Around UCLA, the sound of straws popping into a fresh cup of boba tea fills the air. With boba shops lining every avenue, the drink has become a Westwood staple.
The phenomenon is a perfect example of a boba corner, explained Angel Trazo, a doctoral student in cultural studies at UC Davis. Just as gas stations tend to cluster in one place, boba stores follow a similar trend. Trazo said she first noticed this pattern in San Jose while attending middle school in the early 2000s.
"Now, it’s even more – there’s such a big explosion," she said.
Trazo, who graduated from UCLA in 2020 with her master’s degree and wrote her thesis on boba’s relationship with Asian American youth, said that where college students gather, boba shops follow.
Westwood Village alone boasts six boba shops, surpassing the number of ice cream shops and grocery stores. Other colleges have seen similar trends, with boba shops around UC Berkeley even inspiring their own line of merchandise. But the question remains: How did one drink come to dominate college towns?
Boba doesn’t take long to make, but its explosive entrance into American society has taken decades to brew.
According to Food & Wine magazine, boba emerged in Taiwan in the 1980s, although the exact year and precise location are contested. By combining Taiwanese milk tea, tapioca pearls and shaved ice into one cup, the drink’s creators had a winning recipe.
Trazo said making boba in the United States began as an avenue for many Asian American immigrants in the late ’90s to start small businesses. These businesses not only provided a source of income but also served as a safe haven for Asian Americans. She added that boba shops doubled as community gathering spaces, as parents felt comfortable leaving their children at the family-owned shops and flocks of students purchased inexpensive drinks after school.
"People forget it used to come out of small businesses, and there’s actually a cultural aspect to it," Trazo added.
Jean-Paul deGuzman, a lecturer in the Asian American studies department, explained that boba shops emerged as what is known as a counterspace for Asian Americans. As racial minorities face stereotypes and discrimination, deGuzman added, these counterspaces can celebrate communities’ cultures and center the identities of minority groups.
Jack Lin, internal vice president of the Taiwanese American Student Association at UCLA, said nearby boba shops allow students to share their culture in a small, easy way. He added that the closest Taiwanese restaurant to campus is all the way in Koreatown.
"It’s a really nice presence that boba is so prevalent in Westwood," said the third-year computer science student. "It's nice to see that Taiwanese culture is able to influence other people in this kind of way."
UCLA’s connection to boba runs deep.
Alan Yu, an alumnus who graduated in 1993, co-founded Lollicup, one of the earliest boba shops in Southern California. Since its founding in 2000 in the San Gabriel Valley, this boba chain has spanned across California and beyond.
Recognizing a promising business venture after graduation, Yu traveled to Taiwan to research boba. He then spent the year learning how to run the business and exploring popular recipes. After Yu established his own store, Lollicup became so popular that it opened more than 60 stores in under three years.
Lollicup now distributes its product to 6,000 stores globally, including the Lollicup branch that resides in Ackerman Union today. Yu attributes his company’s success to the novelty of boba back when he opened his first location.
"You don’t see any boba shops in the U.S. back in 2000, and that’s how we’re able to grow so fast," Yu explained. "Because everywhere, if you open up one boba shop, people would just come."
Shi Morgan, a third-year linguistics student, can attest to the widespread popularity of boba as an employee of It’s Boba Time in Westwood. Growing up, she noticed that boba culture was a large part of Asian communities. Her Asian friends often frequented boba shops, Morgan added, and she eventually joined the boba community herself. Morgan said working at It’s Boba Time has immersed her in an inclusive and diverse environment.
"It's opened up a lot more to a lot of different types of people," Morgan said.
Yu has also noticed a shift in the customer demographic of boba. Back in the 2000s, he and the other founders of Lollicup expected boba to only be successful among Asian Americans. They strategically established Lollicup’s first location in the San Gabriel Valley, where the Asian American community comprises more than 60% of the total population.
Little did they know the degree to which their business would explode.
In 2013, the Fung Bros celebrated "living that boba life" and invited over 2.4 million viewers to join them.
In a parody of Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen’s "Good Time," the "Bobalife" music video showcased local boba shops in San Gabriel and Arcadia. The video hailed the drink’s rising popularity among Asian American teens, illustrating how boba shops were quickly emerging as go-to hangout spots for the younger generation.
A few years later, deGuzman said, boba also received national attention during Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
"There was even a very humorous and memorable moment where presidential candidate Secretary Hillary Clinton went to a boba cafe," deGuzman said. "I think that it is becoming more and more widespread, more and more accessible."
According to Food & Wine magazine, the rise of cafe culture also helped to popularize boba. As cafes were redefined from fast food joints to gathering places for teens and young adults, boba shops fit perfectly into the trend.
Trazo added that, as boba hit the mainstream market, some of the significance of boba shops for Asian American communities has gotten lost, reflecting the larger trend of boba liberalism.
"It’s (boba) become really popularized, and it’s all sugar, no substance," Trazo said. "It’s a term people throw at apolitical Asian Americans because it’s become a symbol of Asian American consumer culture nowadays."
Boba was not the only food fad at the time. But unlike other once-popular snacks like frozen yogurt, boba has outlasted its 15 minutes of fame, deGuzman said. He added that consumers’ ability to enjoy boba anywhere and anytime has contributed to its long-lasting success.
Issy Southern, a first-year business economics student, said "getting boba" is synonymous with a fun outing with friends. She added that since starting her studies at UCLA, she has tried every boba shop in Westwood.
Fong Lieu, a second-year business economics student who works at It’s Boba Time, stressed that the shop’s customer demographic is as diverse as the drinks she serves. She added that the menu has something for everyone, from UCLA teaching assistants on their way to campus to older adults visiting Westwood’s weekly farmers markets.
"I've seen some of the most unique combinations," Lieu said. "Everyone’s just enthusiastic to just try something new."
But Yu believes boba’s rise to fame isn’t finished, adding that he envisions his brand expanding to include new products and being sold in different restaurants. Although he and his co-founders did not predict the way in which boba would blow up, he has a simple explanation as to why it did.
"I guess that people just like it now," he said. "Something you can chew on."