News On Japan

Is convenience store’s Y100 bubble tea the cheapest boba yet?

Sep 06 (Japan Today) - Bubble tea’s popularity has positively exploded in Japan. The mad rush has inspired many novel and creative ways to serve up the chewy beverage, including "drinkable sun block," Halloween zombie boba, and even a bubble tea theme park.

Japanese convenience store Lawson want to get in on the tapioca action too, and they’ve gone for the gimmick of most affordable bubble tea yet.

Although billed as the 100 yen tapioca, this doesn’t include tax, so the price you will actually pay for the bargain beverage is 108 yen.

Lawson have already had a bubble tea on their shelves since March this year, but they set themselves the challenge of taking the price down to 100 yen. After tinkering with the packaging design and recipe for half a year, it seems they have finally managed it.

It probably won’t be the height of bubble tea luxury, but the convenience store chain didn’t want to sacrifice quality to make the product. They used Assam tea leaves from India and chewy tapioca which won’t harden.

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