Bubble Tea Emoji

A cup of bubble tea (boba) — the Taiwanese drink featuring cold tea, milk, and chewy tapioca pearls, served with a wide straw to accommodate the 'boba.' Approved in Unicode 13.0 in 2020 as U+1F9CBU+1F9CB BUBBLE TEA.

🧋 was one of the most-requested emojis for years before its approval. The drink was invented in Taiwan in the mid-1980s — there's a decade-long legal dispute between Chun Shui Tang in Taichung (which claims 1987) and Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan (which claims a slightly earlier date). A Taiwanese court ruled in 2019 that since bubble tea isn't patented, who invented it is legally irrelevant.

The emoji's arrival coincided with boba's massive global expansion. The US bubble tea market is projected to hit $531 million in 2025 and grow 8.7% annually through 2035; the global market is projected to nearly triple from $3.96B in 2025 to $9.72B by 2035. In the US, the number of bubble tea stores grew 27.4% between 2022 and 2023 alone.

🧋 is the Gen Z drink emoji. If ☕ is millennial / boomer coffee culture, 🧋 is the younger, more playful beverage identity.

🧋 is disproportionately Gen Z. TikTok drove 74% of bubble tea familiarity — the platform is the drink's global megaphone. Viral boba content runs through every flavor launch, hidden-menu hack, and visit vlog.

Boba runs. 'Boba run? 🧋' is one of the most reliable group-chat triggers among Gen Z and younger millennials. Around 60% of boba customers visit shops mainly for social reasons — hangout spot, not drink destination.

Asian and AAPI identity content. 🧋 arrived after years of community advocacy for Asian drink representation. It's used heavily in AAPI-identity posts, boba-liberalism discourse, and Taiwanese-American content.

Study / café aesthetic. 🧋📚 combos are everywhere in student content. Boba shops function as the new Starbucks for Gen Z — longer sits, aesthetic interiors, Instagrammable drinks.

Flavor-drop marketing. Chains like Kung Fu Tea, Gong Cha, Chatime, Sharetea, and Tiger Sugar launch limited-edition flavors monthly. 🧋 anchors every announcement.

On the 'ick' side: boba's ingredients, sugar content, and plastic cup waste have prompted wellness and sustainability critiques. 🧋 occasionally appears ironically in 'bad for me but I'm ordering it anyway' content.

Bubble tea was invented in Taiwan in the mid-1980s, though exactly who invented it is still disputed. Two tea shops claim the honor:

- Chun Shui Tang in Taichung, owned by Liu Han-Chieh, began serving cold tea in the early 1980s. In 1986, a staff competition produced the idea of adding tapioca pearls (from a childhood dessert) to fragrant milk tea. The drink was officially launched as 'Bubble Tea' in 1987. - Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan, owned by Tu Tsong-he, claims an earlier invention: he was inspired by white tapioca balls he saw at a local market and added them to tea.

The two shops spent over a decade in court fighting over the invention. In 2019, the Taiwanese court ruled that since bubble tea isn't a patented product, who invented it is legally irrelevant. Both shops survive to this day and both claim pilgrimage-worthy founder status.

The drink spread from Taiwan to East Asia, then to diaspora communities in the US and Canada in the 1990s. It went fully global in the 2010s; TikTok accelerated that expansion into a cultural phenomenon. By the time 🧋 arrived in Unicode 13.0 in 2020, the drink was already everywhere — the emoji was catching up to reality rather than leading it.

Advocacy for the emoji was loud. Years of community petitions, social-media campaigns, and Asian-American op-eds pushed Unicode to approve it. When it finally shipped, Asian diaspora communities celebrated it as a representation win.

1. 1986Chun Shui Tang (Taichung) adds tapioca pearls to milk tea in a staff competition↗
2. 1987Chun Shui Tang officially launches 'Bubble Tea' to customers
3. 1990Hanlin Tea Room (Tainan) claims its own prior invention of pearl tea; the two shops dispute for decades
4. 1998Boba spreads to Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley; first US boba shops open
5. 2010Gen Z-era Asian American creators on YouTube turn boba into a visible cultural anchor for AAPI identity
6. 2019Taiwanese court rules the invention dispute legally moot since bubble tea isn't patented↗
7. 2020Approved in Unicode 13.0 as U+1F9CB BUBBLE TEA; celebrated as AAPI representation win↗
8. 2023[US bubble tea stores grew 27.4% year-over-year](https://www.tryperdiem.com/post/the-impact-of-gen-z-on-the-growing-popularity-of-boba-tea-in-the-us); TikTok drives 74% of consumer familiarity
9. 2025US bubble tea market hits ~$531M; global market projected to nearly triple to $9.72B by 2035

• •Bubble tea was invented in Taiwan in 1986-87, with Chun Shui Tang in Taichung most widely credited. A decade-long legal dispute with Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan was resolved in 2019 when the court ruled the question legally moot.
• •US bubble tea stores grew 27.4% in just one year (2022-2023). Kung Fu Tea, Gong Cha, and Tiger Sugar all roughly doubled their US store counts between 2019 and 2023.
• •TikTok is responsible for 74% of consumer familiarity with bubble tea globally. The platform did for boba what Instagram did for matcha lattes.
• •The global bubble tea market is projected to triple from $3.96B in 2025 to $9.72B by 2035, 9.5% annualized growth. One of the fastest-growing beverage categories on Earth.
• •About 60% of boba customers visit shops primarily for social reasons rather than the drink. Boba shops function as Gen Z's new Starbucks.
• •🧋 was one of the most-requested emojis before its 2020 approval. Advocacy from Asian American communities and diaspora creators pushed Unicode over several cycles.
• •The wide straw in 🧋 is technically accurate — bubble tea requires a ~10mm diameter straw to accommodate the 1cm tapioca pearls. Standard straws get clogged.
• •Alternative boba formats are driving a second wave of growth: popping boba (fruit-juice-filled pearls that burst), crystal boba (transparent coconut jelly), mini boba, and lychee jelly. Each new format gets its own TikTok moment.

• •Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022): the Oscar-winning film features a boba shop scene and boba imagery; AAPI fan content leaned heavily on 🧋 in promotional content.
• •Eric Nam, Wong Fu Productions, Kevin Kreider, and other Asian American YouTube/creator figures have consistently featured boba in content since the 2010s — anchoring Gen Z's association.
• •BTS's mukbang / taste-test videos: K-pop global fandom amplified 🧋 usage in ARMY content every time a member tried boba.
• •Chun Shui Tang and Hanlin Tea Room (competing bubble tea origin shops): pilgrimage destinations for boba enthusiasts visiting Taiwan. Instagram stories from both locations flood travel content annually.
• •The 'boba liberal' critique (coined around 2018): argued that Asian-American identity had become too reliant on consumer content, using boba as the prime example. Discourse still ongoing.

• •🧋 is U+1F9CBU+1F9CB. Common shortcodes: :bubble_tea::bubble_tea: (Slack, Discord, GitHub).
• •Emoji 13.0 / Unicode 13.0 — supported since March 2020. Older devices (pre-2020) render as missing glyph.
• •Highly effective emoji for Gen Z-targeted products. 🧋 outperforms ☕ in under-30 engagement data; consider featuring in café / beverage / lifestyle-app UIs.

See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.