Canterbury bubble tea store explains why the drink has boomed in the city

If you’ve taken a stroll through Canterbury High Street in the last few months, you’re sure to have noticed that the city has been invaded by a new type of store - bubble tea. This trendy drink has certainly made its mark in the area, with not one but five different boba shops currently serving customers and all sitting just a few minutes away from each other.

Fans of bubble tea are absolutely spoiled for choice in Canterbury, with Ding Tea, Mooboo, Cha Lab, Bubbleology and now T4 all offering different varieties of the drink. It seems five stores just wasn’t enough for this slice of Kent either, with plans for a sixth brand to move into Whitefriars.

New signage has revealed that Bubble CiTea will be the next chain to open in the city, taking over part of the unit that previously housed Beaverbrooks jewellers. With such an abundance of these stores now clustered together, many residents have been left wondering just why these shops in particular have boomed in popularity, and why Canterbury needs so many.

Read more: Pride Canterbury line-up announced including Willy Wonka Experience star

Read more: I tried Canterbury’s newest bubble tea café and I’m starting to get the hype

KentLive sat down with Bee Nguyen, owner of T4 Canterbury, to get some answers. “Bubble Tea has actually been around for about 40 years within the Asian community and in London,” Bee explained.

“It’s only broken out into the younger generation in the last five or so years and it’s become a huge trend. In the UK, the trend started in London where now bubble tea is quite saturated so now it's expanding out.

“It’s also already happened in Manchester, Birmingham and parts of Scotland too, they’ve all jumped onto bubble tea. People are just now catching onto bubble tea - what is really an old recipe and an old dessert in Asian communities.

“I think the boom has largely come from diversity, similar to how K-pop has exploded in popularity all around the world.” Bee went on to explain how the diverse population of Canterbury, largely aided by the huge number of students and tourists, has helped usher in this huge demand for bubble tea, particularly among a certain generation.

He went on: “With our customers, there’s a good mixture but it is always the younger crowd that leads the way and eventually the adults will follow. This new generation really wants it, they love it but the older generation, it’s sometimes quite difficult to get them to change.

“I think it just takes time and being open minded to trying bubble tea again and different styles, but for the younger generation, straight away they love it, they understand it. It’s the kids that ask the parents to get bubble tea, so when the parents come in I try to help them find the right drink, give them some samples and choices to try.”

Traditionally, the drink consists of tea blended with milk, paired with chewy tapioca pearls and served cold. There are however many different variations on the classic beverage that have grown incredibly popular, including varieties made with fruit teas and other ingredients like aloe vera, grass jelly and red bean.

“Bubble tea has boomed as this sort of playful drink,” Bee added. “You get to design your drink and dessert, there’s so many choices and so much customisation.

“Some people don’t understand cold milk tea, so I think it’s just going to take a little bit more time for people to understand it a bit better. So much of the world drinks their tea without milk, but in the UK, that’s how almost everyone has it, so for someone from the outside perspective, they don’t understand that.

“So just like that, a lot of people don’t understand cold milk tea because we only drink hot milk tea, it’s just about perspective. So, if you don’t understand it, examine it and explore it and you never know, you might enjoy it. It’s just another joy to life.”

T4 is the latest addition to Canterbury's bubble tea offering, having opened with a colourful ceremony last month. An international brand that originated in Taiwan in 2004, T4 operates stores throughout the UK and around the world.

Bee went on to discuss the number of bubble tea shops that now serve Canterbury and how the future may look. He said: “I think Bubble Tea is going to be here for a long time, here in Canterbury definitely.

“That’s what happens with a trend, people jump on that trend and it will become saturated no matter what until everything dies down, that's just the natural way of things. I’m blessed that we have a T4 in Canterbury.

“Most of the people that come into the shop here always say the same thing to me, saying they’d been waiting for T4 for a long time. I think T4 will be good here, I’m passionate about doing my best with T4, we’re here to stay.”

Find out more about things to do and activities in Kent with our free What’s On email HERE.