Bubble Tea's Starbucks Moment: San Francisco's Bubble Tea Time Replaces Coffee Break

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In the San Francisco Bay Area, bubble tea shops are rapidly increasing in popularity, to the extent that 'coffee breaks' are being replaced by 'boba breaks.' While brands with Asian roots are succeeding, competition is intensifying with the entry of Chinese brands, making the 'soul' of the brand a key differentiator.

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In the San Francisco Bay Area, bubble tea shops are rapidly increasing in popularity, to the extent that 'coffee breaks' are being replaced by 'boba breaks.' While brands with Asian roots are succeeding, competition is intensifying with the entry of Chinese brands, making the 'soul' of the brand a key differentiator.

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Source: https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202605113001.aspx | Date: Date unavailable

Central News Agency correspondent Zhang Xinyu in San Francisco 2026/5/11 09:53 Recommended Reading "There's a Starbucks on every corner" used to describe American urban coffee culture. Today, in the San Francisco Bay Area, this phrase can almost be applied unchanged to bubble tea shops. In San Francisco's Sunset District, with its large Asian population, bubble tea shops are not just "a beverage store" on the street, but have grown into a "bubble tea street," with more than 5 shops within a few blocks. Crossing the Bay Bridge to Berkeley, the Telegraph Avenue area near the campus has nearly 20 shops selling bubble tea. This boom has even led some Americans who used to only drink coffee to consider "opening a bubble tea shop" as a startup option. At a night market event, Richard, nearly 60, observed a bubble tea stall, pondering whether to start a small business in the second half of his life. He chatted with reporters, saying: "I see it (bubble tea shops) like Starbucks in the 1990s; starting from supermarkets and gas station stalls, and then becoming ubiquitous." Interestingly, Richard has only had bubble tea once. He said that many Americans' more concrete impressions of bubble tea come from comedian Jo Koy's performances, and they may not know that Taiwan is its origin. However, when Asian Americans in the Bay Area mention bubble tea, nine out of ten know it's a Taiwanese drink, stemming from a shared urban memory. "About 20 years ago, my mom used to take me to Quickly." The reporter met Elijah, a second-generation Filipino American, and Jonathan, a second-generation Vietnamese American, at a new-style tea shop. They recalled how rare it was to drink a bubble tea when they were kids, often having to specifically go to Chinese commercial districts to buy one. Elijah, who works in the tech industry, said: "Before, in the office, everyone would say 'let's have a coffee break'; now, we're starting to have 'boba breaks.' To some extent, tea drinks have replaced coffee

Bubble Tea's Starbucks Moment: San Francisco's Bubble Tea Time Replaces Coffee Break

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