BUBBLE TEA MARKET ANALYSIS

Bubble Tea Market – Insights

Bubble tea is a Taiwanese drink also known as pearl milk tea, boba, or boba milk tea. It was invented in Taichung in the 1980s and is available in variety of flavors such as fruity and creamy including green apple, strawberry, mango, watermelon, grape, honeydew, avocado, lychee, banana, cantaloupe, and others. Whereas, other popular non-fruits and creamy flavors comprises chocolate, mocha, coffee, rose tea, taro, thai tea, and lavender tea.

Increasing number of flavors in boba is expected to fuel the bubble tea market growth. Major companies worldwide offer different boba flavors to enhance their market share. For instance, Boba Box Limited, a U.K.-based boba producer, offers mini boba in different flavors including blueberry, cherry, green apple, lemon, passion fruit, peach, raspberry, and others. Fokus Inc., a bubble tea supplier in Taiwan, offers popping boba in different flavors including lemon, plum, grape, strawberry, lychee, mango, peach, passion fruit, and cranberry.

Moreover, key players in the bubble tea market are focusing on new product launches to enhance their market share. For instance, in 2017, BossenStore.com launched Bursting Boba Pure25, which is a vegetarian, cholesterol-free, fat-free, and low in calorie and sodium popping boba filled with different flavors including strawberry, mango, lychee, kiwi, blueberry, and passion fruit. Therefore, increasing product launches is expected to propel growth of the boba type segment over the forecast period.

Bubble tea is gaining traction due to its various flavors, attractive colors, and boba types. However, bubble tea contains large levels of trans-fats and high sugar content. The average sugar content in one serving of bubble tea is 34 grams of sugar, which is around 68% of the recommended intake of sugar by the World Health Organization.

The trans-fats in bubble tea are used for enhancing the taste and texture of the drink. Trans-fats are unhealthy, as they are associated with negative health effects such as it increases bad cholesterol level (LDL), decreases good cholesterol level (HDL), affects memory power and reproductive ability, and increases the risk of getting heart diseases, diabetes, and stroke among others. Therefore, these health hazards are expected to hamper growth of the bubble tea market during the forecast period.

The global bubble tea market was valued at US$ 2,013.2 Mn in 2018, and is expected to register a CAGR of 5.1%, in terms of revenue over the forecast period (2019-2027), to reach US$ 3,122.4 Mn by 2027.

Figure 1. Global Bubble Tea Market Share (%), By Region, 2018

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Source: Coherent Market Insights, 2018-19

North America accounted for the largest revenue share of 47.9% in the global bubble tea market in 2018, and is projected to continue its dominance during 2019-2027. Increasing consumption of different types of tea in North America is expected to boost the bubble tea market growth in the region. For instance, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the U.S. is the fourth largest importer of tea in the world and tea is consumed in almost 80% of household in the country.

According to the research undertaken by Tea Association of the US, over 150 million people in the U.S. drink tea on any given day and around 82% of all tea consumed is black tea. The U.S. bubble tea market is expected to witness significant growth due to increasing development and inventions of different types of tea. Therefore, increasing demand for tea and non-alcoholic beverages in the U.S. is expected to boost the growth of bubble tea market in North America.  

Figure 2. Global Bubble Tea Market Share (%), By Tea Type, 2018

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Source: Coherent Market Insights, 2018-19

On the basis of tea type, black tea segment contributed the largest revenue share of 57.3% in the global bubble tea market in 2018. Increasing consumption for different types of tea such as black tea, green tea, oolong, white tea, and dark tea in the U.S. is boosting growth of the bubble tea market. According to the data published by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United States, in 2016, around 3.8 billion gallons of tea was consumed in the U.S., of which 80% consumption was of black tea, followed by green tea (16%) and oolong, white tea, and dark tea remaining (4%).

Major players operating in the global bubble tea market are Teapioca Lounge, OCOCO International Co., Ltd., Kung Fu Tea, Lollicup Coffee & Tea, Vivi Bubble Tea, Chatime, Boba Guys, Chill Bubble Tea, Boba Tea Company, and Real Fruit Bubble Tea.