4 ms·

I’m a big fan of bubble tea and I have noticed that across many bubble tea shops in the western US, while a fairly large 16oz serving has been standardized, the

I’m a big fan of bubble tea and I have noticed that across many bubble tea shops in the western US, while a fairly large 16oz serving has been standardized, there’s little standardization on sugar content. A lot of places ask if I want it half or 25% as sweet, but that’s not a great indication of sugar level or flavor unless I’ve already had tea from that place before. Given that I think most folks can expect a cup of black tea to contain 0g sugar, I think expressing sweetness in terms of grams of added sugar is a pretty fair way of describing this stuff.

AYBABTME 6y ago
I also wish the US used grams, that'd be pretty fair.
always_left 6y ago
But then people will be more conscious of how much sugar they are adding. Percentage is some arbitrary and relative term. 50g of sugar will make people realize how much sugar is being added and might realize their drink isn't too great without copious amounts of sugar.
- yarcob 6y ago
  Yes. 50% sounds like a healthy amount (only half as much!), even if it's still way too much.
namelosw 6y ago
There's little to no standardization in East Asia either...
seanmcdirmid 6y ago
You can go no sugar on the drink and there will still be sweetness from the milk and the pearls, I think it actually tastes better that way, the added sugar isn’t needed.
frankosaurus 6y ago
Gong Cha lets you can specify the sugar amount from 0-100. Of course, even with 0 sugar, the tapioca balls are simple carbs that break down to sugar readily in your body.
sudosteph 6y ago
I'm from North Carolina, and even though sweet (iced) tea is the norm here (literally every restaurant serves it) - I've never seen any kind of standardization attempted for that either, and it does vary wildly. When I'm at at a fast-food restaurant, I can usually pour myself a little to try first, and then mix in some unsweet tea if it's overly sweet. If it's undersweetened, then I usually just toss it and get a soda. It really would be nice if you could do something similar with boba tea, but I understand that the way it's made doesn't facilitate that.

AYBABTME 6y ago

I also wish the US used grams, that'd be pretty fair.

always_left 6y ago

But then people will be more conscious of how much sugar they are adding. Percentage is some arbitrary and relative term. 50g of sugar will make people realize how much sugar is being added and might realize their drink isn't too great without copious amounts of sugar.

yarcob 6y ago
Yes. 50% sounds like a healthy amount (only half as much!), even if it's still way too much.

namelosw 6y ago

There's little to no standardization in East Asia either...

seanmcdirmid 6y ago

You can go no sugar on the drink and there will still be sweetness from the milk and the pearls, I think it actually tastes better that way, the added sugar isn’t needed.

frankosaurus 6y ago

Gong Cha lets you can specify the sugar amount from 0-100. Of course, even with 0 sugar, the tapioca balls are simple carbs that break down to sugar readily in your body.

sudosteph 6y ago

I'm from North Carolina, and even though sweet (iced) tea is the norm here (literally every restaurant serves it) - I've never seen any kind of standardization attempted for that either, and it does vary wildly. When I'm at at a fast-food restaurant, I can usually pour myself a little to try first, and then mix in some unsweet tea if it's overly sweet. If it's undersweetened, then I usually just toss it and get a soda. It really would be nice if you could do something similar with boba tea, but I understand that the way it's made doesn't facilitate that.