade, in June and has a third outlet at Tang Plaza in Orchard set to open on Aug 18. Tea Therapy Singapore: Caffeine-free infusions Info: Go to or call 9844-1415 Online store Tea Therapy Singapore focuses on floral, herbal and freeze-dried fruit infusions, which eschew tea leaves, are free of caffeine and are best consumed unsweetened. Launched in September 2024 by Ms Sheena Lim, 53, it is dedicated to sharing plant-based remedies, with a focus on the restorative benefits of herbal and floral infusions. Ms Sheena Lim, owner of Tea Therapy, an online tea retailer which specialises in caffeine-free floral, herbal and freeze-dried fruit teas. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO Her interest in these began in 2018 after she suffered a mini stroke triggered by stress, during which she was unable to see out of her right eye for 30 minutes. She was subsequently hospitalised for four days. Not keen to take the prescribed blood thinners on a long-term basis, she learnt to prepare folk remedies for herself using plants and herbs. Eventually, her interest in plant-based remedies developed into a business plan to sell floral and herbal infusions online. 'I am not just selling tea for drinking. I want to promote a healthier lifestyle with more thought to incorporating plants into the diet in the form of floral and herbal infusions,' she says. She notes that preparing and drinking tea can be a meditative and calming ritual, appealing to those seeking moments of peace in their busy lives. Start with the nine-piece Flora Sampling Set ($18.90), a discovery box of 'tea bombs' featuring flowers such as rose, roselle, jasmine, lily, osmanthus, yellow and white chrysanthemum, peony and butterfly pea. The balls of tea are handcrafted in Yunnan. Tea Therapy's floral tea bomb made of rose petals and roselle. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO For a night-time wind-down, try the herbal Bonne Nuit ($33.90 for a box of 10 sachets), crafted as a sleep-supporting blend. It combines longan, Poria cocos, tangerine peel, red date, barley, wolfberry, hawthorn, lotus seed, rose and rosemary – a gentle, caffeine-free option aimed to help one relax before bed. Tea Therapy Singapore's Bonne Nuit is a herbal blend crafted to aid sleep and made with ingredients such as longan, tangerine peel and rosemary. ST PHOTO: HEDY KHOO Petale Tea: Sip on stories Where: 05-33 Ubi Techpark, 10 Ubi Crescent Open: Pick up of orders by appointment only Info: Go to call 8065-7687 or e-mail enjoythemoments@ Opened in 2018 by founder Rosemary Kwa, 42, Petale Tea specialises in handcrafted blooming teas aimed at making tea-drinking a mindful, sensory ritual. Petale Tea founder Rosemary Kwa with a selection of handcrafted tea at her Ubi Techpark office. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY Its newest launch, the Classic Storytelling Tin series, brings narrative flair to premium tea. Released in June, the 10-flavour collection is named after attributes such as Elegance, Passion and Resilience. Each tin by Petale Tea, which specialises in gift sets, contains eight blooming tea balls and loose tea leaves. One standout is Gratitude (launch price of $58 until Sept 30, usual price $63). The ondeh ondeh-inspired tea promotes the value of noticing what is going well and using that awareness to shift one's outlook. The tin has eight blooming tea balls made of lily and gomphrena, hand-sewn with cotton string to green tea leaves. When steeped in water, the tea ball unfurls into a floral display. The loose tea leaves are a blend of black Ceylon tea with mint, coconut bits and pandan extract. Petale Tea's best-selling Gratitude is inspired by the flavour of ondeh ondeh. ST PHOTO: GIN TAY Another tin is Growth (launch price of $58 until Sept 30, usual price $63), which stands for how personal growth happens gradually, just as how a tea bud slowly unfurls. The tin has eight blooming tea balls in muscat and apple flavour, made with carnation and jasmine flowers, and green tea leaves. The loose tea leaves are a blend of muscat white tea, marigold and rose petals.
CNA
09-07-2025
- Business
- CNA
‘0 yuan milk tea': China's food delivery price war hits fever pitch
BEIJING: Receipts piled on the floor as a label machine spat out an endless stream of orders at a ChaPanda outlet in Zhejiang. 'We are still 2,000 orders behind,' lamented a barista from the popular Chinese milk tea chain, posting a photo of the chaos on lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu. 'Today is a nightmare for milk tea shops,' added the user, known online as ChaPanda Working Diary, in a post on Sunday (Jul 6). That outlet was just one of many food and beverage shops nationwide swamped over the weekend as China's food delivery price war hit fever pitch. A wave of deep discounts from leading platforms sent orders skyrocketing, overwhelming merchants and even briefly crashing a delivery app. It marks a fresh escalation in an increasingly fierce battle for market share - a cutthroat contest that has drawn growing concern and scrutiny from the government. DELIVERING DEEP DISCOUNTS Major food delivery players such as Meituan, Alibaba's Taobao Flash Sale and as well as unveiled generous vouchers on Saturday to kickstart their summer campaigns. Meituan collaborated with several beverage brands, including Mixue, ChaPanda and Cotti Coffee, and rolled out coupons for '0 yuan milk tea'. Taobao Flash Sale released coupons promising '20 yuan (US$2.79) off for orders above 25 yuan', according to the Shanghai-based news outlet IT Times. The rock-bottom prices sparked a weekend buying frenzy as eager customers cashed in on the bargains. Some filled their refrigerators with beverages while others capitalised on the situation to place large advance orders. Taobao Flash Sale and jointly announced on Monday that their daily orders had exceeded 80 million, with more than 13 million from non-food orders. Meanwhile, Meituan reported more than 120 million same-day orders on Saturday, a record high. Food delivery orders made up the lion's share, exceeding 100 million. Even as customers enjoyed the steep discounts, F&B workers buckled under the weight of surging orders. At popular milk tea chain outlets - many of which dangled the '0 yuan milk tea' promotion - overwhelmed employees documented the carnage on the ground and posted the footage online. As the name suggests, the promotion by Meituan allowed customers to get milk tea for 0 yuan - effectively free - if they opted for self-pickup at the store. One store manager at a ChaPanda outlet in Shanghai posted a photo showing long reams of order receipts taped to a wall. 'When will this nonsense end? The orders are booming, we can't win!' she wrote on Xiaohongshu. On their end, some customers also expressed their sympathies. 'Can you imagine how helpless and overwhelmed (the) workers are?' said one Xiaohongshu user, Yu Dao, as she recounted her experience at a ChaPanda outlet in Henan on Sunday. Yu described the scene as 'chaotic' when she turned up to collect her order. 'The outlet was crowded and the ordering machines kept churning out orders,' she said. 'Customers were jostling … the delivery riders kept complaining how they were almost late, yet they couldn't find the right order numbers,' she said. 'I had more than 400 orders in front of me; the poor workers must have felt really hopeless.' The sheer volume of orders flooding in from customers also briefly caused the Meituan app to crash. In a post published on microblogging site Weibo on Saturday, Meituan said its servers 'triggered a rate-limiting protection mechanism' due to the volume of orders 'exceeding historical peaks'. Meituan added that as some users experienced 'brief service disruptions', the coupons that expired during the period would remain valid for an additional day. DISHING OUT CUTTHROAT COMPETITION China's food delivery sector has long been highly competitive, with platforms locked in a constant battle for users, merchants and market share. Meituan is the dominant platform, followed by rival But the arena has been heating up. In February, waded into the fray with its food delivery arm JD Takeaway, enticing restaurants with promises of "zero commissions all year round" and promising speedy delivery to customers within an hour. Alibaba upped the ante in May, bringing merchants from its food delivery arm onto its main shopping app Taobao. Promotions such as the latest weekend vouchers are an immediate boon to customers as they get to enjoy the steep discounts, said Chen Liteng, an analyst at e-commerce research centre 100EC, as reported by local news site Sixth Tone. At the same time, issues lie further down the road. Once the subsidies vanish, order volumes may plummet and overconsumption could lead to waste, he warned. The intensifying back-and-forth in the food delivery arena has already raised government eyebrows. In May, China's market regulator joined four other government bodies to summon food delivery providers such as Meituan, and The companies were asked to compete fairly, as well as to collaborate in safeguarding the rights of consumers, merchants and delivery riders, according to a report by the state-run Global Times.
CNA
26-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
Commentary: Singaporeans, we need to pump the brakes on our bubble tea obsession
SINGAPORE: If you saw weekend queues at Changi Airport this June, don't blame immigrations just yet. The more plausible culprit: Popular Malaysian boba brand Tealive's first and only Singapore outlet, freshly opened at Terminal 3. With Tealive's arrival, we are one of the rare airports in the world with nine bubble tea brands, including HeyTea, Chicha San Chen, Naixue, Koi, LiHo, TP Tea, amps tea and iTea. Sounds like a lot of pearls per square metre, but not once you leave the airport. Just two years ago, Tampines was dubbed Singapore's 'bubble tea capital', with 21 bubble tea shops within a 500m radius. As of 2022, we had more than 60 bubble tea brands in Singapore – and new entrants are still pouring in. Besides Tealive, China's 8,000-outlet-strong chain ChaPanda will also be arriving on our shores soon. With over 60 brands offering upwards of 30 drinks each, the bubble tea maths is mind-boggling. Even for a single ingredient like brown sugar, we have brown sugar milk tea, brown sugar pearls, a variant with cream cheese, one with cheese brulee and another with just fresh milk, no tea. As thousands of boba variants take up more and more space on our little red dot, have we finally reached bubble tea oversaturation in Singapore? INSIDE THE BOBA ECONOMY Bubble tea is a guilty pleasure of mine too, so I totally get it. We love it because it marries two of our familiar indulgences: the comforting taste of kopitiam milk tea and the illicit chew we've missed since the sale of gum was banned in 1992 – all wrapped in an Instagram-ready cup. Barely anyone anticipated bubble tea to have this kind of cultural impact when the drink first came to our shores – also in 1992, served in cocktail glasses from a cafe at Marina Square. As the tea-dessert hybrid evolved to its current takeaway format, it quickly spread across the island and overtook even our ubiquitous milk tea. By 2002, there were more than 5,000 shops in Singapore. But just a year later, the market reached oversaturation and the bubble burst, leading boba shops to shutter all across the island. In those days, it seemed as if bubble tea had all the makings of a fleeting fad. Who would've thought it would evolve into the multi-billion-dollar micro-industry it is today? Few food trends can boast such longevity and multigenerational appeal. It's not just Gen Zers who are hooked – millennials and Gen X were the same, particularly in their youth. Bubble tea's characteristic combination of caffeine, sugar and chewable pearls is not the only reason for this timeless love affair. After the first market bubble pop in 2003, the beverage reinvented itself by tapping into Starbucks' winning formula of offering extreme customisation options. The second wave of brands such as Koi The and Gong Cha began offering sugar and ice customisation around 2007. Ten years later, Tiger Sugar and LiHo introduced newfangled toppings like brown sugar and cheese foam. More recently, speciality teas – fruit tea and premium or single origin leaves – has emerged as a key consumer draw. Today, most major brands put Starbucks to shame with their personalisation options: Multiple tea options, five tiers of sugar levels, three tiers of temperature variation, and as many as 10 different toppings, including pearls, aloe, konjac, collagen jelly, ice cream – adding up to hundreds of different possible combinations and permutations per brand. As consumerism becomes increasingly intertwined with self-expression, this level of customisation transformed the beverage into a lifestyle choice, an expression of individuality, and vibe signalling, especially for young people. ARE WE BECOMING A BUBBLE TEA NATION? While I understand the value of such customisation, I do wonder if we're taking it a tad too far. These days, if you are not a regular bubble tea drinker with default preferences, it can take a minute or two to even order a single drink. I sometimes find myself in boba limbo, struggling to make five different decisions for a single beverage. Do I swop out pearls for aloe or collagen jelly? What about ice cream? My chronic indecision aside, do these minor tweaks really matter, or are brands just too caught up in the ingredients arms race? Blindfolded, could the average consumer tell the difference between golden bubble pearls, red sugar pearls and pink cactus pearls, or differentiate between single-estate oolong and regular oolong, especially when mixed with milk and starchy pearls? Even the more distinguishable seasonal launches feel somewhat forced – LiHO's Salted-Egg Lava Brown Sugar Milk in 2018, Takagi Ramen's Chilli-Crab Matcha Macchiato in 2022, and Gong Cha's Century-Egg and Salted Egg special in 2024. Wouldn't we rather just enjoy these flavour trends with crabs or congee, rather than in a cup of sugar and milk? To a certain extent, these options were introduced to create brand differentiation, especially with multiple brands often competing against each other in close quarters. But when bubble tea takes over so much of Singapore's prime retail space, it inadvertently transforms our food culture, crowding out other cuisine richer in both nutrients as well as historical and cultural significance. Moreover, many regular boba drinkers are youths. Many brands appeal to this demographic with cute mascots – Koi's BB Bear, Mixue's Snow King and ChaPanda's Ding Ding Cat – as well as tie-ins with toy brand. Gong Cha recently collaborated with Pop Mart to launch Pino Jelly themed drinks, including packaging and merchandise. Partly persuaded by the fun and hype, some parents are also starting their kids on these caffeinated beverages younger than they otherwise would – a friend of mine offers her primary school kids bubble tea on a semi-regular basis. Paediatricians warn that there is no safe caffeine dose for children under the age of 12. How will these daily habits impact Singapore's children, tweens and teens as they come of age? I am by no means arguing for a boba ban – like all indulgences, bubble tea has its place in our diverse food nation. But rather than hurtling towards our 2,000th boba variation, perhaps it's time to pump the brakes on this obsession. Why not leave some stomach and retail space for other heartier – and healthier – food instead?
