Bubble tea shops are a common sight in parts of metropolitan Melbourne and Sydney, but in regional Australia, they are few and far between.
Now, budding entrepreneurs are moving to small towns and challenging locals’ tastebuds to bring a taste of bubble tea to these regional communities - many who had not even tried or even heard of the drink before.
Phoebe Chow saw regional Victoria as an opportunity and took the plunge to open a bubble tea shop in Shepparton - some 180km or two hours drive north of Melbourne.
Renowned for being at the heart of the “food bowl” of Australia on the banks of the Goulburn River, Shepparton produces fruit, vegetables and other agricultural goods, but never had a bubble tea shop - that is until Bubble Cuppa opened three years ago.
Ms Chow said the inspiration behind opening a bubble tea shop in Shepparton was because in a town of more than 60,000 people, with many backpackers on working holiday visas staying for farm work from spring to autumn, she was surprised there wasn’t such a store nearby.
Phoebe Chow opened a bubble tea shop in Shepparton - two hours from Melbourne. Credit: Phoebe
Invented in the 1980s in Taiwan, bubble tea (also known as boba) is a sweetened drink made with flavoured tea and milk, with the “bubbles” of chewy, tapioca pearls. In the decades since its invention, bubble tea has spread across Asia and the world, with different flavour combinations and toppings including the now popular brown sugar milk tea and even cheese foam.
Ms Chow, who immigrated from Hong Kong to Australia 20 years ago, said with Shepparton only having cafes selling hot drinks, she decided to open a bubble tea shop that focuses on cold drinks, especially for the warmer months.
Milk tea from Bubble Cuppa in Shepparton. Credit: Supplied
Listen to SBS Cantonese about Phoebe Chow's story
"The first year I moved to Shepparton, I was working in a cafe and I wanted to eat some Asian food but couldn’t find any … With a population of [more than] 50,000 how come there isn’t a bubble tea shop?" she said.
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Kelvin Koh was working as an engineer in Broome, a town located in northwestern Western Australia, when he decided to open his own business..
His store Sweets & Koh opened in May this year, and sells bubble tea alongside other Asian drinks and food.
“Bubble tea is not a big thing in regional towns yet, but I’m trying to bring a lot more different elements to Broome through dumplings and drinks,” he said.
Kelvin Koh opened his bubble tea shop in Broome, Western Australia in May 2022. Source: Supplied
“I flew into Broome to work for someone else, quite liked the town at the time and moved here permanently … after a few years I thought maybe I should do something different as I’m getting on with my age.
“Why not start something of my own? It’s a big move.”
Sweets & Koh also makes flavoured soda, fruit tea and even handmade brown sugar pearls. It also serves a selection of dumplings and desserts. Mr Koh said he learned how to make bubble tea and other dishes from his friends and watching videos on YouTube.
“I’m the first one to bring all of these new elements to the region. Even my bubble tea, herbal jelly - people don’t know about herbal jelly or taro. Bubble tea is all about layering, you add different things to your tea and milk. It’s like cocktails - you mix and match,” he said.
“Bubble tea is an art - it’s not just about the bubbles, it's about finding the right ingredients.”
New tastes
When Ms Chow opened Bubble Cuppa in 2019, most locals didn’t know what bubble was, or even how to order from her menu. But it was the same locals that she wanted to target, which is why her store is named Bubble Cuppa - a play on the phrase “have a cuppa”.
“When I first started, a lot of the locals didn’t know what is bubble tea … They ask for bubble tea but they don’t know what they want so I have to explain to them,” she said.
She said many customers ordered bubble tea and then questioned why the milk tea was not hot, and instead asked to exchange for a cup of hot bubble tea.
Credit: Phoebe
Now almost three years later, Phoebe says more than half of her customers are regulars who have supported her since the store opened.
The most popular flavour in the store is the bubble gum flavoured milk tea, which is “like eating a chewing gum ice cream”. But it's one drink that Ms Chow has yet to try.
In Shepparton, Phoebe says she is able to build relationships with her customers - a concept rare to see in the city where customers often leave immediately after purchasing their drinks.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, with Victoria going into lockdown just four months after Bubble Cuppa opened, which forced Phoebe to operate the store by herself, seven days a week for six months.
Challenging local tastebuds
Mr Koh said locals had been very receptive to Sweets & Koh but Broome’s smaller population made it tougher to get off the ground.
“It’s not very easy to start a business in Australia [and it’s] even harder in regional towns. There isn’t enough population,” he said.
“[I am] bringing a lot of new elements to the town like handmade boba jelly that are quite popular in the bigger cities but in smaller towns like this, it takes a while to get used to it and for locals to come back again.”
Although bubble tea was a key component of his shop, Mr Koh said he wanted to bring new flavours to the town.
“I handmake all of our mochi, mooncake, a lot of these things are new to most of the region and towns. It takes me a while to really educate people,” he said.
“I received good feedback along the way since we opened but now slowly we can implement things because people believe in us.”
And now the hard work is paying off, with Broome locals coming back to try his regional specialties including the Singapore curry chicken.
“Usually locals have to travel to the bigger cities - Broome didn’t have bubble tea shops [before] so they have to travel down to Perth to get it but now they tell me they have it here,” he said.
“When you hear comments like that from customers it makes all the hard work go away.
The first bubble tea in ‘The Alice’
Huang Chun-Ling came to Alice Springs as a backpacker from Taiwan in 2008 and never planned on staying in the town, let alone starting the town’s first bubble tea shop.
After meeting her husband Bruce Reid, who supported her in taking over an Asian grocery in May 2010, bubble tea was added to the shop shortly after a trip back to her native Taiwan.
Ling's Supermarket is the first in Alice Springs to sell bubble tea. Source: Supplied
She then started to sell bubble tea at a local market and then dedicated a small section of her grocery store, Ling's Supermarket, for bubble tea after positive feedback.
“I always tell my staff to make each drink with love and make sure customers are happy and if they’re not happy we can change it for them,” she said.
“It took some time [for people to know about bubble tea]. Most people didn’t know what is bubble tea. But in the past three years, yes, customers have come in excited about bubble tea but before that people were like ‘what is bubble tea?’
Huang Chun-Ling (right) says all over her staff make bubble tea "with love". Source: Supplied
“Once I see a happy smile and you walk out the door, you make my day.
“We are small but my shop is more multicultural: we have [products from] Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and I even have Islander and African products.”
As for the bubble tea flavours preferred by her customers, Ms Huang said it depends on their country of origin.
“The general cha cha milk tea is always good. For Filipino customers they love the taro and honeydew, Malaysians love honeydew and passionfruit refreshing tea, African customers love mango milk tea or mango refreshing tea,” she said.
“Lychee or peach are also popular too.”
Change of pace
While the business opportunity of opening a bubble tea shop in regional Australia was attractive, it was also the lifestyle change that these towns offered.
Ms Chow initially chose to study in Australia because she felt that the education system in Hong Kong was not suitable for her. Later, she immigrated to Australia working as a cook in many Melbourne restaurants after graduation.
But she made the decision to move to Shepparton four years ago to experience the rural lifestyle.
While she wasn’t used to the slower pace of Shepparton initially, she says she now enjoys the quieter pace of life. Her parents have also immigrated to Australia to live with her, and the pace of life and air in the countryside is more suitable for the elderly, Phoebe said, and she has no plans to move back to the Greater Melbourne area.
Ms Huang from Alice Springs agreed that the convenience and more relaxed lifestyle was a huge drawcard for her family.
“I like that this place is small and we’ve got everything. I can send my kids five minutes to dance or after-school activities. I don’t think I would survive in a big city,” she said.
“The people here are so warm and welcoming.
“If you have a dream, or want to open up a business - Alice Springs is a really good place.”
