Google Honors the Popularity of Bubble Tea with an Interactive Doodle

Google is commemorating the global popularity of bubble tea today with a beautiful and interactive doodle. Bubble tea, also known as boba tea and pearl milk tea, is a cold tea beverage that is non-alcoholic and non-carbonated. The jelly-like appearance of the tapioca pearls, which resemble bubbles in the drink, inspired the name. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the beverage became extremely popular, particularly among Gen-Z and millennials.
Google has chosen January 29 to commemorate bubble tea because it was announced on this day in 2020 that the iconic drink would be given its own emoji.

Google has created a playful, interactive doodle to commemorate the milky and tangy beverage, allowing netizens to make their own milk tea combinations and run their own shop. Users simply need to click on the doodle, and an animation will begin to play on the screen. Netizens can play as a Formosan Mountain Dog who runs a bubble tea business in the middle of a rainy forest in the interactive doodle. In the game, brewing tea is simple: users simply fill the cup with each component, such as milk and boba balls, until they reach a set line.

Overall, players must fill five orders before closing shop for the day, each one becoming increasingly difficult as the day progresses. Customers line up their straws and poke through the cover in a pleasing manner once each drink is finished.

“Satisfy your need and prepare a delicious cup of bubble tea in today’s interactive Doodle, which features Taiwan’s indigenous Formosan Mountain Dog as well as a crew of familiar Doodle characters!” states the doodle page.

Google noted on its Doodle page about the beverage’s beginnings, “This Taiwanese beverage began as a local delight and has grown in popularity over the last few decades. Bubble tea derives from traditional Taiwanese tea culture, which dates back to the 17th century. However, the bubble tea as we know it now was not invented until the 1980s.”

It went on to say, “As waves of Taiwanese immigrants took this drink overseas over the last few decades, innovation on the original bubble tea has continued. Shops all around the world are constantly experimenting with new flavours, additives, and combinations. Traditional tearooms throughout Asia have also joined the boba craze, and the trend has spread to nations such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and others!”