This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on July 27, 2022.
This is an adapted summary of a July 2022 article by Xiaguangshe, which traced how Chinese and Taiwanese bubble tea brands moved from diaspora neighborhoods into mainstream Western foodservice markets.
In mid-June 2022, at Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People gala, actor Simu Liu handed Bill Gates a cup of bubble tea. The clip spread quickly online, and Gates later said on social media that bubble tea had joined his list of favorite drinks.
The moment was not isolated. Cardi B had repeatedly praised Meet Fresh on social media, overseas Chinese students were documenting long queues at bubble tea shops in Europe and North America, Marie Claire in France wrote that bubble tea had quietly captured Paris, and Lipton semi-finished bubble tea packs had appeared on Australian supermarket shelves.
The article framed bubble tea's Western expansion in three broad phases.
The first wave came from Taiwanese bubble tea brands and immigrant-run shops. In the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of Taiwan residents moved to Europe and North America, bringing bubble tea as a meal-adjacent drink. Early shops were mostly small family businesses or stalls, with simple ingredients and low costs. Bubble tea first appeared inside Chinese restaurants before standalone stores emerged. In 1999, Saint's Alp Teahouse opened in New York's Chinatown and was described as New York's first independent bubble tea shop. Around 2010, more standardized chains such as Gong Cha entered the U.S. market.
The second wave came from Western local brands and suppliers replicating the category. Brands such as Boba Guys in the U.S., Lollicup-linked bubble tea stores, and Europe-focused Comebuy and BoBoQ built new brand identities while borrowing heavily from existing Chinese and Taiwanese beverage menus. The article used Boba Guys as an example: it refreshed the format with a recognizable anteater logo, minimalist black-and-white store design, and customizable flavors, but some drinks resembled established Asian products under new names.
The third wave came from newer Chinese tea chains, including CoCo, Heytea, Nayuki, Mixue, The Alley and others. These brands brought more youthful packaging, wider flavor ranges, stronger visual presentation, and a social-media-friendly drinking experience.
According to a Menusifu U.S. bubble tea market report cited in the article, the U.S. ranked fourth globally in tea beverage consumption, behind China, India and Japan. Google Trends data cited by the article said U.S. searches for bubble-tea-related terms had risen more than 760% over the prior year, with California users showing especially high interest.
The U.S. also had a dedicated National Bubble Tea Day on April 30. Yelp data cited in the article said bubble tea remained one of the most ordered delivery items in places such as California and Hawaii during the pandemic.
The category's footprint began to resemble dense Chinese commercial districts: multiple chains clustering in the same neighborhood. In London's Chinatown, the article listed more than 15 bubble tea brands, including Yu Hei Tang, Xing Fu Tang, CoCo, Happy Lemon, Yi Fang, Wuye, Meet Fresh, Chatime, Mincha, Xian Cha Dao, Xiao Que Cha and Machi Machi.
Allied Market Research was cited as forecasting global bubble tea sales of RMB 20.57 billion by 2023, with North America accounting for 57% of sales. The article also noted expansion by Gu Ming in Tuscany, CoCo in Canada, and Comebuy, Gong Cha, Chatime, The Alley and Yi Fang across Europe.
Menusifu research cited by the article ranked ViVi Bubble Tea, Gong Cha, CoCo, Chatime, Happy Lemon, Chaba, Mi Cha and Yi Fang among the top 10 U.S. bubble tea brands by store count.
CoCo entered New York in 2011 with its first shop across from Baruch College. By 2019, it had 21 stores in New York and New Jersey. Its overseas growth relied mainly on regional agency franchising. The article described a typical ratio of around 20 stores per 1 million people in an assigned region.
For overseas CoCo franchisees, the article described a regional agency plus semi-direct operation model: the franchisee would establish a local company and contribute about RMB 1.5 million, with CoCo also contributing about RMB 1.5 million. The franchisee would hold 49% and CoCo headquarters 51%. Store managers recruited by the brand would hold 5%, leaving the franchisee with 44%, with dividends paid quarterly. A CoCo franchisee said the process was standardized but required more capital than domestic franchising.
CoCo also priced higher overseas: a medium bubble tea was about USD 3.25, more than twice the comparable domestic price. The article said this aligned with local price levels and positioned the drink as a standalone beverage purchase. CoCo also used Chinese design elements in some overseas stores and benefited from consumers posting drinks on social media.
Yi Fang positioned itself around fresh fruit and traditional flavors, using fresh sugarcane-boiled sugar and sourcing many raw materials from Fujian and Guangdong, while some tea, pineapple jam and juice came from Taiwan. Its store model was described as mainly franchised, with few direct-operated outlets.
Happy Lemon emphasized "new tea culture" and a youthful lemon-based logo. Its products used fresh tea bases, varied ingredients and multiple flavor profiles. The article said Happy Lemon had opened more than 1,000 overseas stores in more than 220 cities globally, with U.S. stores rising from more than 20 in 2018 to more than 60, and more than 50 stores in Europe. After entering overseas markets in 2010, it brought salted cheese foam tea abroad and promoted the 45-degree drinking style associated with cheese foam.
In Europe, bubble tea brands tended to choose Chinese-community locations first while making selective local adaptations. Between 2016 and 2017, Happy Lemon and CoCo opened stores in London, described by the article as their first stores in the U.K. and Europe. Happy Lemon later opened in Birmingham and offered snacks such as jianbing. In Manchester, it added cheesecake and crepes to match the British habit of pairing tea with desserts. Chatime expanded in the U.K. more cautiously, using a one-city-one-store approach.
The article argued that brands with domestic operating experience had an advantage, but it warned against blind copying and overexpansion.
Operators cited several risks: too many brands clustering in the same high-traffic areas, customer diversion between nearby shops, inflated pricing by weak new entrants, use of low-cost ingredients, and homogenous menus. One practitioner said a small new brand nearby could take one-third of customers, and another mid-sized brand could take more.
The article also cited a student's complaint in the U.K. about a drink that looked nothing like the image and tasted strongly artificial. Its broader point was that imitation may be an easy entry strategy, but it accelerates menu sameness and shortens the life cycle of new products.
A chain-brand employee advised operators not to expand blindly even in a hot market, noting that bubble tea may be lower-cost than restaurants but still carries hidden risks in site selection and cost control. A U.S.-based student founder said new operators should research the market carefully, avoid direct same-category competition where possible, define a distinctive brand position, and keep innovating products. Leo, a New York bubble tea operator, said product innovation should be built around customer lifestyles such as trend culture or wellness-oriented consumption.
The article closed by asking how far bubble tea could go against coffee in Europe and North America.
It noted that in most Western countries, coffee drinkers far outnumber bubble tea drinkers. Even in the U.K., where tea drinking is established, many consumers prefer products closer to the original taste of tea, such as Lipton tea bags.
Regulation and cost were also highlighted. The article said U.S. expansion faces strict limits as store numbers grow, while overseas operations raise costs through food-safety requirements, ingredient-origin labeling, fire and drainage requirements, labor rules, rent, staffing and procurement.
Supply chain volatility was another concern. Maggie, who opened a Yi Fang store in Redmond near Seattle, said the process involved site selection, renovation, license applications, labor management and staffing shortages during the pandemic. She also said many ingredients had to be imported from Taiwan, Guangdong and other places, with ocean freight costs doubling and one batch of materials previously stuck in Shanghai.
The article also discussed cultural friction. Around 2020, bubble tea became more visible on TikTok as users shared visits to tea shops. The article cited NYU food studies associate professor Krishnendu Ray's argument in The Ethnic Restaurateur that if China's economy continued rising, Chinese food would gain status in global taste hierarchies. It also criticized Western media narratives that framed TikTok or bubble tea as "cultural invasion," including a New York Times article whose wording drew backlash from Asian consumers and bubble tea operators.
For operators, the article's practical conclusion was restrained: bubble tea brands overseas should stay alert to cultural sensitivity while focusing on product innovation, supply-chain capability, youth-oriented marketing and sustainable brand advantages. Coffee and bubble tea may compete for occasions, but both ultimately serve consumers looking for more beverage choices.
Note: market forecasts, store counts, franchise equity structures, dividends and other forward-looking or IPO/investment-related figures are historical as of the 2022 source article.