Pearl milk tea in Taiwan台灣的珍珠奶茶

Bubble tea, also known as foam tea, is a sweetly flavored tea beverage invented in Taiwan in the 1980s. Drink recipes may vary, but most bubble teas contain a tea base mixed with fruit (or fruit syrup) and/or milk. Ice blended versions of the drink are also available, usually in fruit flavors.

One of famous categories of bubble teas is "pearl milk tea" (also known as "boba (poba) milk tea" and "tapioca (ball) milk tea") contain small chewy balls made of starch like tapioca (cassava), potato or sweet potato called "pearls", "fenyuan" or "boba (poba)". Pearls made of jelly are also available in many places. These teas are shaken to mix the ingredients, creating a foam on the top of some varieties, hence the name.

Bubble tea originated in Taiwan in the 1980s, first spread to nearby East Asian countries, migrated to Canada before spreading to Chinatowns throughout the United States, and then to various college towns along the West Coast. There are also bubble tea cafes in the UK.

There are many variants of the drink, depending on types of tea used and ingredients added. The most popular kinds are "bubble black tea" (traditional Chinese: 泡沫紅茶; literally "foam red tea"), "bubble green tea" (泡沫綠茶), "pearl milk tea" (珍珠奶茶), "pearl green & milk tea" (珍珠奶綠), "pearl black tea" (珍珠紅茶) and "pearl green tea" (珍珠綠茶) etc.

There are two shops that claim to be the creators of bubble tea. One is Chun Shui Tang tea-house (春水堂) in Taichung, Taiwan, where Liu Han Chie experimented with cold milk tea by adding fruit, syrup, candied yams, and tapioca balls in the early 1980s. Although the drink was not popular at first, a Japanese television show generated interest in it among businessmen. The drink became well-known in most parts of East and Southeast Asia during the 1990s.

An alternative origin is the Hanlin (翰林) Teahouse in Tainan, Taiwan, owned by Tu Tsong He Hanlin. He made tea using traditional white fenyuan which have the appearance of pearls, supposedly resulting in the so-called "pearl tea." Shortly after, Hanlin changed the white fenyuan (粉圓) to the black version that is known today.

珍珠奶茶（Pearl milk tea，Tapioca (ball) tea），又稱粉圓奶茶、波霸奶茶（B(P)oba milk tea），簡稱珍奶，是一項於1980年代發明及廣傳於台灣的茶類飲料，為泡沫紅茶（Bubble tea）、珍珠茶飲文化中之一支，將「粉圓」（「珍珠」，Tapioca ball）加入香醇的奶茶中，也尚有「珍珠紅（綠）茶」、「珍珠奶綠（茶）」等變種，由於口感特殊，所以受到廣大歡迎與回響，也成為台灣最具代表性的飲料與小吃之一，多年來，已經由台灣流行至東亞、歐洲、美國甚至中東國家等地。
粉圓（珍珠，波霸）的主要成份為澱粉，通常由太白粉，即木薯（樹薯，Cassava）的木（樹）薯粉（Tapioca），也有以地瓜粉、馬鈴薯粉等或果凍者所製成的直徑5～10公釐（mm）的澱粉球，並添上水、糖及香料，其顏色、口感依成分不同而不同。

臺灣有二間店舖宣稱是珍珠奶茶發明者，一是台中市的春水堂，一是臺南市翰林茶館。春水堂創辦者劉漢介，於1983年開始實驗製作珍珠奶茶，由店內女職員調製成功。（春水堂也宣稱泡沫紅茶為其發明）當時所加材料為水果、糖漿、糖漬地瓜、和粉圓。他推出的奶茶剛開始的時候並不受到歡迎，但是偶然機緣下，經一家日本電視節目的訪問後，終於吸引了注意。

另一說則是臺南市翰林茶館涂宗和先生所發明，據稱約1987年在鴨母寮市場見得白色粉圓而得到靈感。故早期珍珠為白色，而後才改為黑色今貌。為了爭誰才是發明珍珠奶茶，"春水堂"和"翰林茶館"曾互相告到台灣法院。但也因為這兩家店皆未申請專利權或商標權，才使得珍珠奶茶成為臺灣最具代表性的國民飲料。1990年代前半，珍珠奶茶漸出現於泡沫紅茶店的菜單。由於泡沫紅茶店是咖啡店在台灣流行之前，上班族談生意與學生聚會的熱門場所，珍珠奶茶開始廣受學生喜好。接著，在學校附近或補習班密集的地區、夜市等，逐漸出現珍珠奶茶的攤販。1990 年代後期，有業者引進「自動封口機」取代傳統杯蓋。許多新的投資業者，如樂立杯、休閒小站、大聯盟、快可立等，採用自動封口機開始拓展連鎖外帶飲料店業務。自此，外帶式的珍珠奶茶店成為主流，也因為連鎖店的參加，商人開始將珍珠奶茶拓展到全世界，成為台灣國際知曉的知名食物之一。