Big Boba Energy

As we roll into our newest set of stores, we are adding another emblem to our storytelling stack. It’s cute, no? ;)

The “Everything Housemade” emblem/principle all about making our drinks and even many of our pastries in-house, where we control exactly what goes in them. Owning every part of the process is a level of transparency few if any boba shops (and coffee shops) achieve.

Thank you for your support as we reset the bar for everyone.

*beware: TED Talk ahead*

When we started eight years ago, we set out to change the industry. We championed #FightThePowder because we wanted to see a boba revolution. We did the behind-the-scenes leg work for years by convincing ignorant landlords that boba is a “viable” business model and that our community deserves to be seen and represented. We started sourcing our own teas and ingredients (and straws) when advisors said it was too costly. And we vertically-integrated with our own bakery and boba factory when many said it wasn’t worth our time.

Fast forward a bit, if you frequent a premium boba shop in the States, chances are the shop now touches our supply chain network. We then channel those profits to drive other initiatives like our search for more convenient reusable vessels, sustainable single-use items, and larger cultural initiatives for marginalized gropus. So yes, a revolution did come. Sadly, all this time, we failed to see a larger impending revolution. And that’s what we want to finally address today. Sorry it took so long.

The biggest lesson we learned in the last two years is that we let other industries and cultures take credit for food and beverage trends and just as quickly, tear ours down. Suffice to say, it is disrespectful to our community and a large reason why we took the time to write The Boba Book. So much of what we consume today — the ingredients, the spices, the techniques, the aesthetics, the rituals come from our oft-misunderstood culture. We can handle a bit of “ew, boba is gross,” but it’s gone to another level now.

We have an issue with anyone that takes the “convenient” parts of one’s culture and throws away everything else as if one’s customs and practices are superior over another. Yes, culture does evolve and we should nurture that evolution. But it requires dialogue and empathy, values we preach both internally to our diverse set of team members and externally to our community and businesses that draw inspiration from us. Without mutual respect and understanding, it becomes a vicious cycle of finger-pointing and cultural pissing match. It’s even more ignorant than the landlords we met in early days of our business. Nothing good comes of it. And as third culture global citizens who can see both sides of East and West, we can tell you that the othering and profiling isn’t helping.

Many of you immediately asked us to address the global crisis and its affect on our community. At first, we didn’t know what the say, which is why we’ve been relatively silent. It’s always awkward to address blatant racism in people who fundamentally see the world differently as it is our belief that it only creates a further divide. If you are reading this because someone sent you here to see thing from another perspective, we welcome you. We are known to be one of the few voices in the food & beverage community that speaks to both Eastern and Western cultures— we understand this can come off as a defensive TED talk. This isn’t that. It’s a bridge to help you understand why our community feels so hurt by what’s going on in the world.

Just the other day, I (Andrew) ran into someone who told me their kid won’t dare eat in front of their classmates because they are now being teased about what he brings for lunch. We honestly thought we were passed that a decade ago. We empathize with the kid who is now scarred for the remainder of his childhood. He will grow up being ashamed of his culture and will likely inadvertently retaliate in other ways (i.e. profiling other cultures thinking it’s acceptable or justified.) That is not okay. And as other outlets are reporting, this isn’t a one-off anecdote. It’s getting normalized, so it takes big energy to put that to an end.

So in sum, as we feel the world growing more skeptical of our culture and practices, we want to reframe the narrative— and we hope others, especially other cafes, boba shops, and marginalized food & beverage companies will join us.

Remember, a lot of what we see today in the American food landscape comes from OUR community. Many of the top shows feature our cuisine, our culture, our traditions. We should never ever feel ashamed of who we are and how we live. With more empathy, more compassion, our beautiful culture will spread faster than any contagion.

We set the culture, not follow it, so here’s to another revolution.