Stacey Kwong - Boba: Classic, Fun, Refreshing - Bubble Teas to Make at Home

CLASSIC | FUN | REFRESHING

Bubble Teas to Make at Home

STACEY KWONG + BEYAH DEL MUNDO

Text and Photography 2020 by Stacey Kwong and Beyah del Mundo

First published in 2020 by Rock Point, an imprint of The Quarto Group,

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Digital edition: 978-0-76036-832-9
Hardcover edition: 978-1-63106-715-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Kwong, Stacey, author. | del Mundo, Beyah, author.

Title: Boba : classic, fun, and refreshing bubble teas to make at home /

Stacey Kwong + Beyah del Mundo.

Description: New York : Rock Point, 2020. | Includes index. | Summary:

Stop waiting in line and make your own delicious bubble teas with the

60 innovative recipes in Boba-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020016943 (print) | LCCN 2020016944 (ebook) | ISBN

9781631067150 (hardcover) | ISBN

9780760368329 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Bubble tea. | Cooking (Tapioca) | MILK+T (Boba shop) |

LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX817.T3 K86 2020 (print) | LCC TX817.T3 (ebook) |

DDC 641.3/372--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020016943

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020016944

Publisher: Rage Kindelsperger

Creative Director: Laura Drew

Managing Editor: Cara Donaldson

Senior Editor: Erin Canning

Cover & Interior Design: Tara Long

Photography: Stephy So

TO MY MOM:

I told you boba would be successful. :)

Dad is looking down, and I hope hed be proud.

WELCOME to the underdogs guide to all things bobawritten by yours truly, Stacey and Beyah. While many parts of this cookbook are written from Staceys perspective, Beyah has chimed in here and there!

But first, we should disclose a few things: Weve never claimed to be experts in the industry. We didnt tour the mountains of Taiwan before opening our shop in Los Angeles, or get any special training from tea masters abroad. We dont have cowriters, were not a franchise, and we dont have any VC or millionaires backing us. Were just two average Asian American women from Los Angeles who wanted to open a boba business.

While many of the topics and recipes in this book have traditional elements of boba and bubble tea, MILK+T was never meant to be your traditional boba shop. This book is about how we did things the MILK+T way. So, as we walk you through the journey of different recipes and methods that eventually led to MILK+T, we share our stories from the boba frontlines, of how we entered an already saturated industry and created something we never thought was possible.

We hope that you not only enjoy making all the delicious recipes in this book (perhaps even being motivated to experiment with your own recipes) but also maybe get inspired to pursue your own entrepreneurial dreams, no matter what they are.

And finally, to put an official end to any and all heated discussions that involve our name its MILK+T. Pronounced milk and tea, and spelled with all caps, no spaces. ;)

Lets get #bobawasted!

REFERRED to as both boba and bubble tea, depending on where you live, this popular drink, which comes in milk and non-milk varieties, is also known as pearl tea, milk tea, and tapioca tea, among other names. (Throughout this book, we interchangeably use boba and bubble tea.) Boba/bubble tea was invented in Taiwan in the 1980s. There are a few origin stories, but the one weve seen circulating the most is that it was created when a staff member of Taiwans original milk tea shop, Chun Shui Tang, combined her milk tea with tapioca balls.

It wasnt until the 1990s that bubble tea was introduced to the United States. Both Beyah and I were born in the early 90s, so to be born in the decade of boba? Its truly been an honor. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley (aka the SGV), and I remember when the first Lollicup (a popular Taiwanese American chain of boba stores started in 2000) opened in Arcadia, California, around 2001. Eventually, they opened another location within walking distance of my school, so grabbing boba tea was an after-school must! If it wasnt boba, then it was shaved ice, and it was like a ritual. Meeting at a caf with friends was the go-to activity. But it wasnt the fancy-schmancy boba drinks that you see nowadays. This was just powdered milk tea, sometimes even served in Styrofoam cups. You wouldnt believe how much it costjust a dollar! And it was refreshingly delicious on a hot summer day.

Later, other boba chains, most originating from Taiwan, followed suit and opened in the SGV. Ten Ren, Quickly, Tea Station, and Tapioca Express were all on the same streetand within walking distance from my house. Las Tunas Drive, which some have dubbed the Boba Capital, was also a twenty-minute walk away.

That was almost twenty years ago, and the boba industry has shown no signs of slowing down, expanding even beyond larger urban areas. More independent stores have opened, too, each with its own unique twist on the refreshing drink. Some shops even make their own boba in-house now! The industry has evolved, and we feel incredibly lucky to be a part of it.

THE BOBA INDUSTRY HAS SHOWN NO SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN.

STATISTICS show that up to 70% of business partnerships ultimately fail (source: The Balance Small Business). Thats an astonishingly high number. We also know of many partnerships that never worked out, so the fact that weve managed to work together peacefully for over five years without strangling each other? There must be someone above watching over us. Theres no other explanation. Beyah is extroverted, outgoing, loud, and extreme. Im quiet, reserved, serious, and introverted yet we work well together. Weve had our fair share of arguments and quarrels, yes, but we always managed to work past them. In the five years weve worked together, weve come to realize that our strong differences in perspectives are what make the partnership special. At the end of the day, no matter the disagreement, weve managed to maintain an unspoken bond thats tailored around building the dream.