Maybe you’re just getting ready to open a bubble tea shop, or you already have a shop and want to make sure you’re up to date on some of the newer boba tea supplies. Either way, this is the perfect guide for you, covering everything from equipment, to tea add-ons, to cup options. Hope you enjoy, and if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section.
Bubble Tea Cups
For
bubble tea cups, the first thing you have to decide is your pricing structure and menu. Some shops offer only one size, and others provide two or three size options for their customers. The size you choose can also be influenced by where you are. If you’re in Los Angeles or New York City where there’s lots of competition and lots of volumes, you may want to do more sizes so you can serve everyone needs. If you’re in a smaller market like San Diego or Buffalo, then you may want to do a one size fits all option and do 16 oz or 20 oz cups.
Branded Cups: Custom Printed Plastic Cups
The best way to get your store to standout is with branded cups. When you order
custom printed plastic cups, you’re investing in your shops brand - a way to be memorable with your customers. By personalizing your logo and design on the cups, you’re giving customers an opportunity to remember your logo, your name, and most of all the experience of enjoying bubble tea! It’s best to keep in mind when getting personalized bubble tea cups that you’re going to have to buy them in bulk, with a minimum order quantity, with cups this usually starts at 30 cases.
Boba Tea Straws
You need fat straws for bubble tea - at least 10 mm wide is optimal for
Boba Tea Straws! You can get them either flat cut or horizontally cut, which is designed specifically for use with plastic sealing film. The horizontal cut gives a clean cut through the sealing film and the flat cut design for shops that use standard lids. There are a ton of different color options, but the most popular is mixed colors, followed second by black straws. Some stores like to match their straw color with their logo coloring for subtle branding.
Bubble Tea Cup Sealing Machine
A
Bubble Tea cup sealing machine is an investment that pays for itself! These help to reduce the average cost when compared to lids. Every seal costs half as much as individual lids, depending on your store's volume, a sealing machine can pay for itself in either 6 months or 1 year, but again it all depends on your size. It also provides that classic boba presentation and adds to the user experience by having them pierce the plastic seal with a cut straw.
Loose Leaf Tea Options
There are many different types of
Loose Leaf Tea for you to choose from. Choosing the right Loose Leaf Tea for your store is a matter of preference and the options that you want to give your customers. Some stores provide lots of tea options and others only have one or two options. The most commonly used teas are black tea and green tea. Lots of our store owners will focus on drinks that their customer base already enjoys. When brewing tea for a store, it’s best to use loose leaf tea, for this we suggest one of the many Tea Zone Tea Varieties. Oolong Tea and Jasmine Tea are more traditional teas that are more common in Asian markets. Black Tea, Green Tea, and Milk Tea are widespread across the board in markets across the United States. We carry these in bags of bulk tea or cases.
Bubble Tea Toppings
When choosing the right toppings for your bubble tea shop, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. First, every city has its own unique preferred
bubble tea toppings. It’s essential to select toppings that appeal not just to classic bubble tea drinkers, but also local flavor palates. Second, many shops have found success in trying toppings that their competition doesn’t offer.
Dried Tapioca Boba Balls
These are the most ubiquitous Boba topping. These come in a few different varieties, including our standard
Tapioca Pearls, a staple in bubble tea shops from New York to Los Angeles. We also carry White Pearl or Crystal Boba, this is a fun option because it has the chewy texture that Tapioca is known for, but it’s a cloudy white after cooking and can be soaked in food coloring to change the color of the pearls. Another option is the Instant Tapioca Pearls, which cooks in less than half the time and have a very similar texture. Finally, you can go with an out of the box option and use Tiny Tapioca Pearls, which as the name suggests are smaller than regular pearls can add a bit of novelty to guest experiences.
Bursting Boba Toppings
These are full of fruit juices and when you bite into them the juice bursts from the ball. Some people call them
Bursting Boba, and others call them Popping Pearls, either way, these are one of the most commonly found toppings in bubble tea stores. The most popular flavors include Strawberry and Mango, but with 15 types to choose from you can pick ones that will work best in your city. Most stores offer 3-5 different flavors of Popping Boba, and some even provide a flavor of the month.
Mini Mochi Topping
Mini Mochi is a tiny variation of this classic Japanese favorite. These chewy
mochi toppings are offered as a topping or an add-on that customers can enjoy independent of their beverage. This isn’t the most common topping in bubble tea shops, so it’s a great way to stand out against your competitors.
Bubble Tea Jelly Toppings
Our
bubble tea jelly toppings come in a bunch of delicious flavors. These come in a variety of options. Ranging from coffee jellies to mango jellies to strawberry coconut jelly. These are great for finding unique flavor profiles. With 10 different Jelly options to choose from, make sure you’re achieving the flavor profile that’s right for you. Most stores carry three different varieties of these, with the most popular being our Assorted Yogo Jelly.
Bubble Tea Powders
Bubble Tea Powders, help to make it quick and easy to mix up delicious drinks. For this, we rely on Tea Zone Powders! Taro powder is one of the most popular powders, and it allows you to add Taro flavoring into all types of drinks and even baked goods too. Our Matcha Green Tea powder is one of our rising stars in terms of demand, Matcha has become a US favorite in recent years and is continuing to rise in popularity. These also come in all the favorite fruit flavors including Coconut powder, Mango powder, and exotics like Papaya Powder. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to whip up a tasty beverage, then remember our Milk Tea powders, we have a few different types to choose. All of these can be easily mixed with our Non-Dairy Creamer to create a delicious drink.
Bubble Tea Syrups
Bubble Tea Syrups are a great way to infuse your bubble tea drinks or even smoothies and frozen yogurt with the flavor profiles you want for your shop. The concentrated syrups are ideal for creating unique flavors. The most popular
Tea Zone Syrups are Mango, Strawberry, Pineapple, and Passion Fruit, but there are dozens of different options for you to choose from and combine to create a delicious treat.
Reach-In Refrigerators
One of the essential pieces of equipment for your shop is inherently going to be your
reach-in refrigerator. Refrigeration is one of the most significant purchases you’ll make for your store, so it’s essential to select one that will last forever and meet the needs that you have for it. Are you going to have refrigerators that customers can choose premade items for sale? If so, you’ll want to get a glass door refrigerator because seeing and being able to help themselves to items will increase sales. Do you need a back of house fridge? Then you’ll be able to select from our wide variety of reach-in refrigerators. These units come in one door panel all the way up to three panels, so it’s a solution that will work with any size shop.
