Young people in Japan have fallen deeply in love with bubble milk tea.
We are no longer even satisfied with pearl "milk tea",
but everything can be "pearl".
Let’s take a look first:
High energy warning ahead
Pearl milk tea bibimbap
Pearl milk tea sushi
Pearl milk tea hot dog
Pearl sandwich
Pearl omelette
Pearl Chikuzen boiled
Pearl milk tea instant noodles
Pearl milk tea cold noodles
Pearl milk tea dumplings
Iron plate pearls
and the ultimate secret -
Mapo pearls! !
Some people have invented an inexplicable new way to eat "pearls" ...
Pearl milk tea earrings
Don't think that it will be ignored if it is not food
These "pearl dishes" naturally caused complaints from netizens:
" Japan is really a country that baffles me”
“Japanese people are always crazy about pearls: pearl milk tea, pearl pizza, pearl ramen...Pearl Harbor”
“I am starting to doubt Japanese food reviews”
"Why is there no pearl miso soup?"
"It's not far from the Pearl Manhan Banquet."
"I feel very dark, but I am inexplicably moved."
"I have found the same kind... I eat watermelon with sesame sauce as a topping."
Japanese people after extensive tasting The rankings are also given:
1, cold pearl tsukemen; 2, iron plate pearls; 3, pearl fried silver rolls topped with condensed milk; 4, pearl waffles; 5, pearl croquettes; 6, pearl hot pressed toast.
1
"Hello, I am
Born in the first year of pearl milk tea"
This is the search trend of the word "pearl milk tea" in Japanese on Google in recent years.
As you can see, Japanese people’s interest in pearl milk tea began to heat up last year, and suddenly exploded this year.
In real life, this "outbreak" is reflected like this:
Just for a cup of milk tea...
As can be seen from the picture, The audience of pearl milk tea is mainly young people.
Because of this, pearl milk tea has quickly become popular in Japanese pop culture.
For example, the Japanese "Internet celebrity" girl VIENNA is a comparison picture that has become popular recently:
Me drinking precious milk in front of my lover
myself drinking precious milk in front of my best friends
Under the influence of the craze, the famous Mukbang star "Big Eater" Kinoshita Yuwa also started to drink precious milk: she drank 11 cups at a time, 4.5 liters...
There are also people who directly use precious milk to take a bath...
A big catchphrase for Japanese female middle school students released in 2018 In the awards, "Pearl Milk Tea" and "Ke milk tea (タピる)" won the first place in the object category and new language category respectively.
In March this year, Shibuya female high school students predicted the Japanese New Year's number ranking. "Pearl milk tea" ranked 11th ...
("Hello, I was born in the first year of pearl milk tea!")
After the announcement of the year number of " and ", " "Reiwa" was also dismantled by the milk tea party, which happened to contain the Japanese pronunciation of "pearl milk tea".
At the same time, they designate November 9th every year as "Pearl Milk Tea Day".
Someone also invented the Chinese character for "pearl milk tea", which is pronounced "tapioka" (that is, the pronunciation of "pearl milk tea" in Japanese).
In this unprecedented "precious milk syndrome", celebrities are also involved.
such as actor Shinken Yu .
Actor Kensuke Takahashi asked for help online on the correct way to drink milk tea.
Even Japanese gangsters have opened bubble milk tea shops.
A yakuza cadre who opened a milk shop along the Yamanote Line happily told reporters:
"It's so easy to do this. It doesn't cost much in the initial stage, and it doesn't require any skills. You just need to boil the milk and black tea." Just add powdered balls. The cost of pearls is very cheap, so we implemented "adding pearls for free". As a result, 90% of the customers chose to add pearls, which is equivalent to reducing the cost of tea and milk, which can be said to be killing two birds with one stone. It sells for about 500 yen, and the cost is only 10% of that.”
According to him, can earn 800,000 to 1 million yen (approximately 50,000 to 60,000 yuan) per month by selling rare milk:
"Pearl milk tea is becoming a big event in Tokyo."
2
How to correctly instigate pearl milk
Love to the deepest level becomes knowledge.
This bubble milk craze has also spawned a large number of "bubble milk tea researchers" in Japan. Universities such as Tokyo University and Morningside University have their own bubble milk tea research associations.
The members of the Dongda Qingying Pearl Milk Tea Research Association who gathered to instigate pearl milk
What are their daily activities?
Answer: researches everything about bubble milk tea.
According to their investigation, pearl milk tea shops have successfully conquered all 23 wards of Tokyo, and the total number has reached more than 300. , the competition is very fierce...
Among them, the most fierce battle is Harajuku Station-Omotesando Along the station, the number of pearl milk tea shops has increased 10 times in one year.
As of the end of May this year, the number of milk shops in this area has reached 8.. Many homes are just steps away.
Another question that researchers have been studying hard is:
What is the most delicious way to drink precious milk?
Here are their answers...
. Be sure to use less ice!
If you put too much ice, the powder balls will get stuck in the ice at the end of the drink and you will not be able to finish it with a straw.
. The straw is best attached to the side, 5 mm away from the bottom of the cup.
tilted slightly while drinking.
In this way, you can absorb all the pink balls without missing a single one!
. The number of pink circles is also particular.
If you suck too little or too much,
it will ruin the taste of the powder balls with milk tea.
According to the size of the powder balls,
The following is the optimal number of inhalations for each mouthful:
HiTea’s small powder balls are best to inhale 10 at a time;
Coco’s medium-sized powder balls are acceptable for 5 inhalations;
Zhenzhu Tang’s large powder balls It is best to suck 3 powder balls at a time.
The sizes of powder balls of different pearl milk brands
There is also a question that many pearl milk novices will worry about:
With so many pearl milk tea shops, which one should you choose? The issue of
has also been researched and a guide has been produced.
Someone made the following table after drinking more than 600 cups of different brands of pearl milk tea.
In this table, almost all milk brands on the Japanese market are classified according to the size and taste of the powder balls.
marked in red represents key recommendations.
3
Pearl milk tea has been popular in Japan three times
In fact, before this, pearl milk tea has been popular in Japan twice.. The first wave of
occurred in 992 and .
The pearl milk tea that became popular at that time was a bit like sago. Pink round and translucent, smaller than the current one. The milk is coconut milk. It is usually eaten with a spoon.
But the 1990s in Japan happened to be the Warring States Period for desserts.
This wave of craze was ended by European and American forces represented by French stewed eggs and Belgian waffles .
French Egg Stew and Belgian Waffles
The next time bubble tea becomes a hit is 008.
The pink circle at that time has turned into the black color you see now.
but usually paired with yogurt and juice .
But two years later, the Japanese were suddenly obsessed with waffles ... breast milk was once again outdated.
What people are witnessing now is another revival of bubble milk tea.
This time, it reconquered Japan in the form of black powder balls paired with milk tea.
It can be said that Japan’s Heisei era (January 8, 1989 to April 30, 2019) almost started with the pearl milk tea craze and ended with the pearl milk tea craze.
Some people have also observed a phenomenon similar to the "lipstick effect":
Japan's milk craze always seems to coincide with the onset of the economic crisis.
Correlation chart between Japanese stock market trend and breast milk boom
In 1992, when the first breast milk boom came, Japan’s economic bubble was bursting.
In 2008, the year of the second breast milk boom, Japan encountered the global economic crisis again.
So some people are speculating: Does this year of the third milk craze mean that the economy will suffer another setback...
("Lipstick Effect": describes a kind of consumption. Think about it - people are in the economic downturn. Sometimes, they tend to buy cheap products that can please and comfort themselves. For example, during the Great Depression in the United States, movie consumption increased, and during the economic downturn in South Korea, brightly colored clothing became popular.)
4
Why is breast milk so popular?
How did bubble milk tea conquer Japan again? There are different opinions on the analysis of
.
A Japanese program "SUNDAY JAPON" also interviewed young people on the street about the reasons why they fell in love with milk tea.
Some fashionable girls said that if you go shopping with a cup of milk tea, you will feel full of happiness and look very "trendy".
One couple said, "Milk tea is a symbol of big cities. We rarely have this in the Northeast region of our hometown."
Some people said that they were "already addicted" and "now that I drink drinks and have nothing to chew on, I feel lost."
In summary , mainly include the following points:
, Frappuccino is outdated
Before the arrival of Jane Milk, Frappuccino was the "lonely king" in the Japanese beverage industry, once accounting for 30% of the total sales of Starbucks in Japan.
But in recent years, young people in Japan are tired of drinking ...At this time, pearl milk tea took advantage of the opportunity.
, Taiwan is hot
Japanese people love Taiwan very much this time.
Last year, the number of Japanese people traveling to Taiwan reached a record high of 11.96 million .
In the popularity ranking of tourist destinations during Japan’s Golden Week this year, Taiwan still ranks first .
, the threshold for milk tea shops is low and the competition is fierce.
At this time when Japanese people’s interest in Taiwan is at an all-time high, Chun Shui Tang, CoCo and other Taiwanese tea brands are expanding rapidly in Japan.
Moreover, the threshold for joining a pearl milk tea shop is relatively low and the competition is more intense, making it popular very quickly.
, popular on social networking sites
Due to its cute appearance and distinctive features, bubble milk tea is very suitable for uploading to social networks such as Instagram.
Recently, there have been more than .35 million photos under the tag "Pearl Milk Tea" on Instagram. Other "Pearl Milk Tea" series tags are also being uploaded enthusiastically.
In June of this year, Japan also launched a wave of "Pearl Challenges" on Twitter - taking photos or posting videos of milk tea on the chest. Some videos have received more than one million views.
This also caused an interesting phenomenon.
Due to the close connection between pearl milk tea and youth culture, many middle-aged uncles who want to drink pearl milk have to be secretive like criminals...
, "There is no sin in using it to fill your stomach." Sense”
Of course, the most important factor should be the charm of pearl milk tea itself.
A Japanese netizen described it this way:
“Although there are powder balls inside, it looks like tea, so you don’t feel guilty filling your stomach with it."
Japanese artist Matsuko Deluxe also commented:
Although pearl milk tea is a trendy drink, it has a nostalgic taste. It is entirely possible that it will become a part of Japan's daily culture like coffee in the future.
5
Asia's "Fat House Happiness" "Water"
Speaking of "addictive", pearl milk tea is also known as "Asia's fat house happy water". In recent years, it has also been popular in the United States:
"This is the first time I drink tea that I want to chew!" "
——Hillary Clinton, 2016.
"This is tea, but it is paired with a elastic and smooth taste, which is interesting. "
- Hip-hop singer and WWE champion John Cena
According to the "U.S. Milk Tea Market Report" released by Menusifu in December last year, the number of milk tea shops in the United States currently reaches more than 10,000, there are 2,000 in New York alone Many .
"U.S. Milk Tea Market Report", Menusifu
It has even become an identity for local Asian young people in the United States.
"The New York Times " once published an article about milk tea becoming mainstream because of the use of it. "blobs (meaning 'stain')" was used to describe the pearls in milk tea, which was criticized. Later, he posted an article "Our readers scolded us for pearl milk tea, and they were right" to apologize.
6
"Coffee makes." People are heavy, and
milk tea makes people happy."
When did mainland China become associated with pearl milk tea?
html Pearl milk tea had already landed on the mainland in the 190s.
However, well-known milk tea brands started to enter China in the 2000s.
Timetable for milk tea brands to enter China
So far, pearl milk tea has become one of the most popular drinks in China.
According to iiMedia Consulting survey data, the number of current beverage stores in my country has exceeded
.45 million , and the new Chinese tea drink market has exceededbillion. . Among them, milk tea has attracted the most attention.
A report released last year showed that the number of orders for Chinese milk tea in 2018 exceeded 210 million, far exceeding the number of tea drink merchants on the platform. has tripled in 2018.
Popular blogger Li Xueqin once said that she has dreamed of opening a milk tea shop because:
“Coffee makes people heavy, but milk tea makes people happy. ”
Moreover, statistics show that 1-3 o’clock every day is the peak period for milk tea orders. Generally speaking, this is also the time when office workers feel the most fatigued and like to wander or chat. At this time, if one of them is interested in milk tea If you are a fan, you are very likely to "infect" it to other people.
7
The origin of pearl milk tea is controversial.
In fact, this matter has not yet been concluded because two Taiwanese tea chain stores claim that it is their own. Invented.
One is Chun Shui Tang. The other is Hanlin Teahouse
Chun Shui Tang
Chun Shui Tang said that in 1986, the tea director of Chun Shui Tang put the powder balls into milk tea and shared it with friends in private.
Hanlin Tea House said that it was inspired by the white powder balls sold in small shops.
For this reason, two stores have issued their own tea. They attacked each other in publications, and even sued each other in court.
However, despite such a big fuss, no one was able to apply for a patent for in the end...
But regardless of the true origin, pearl milk tea still made its debut. It became very popular.
By the 1990s, bubble milk tea had completely replaced bubble black tea in popularity.
Bubble black tea
After that, bubble milk tea gradually consolidated its position among Taiwanese people.
Deafness in Taipei in 2009. At the Olympic Games, pearl milk tea also became the official designated tea drink.
After seeing this, do you want to order takeout and drink bubble milk tea?
Don’t worry, before you click on the software, I’ll give you a little tip.
The sugar content of a cup of pearl milk tea is roughly like this:
This year, the market supervision department of Suzhou Zhangjiagang City’s market supervision department found during a random inspection of the city’s milk tea shops:
The total sugar inspection results of all batches of samples were 3.23g/100g. ~11.3g/100g, which is equivalent to drinking a cup of milk tea and eating 3 to 11 sugar cubes;
All batches of milk tea were found to have caffeine, and the cup with the highest caffeine content was twice as much as American coffee.
The Shanghai Consumer Protection Commission has previously analyzed samples of Internet celebrity milk tea. The results showed that the average sugar content of milk tea with normal sweetness is 34g per cup, with the highest reaching 62g.
Sugar and caffeine are both addictive substances.
The science magazine "Nature" once published a paper "The truth about the toxicity of sugar": "Sugar addiction has a dual effect. On the one hand, sugar affects hormones in the body, preventing the brain from sending signals of fullness. The more you eat, the more addictive you become. The more addicted you are, the more you eat; on the other hand, the impact of sugar on hormones in the body is also reflected in the fact that the brain continuously sends out signals to consume sugar. Just like the addiction to cigarettes, people who eat sugar will become more and more fond of sugar.”
Scientist Serge Ahmed once designed an experiment: first feed cocaine pills to mice for about a month to make them addicted, and then provide cocaine pills and sugar pills at the same time, allowing the mice to choose one of the two. After just two days, the mice switched to sugar pills.
Ahmed believes that sugar can defeat cocaine, possibly because the nerve receptors responsible for sensing sugar in the brain are 14 times larger than those for cocaine.
But excessive intake of sugar can cause many health problems, not just obesity.
The World Health Organization once issued a guideline: It is strongly recommended that adults and children reduce their daily free sugar intake to less than 10% of their total energy intake; conditional recommendations are to reduce it to less than 5% or approximately 25 grams per day. .
So, have you calculated how many cups of milk tea you can drink in a day?
(A little tip: In the above-mentioned regulatory inspections, all "sugar-free milk tea" contained sugar.)
Source: WeLens
