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How did "boba" become the de facto term for the drink? I remember calling it "pearl milk tea" in middle school, somehow switching over to "bubble tea" in late h

How did "boba" become the de facto term for the drink? I remember calling it "pearl milk tea" in middle school, somehow switching over to "bubble tea" in late high school to college, and now calling it "boba". And I don't think I heard of the slang meaning until much later. Aside from that, as I am a first generation (native-born) Chinese-American, this article discusses my identity scarily well from an angle that I never really thought about. Despite Subtle Asian Traits becoming popular around the time that I was cutting my Facebook usage after I graduated and started work and "boba liberalism" being a term I learned today, I'm not really that many steps removed from this all. Why is it that I subconsciously tried hard to prove myself to classmates that I'm an American, but on the other hand, I tried to be as "Asian" as my Asian-American classmates? This article hit a cultural identity nerve in me and I haven't really formed a coherent set of thoughts on it. (Maybe this also ties into why I'm such a boba purist in that I reject anything that isn't tapioca balls + whole milk + some sugar but not too much + good tea, though when I'm feeling less tolerant of lactose, oat milk surprisingly tastes almost no different from whole milk in a boba drink.) Also, the boba metaphor for culture that the author presented also really works well in another way. A person born of parents from Shanghai and a person born of parents from Beijing can have very different cultural backgrounds, but that richness gets lost when they become Chinese-Americans. Similarly to how boba, a Taiwanese drink, has become a de facto symbol of Asian American cultural identity overall. Some might argue this is a "bad thing", but, well, as I mentioned earlier, I'm still coming up with a coherent set of thoughts around this.

kenhwang 6y ago
The terminology difference just depends on who introduced the drink to the region and when. The east coast uses "bubble". West coast uses "boba". If your Chinese community was more Cantonese/HK than Mandarin/Taiwanese, you got "pearl" or "tapioca" instead (because HK also has a sago pearl drink and other tapioca based deserts). Bubble is technically supposed to refer to the smaller tapioca balls (about the size of a normal straw), boba refers to the jumbo sized balls. I think boba then became the dominant name because its the shortest and most distinctive.
Moru 6y ago
About cultural identity: It's not only a rich blend of cultures in China, I'm sure there are just as many mixes that we don't think about in the American part of Chinese-American that don't really fit you. After changing home location, there is always this feeling of where do I belong now? Am I a Swede or a German? Well neither, Germany has moved along since you emigrated, and you are now trying to catch up with Sweden. Same thing with south and north Sweden, there are places I can't even understand what they are saying. This on a small place like Sweden, can't imagine the differences you have in America and China.
reincarnate0x14 6y ago
My Taiwanese friend insists that "boba" wordplay was popularized and faded along with the career of the Hong Kong actress 葉子楣 and her famously large pearls in the late 80s/early 90s. 珍珠奶茶 seems to more popular with younger people at least walking around Taipei, so it might be related to whether it was introduced via Hong Kong or Singapore versus Taiwan. Japan is doing bizarre things like ramen and pizza with it now.
nyolfen 6y ago
> Why is it that I subconsciously tried hard to prove myself to classmates that I'm an American, but on the other hand, I tried to be as "Asian" as my Asian-American classmates? shared identity is the strongest substrate of trust; we are constantly evaluating each other for aligned incentives. imo the more granular the better -- think about the joy of stumbling upon someone else who shares your hometown or some deep passion of yours, or a potential romantic partner with many shared interests. when we share a common foundation, we can more easily model each other and project likely behavior, which lends itself to cooperation, or at least a diminished risk of defection.
winkeyless 6y ago
You’ll probably like Paper Tiger by Wesley Yang, which is even more frighteningly acute. https://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/ https://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/
herendin 6y ago
I think there's some confusion in English between 泡沫紅茶 (literally bubble tea) and 珍珠奶茶 (pearl milk tea or boba), because the words bubble and boba sound quite similar, particularly for someone speaking English as a second language. The tapioca pearls even look a little like bubbles. Often bubble and boba are used interchangeably now, but I think they originally referred to two different types of tea-based drink, as the Chinese-language names still do. The same shop often sells both types of drink, so this inevitably adds to the confusion. Google image search 泡沫紅茶 and 珍珠奶茶 to see the difference

kenhwang 6y ago

The terminology difference just depends on who introduced the drink to the region and when. The east coast uses "bubble". West coast uses "boba". If your Chinese community was more Cantonese/HK than Mandarin/Taiwanese, you got "pearl" or "tapioca" instead (because HK also has a sago pearl drink and other tapioca based deserts). Bubble is technically supposed to refer to the smaller tapioca balls (about the size of a normal straw), boba refers to the jumbo sized balls. I think boba then became the dominant name because its the shortest and most distinctive.

Moru 6y ago

About cultural identity: It's not only a rich blend of cultures in China, I'm sure there are just as many mixes that we don't think about in the American part of Chinese-American that don't really fit you. After changing home location, there is always this feeling of where do I belong now? Am I a Swede or a German? Well neither, Germany has moved along since you emigrated, and you are now trying to catch up with Sweden. Same thing with south and north Sweden, there are places I can't even understand what they are saying. This on a small place like Sweden, can't imagine the differences you have in America and China.

reincarnate0x14 6y ago

My Taiwanese friend insists that "boba" wordplay was popularized and faded along with the career of the Hong Kong actress 葉子楣 and her famously large pearls in the late 80s/early 90s. 珍珠奶茶 seems to more popular with younger people at least walking around Taipei, so it might be related to whether it was introduced via Hong Kong or Singapore versus Taiwan. Japan is doing bizarre things like ramen and pizza with it now.

nyolfen 6y ago

> Why is it that I subconsciously tried hard to prove myself to classmates that I'm an American, but on the other hand, I tried to be as "Asian" as my Asian-American classmates? shared identity is the strongest substrate of trust; we are constantly evaluating each other for aligned incentives. imo the more granular the better -- think about the joy of stumbling upon someone else who shares your hometown or some deep passion of yours, or a potential romantic partner with many shared interests. when we share a common foundation, we can more easily model each other and project likely behavior, which lends itself to cooperation, or at least a diminished risk of defection.

winkeyless 6y ago

You’ll probably like Paper Tiger by Wesley Yang, which is even more frighteningly acute. https://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/ https://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/

herendin 6y ago

I think there's some confusion in English between 泡沫紅茶 (literally bubble tea) and 珍珠奶茶 (pearl milk tea or boba), because the words bubble and boba sound quite similar, particularly for someone speaking English as a second language. The tapioca pearls even look a little like bubbles. Often bubble and boba are used interchangeably now, but I think they originally referred to two different types of tea-based drink, as the Chinese-language names still do. The same shop often sells both types of drink, so this inevitably adds to the confusion. Google image search 泡沫紅茶 and 珍珠奶茶 to see the difference