The invention of bubble tea

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 November 2023

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1987, a tea shop in Taiwan named Chun Shui Tang began selling pearl milk tea, or bubble tea, as it’s often called. It would revolutionise the tea-drinking world. Ben Henderson speaks to Liu Han-Chieh, the shop owner, and Lin Xiuhu, who first added the drink’s signature tapioca balls. (Photo: Bubble tea. Credit: Chun Shui Tang)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Doleepa, and I'm at your service.
0:04.7	Join me as I serve up personal conversations
0:07.1	with my sensational guests.
0:08.9	Do a leap, interviews, Tim Cook.
0:11.2	Technology doesn't want to be good or bad.
0:15.0	It's in the hands of the Creator.
0:16.7	It's not every day that I have the CEO of the world's biggest company in my living room.
0:20.6	If you're looking at your phone more than you're looking in someone's eyes
0:24.0	you're doing the wrong thing.
0:26.0	Julie, at your service.
0:28.0	Listen to all episodes on BBC Sales. Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Ben Henderson.
0:41.6	Today I'm taking you back to Taiwan in the 1990s when a tea leaf cellar called
0:49.6	Ljor Hansieh introduced a new drink that would change the tea drinking world.
0:55.0	I never expected pro milk tea to be such a success,
1:00.0	but somehow after 10 years it became our star product.
1:05.0	One thing that really helped was international celebrities came over to our shop to taste it.
1:12.0	Michael Jordan visited one of our branches in Taipei, Taiwan's
1:16.1	capital and said he really liked the chewy bouncy taste. Other big movie stars came to like Jackie Chan.
1:24.0	Loyo's store called Shung Shui Tong
1:28.0	began selling pearl milk tea or bubble tea as it's often called in 1987.
1:34.0	Pro milk tea got huge media coverage and it spread like wildfire,
1:39.9	but I always say we have many other products and the reason pro-milk tea became so popular was pure luck.
	...

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