Addressing the Rumors About Our Balls
Bin Chen
Amen, Celeste Yim and VICE. Full article here.
I don't like the term "White People," so we're not going to co-sign everything in this VICE piece, but this Op-Ed covers 99% of what we wanted to say about the viral articles on INSIDER and TASTING TABLE. Everyone and their mother sent us articles about the situation since it is core to our business, so here's our official response:
A Philz Coffee Mint Mojito is 270 calories. A Blue Bottle Coffee New Orleans style at 175 calories is more than our Classic Milk Tea 50% sweet. Even if you add a full serving of boba (~200-300 calories), you would still be drinking the same calories as a Jamba Juice smoothie. Replace boba with our grass jelly, almond jelly, chia seeds, and aloe and you're no worse than a Starbucks Refresher made with flavored syrups. There isn't anything wrong with these drinks, except we don't see health-scare articles written about them.
Note: we're not even going to cover all the health benefits from the premium tea we use. We're just sticking to calories at this point.
We started Boba Guys to bridge cultures. We, along with some of our friends in the industry, are doing the first part of our plan pretty well. Now, we're going to teach the public how to talk about culture. You don't do that by shaming something you don't understand.
If the journalists did their homework, they would know that sweetness level adjustments are a staple of the industry. According to our stats, an average drink at Boba Guys is 50% sweet.
So Daisy of INSIDER Food and Delia of Tasting Table, we would love to teach you a little about our culture as we have with other writers at Vogue, Tasting Table, Food & Wine, Quartz, and countless other pieces that get it right. "Your body will thank you" when you stop packing in those Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccinos, calorie bomb pastries, and garlic butter olive oil pastas. Oh wait, you don't hate on those because... c'mon, bruh. I see you. =)
And yes, for our health-conscious fans, we are working a special page at Boba Guys to break down all the nutrition. We started bottling our milk teas two years ago and some grocers require nutritional facts, so we have the complete facts on those. The Classic Milk Tea one is below. It's made at a 60% sweet formula if you want to compare apples to apples.
#FightThePowder #DoTheRightThing #TransparencyWins
- Andrew & Bin, The Boba Guys
16 oz Pure Milk Tea
For a standard 16 oz drink in our stores, you typically get 12 ounces of the milk tea, plus 4 ounces of ice and topping (e.g. boba, pudding, jelly). The nutrition facts do not include the toppings. Calories for the toppings vary. Boba, of course, is the most caloric. We estimate it's 200-250 calories per serving. Grass jelly, chia seeds, and aloe are the least caloric. Plus, they have additional health benefits.