Consternation among California millennials. The rise in real estate prices? The announced reopening of the offices? Overbooked flights to Hawaii? No, the anxiety comes from the shortage of “boba”. Boba? The term designates a variety of black tapioca, a specialty of Taiwan. The gelatinous pearls are mixed with a milk tea that is tasted with a giant straw. Drinking has been all the rage on campus for several years. Forget Starbucks and caramel lattes. Bubble tea has its coffees with minimalist white walls, its recipes (green tea with lychees, almond milk). The Covid-19 pandemic has made it a so-called “comfort” drink: suave and very sweet.
On April 8, the “Boba Boys,” Andrew Chau and Bin Chen, two hipsters who started a chain of cafes of the same name, alerted their fans on Instagram. A ” national shortage De boba is on the way to hit the US market. The entrepreneurs apologized: although they have their own production plant, they remain dependent on the staple, cassava starch, which is imported from Thailand.
Ports are struggling to keep up
If the boba is lacking, it is due to the evils of the time: the pandemic and globalization. More than twenty container ships wait their turn to unload their cargoes at the Port of Oakland in San Francisco Bay. At the end of March, traffic was up 45% in Oakland compared to 2020, and 62% at the port of Long Beach. The boba is the victim of the online shopping frenzy that has seized consumers immobilized by the virus. When factories reopened in Asia, imports rose 26% in California.
Chronic labor shortage, low vaccination rate among dockworkers: ports are struggling to keep up. Electronics, shoes, fitness machines… Normally, container ships drop off their merchandise in Oakland and set sail again in eighteen hours. It now takes several days. In the meantime, the “Boba Boys” have invited consumers to take the opportunity to taste other pre-globalization blends: their homemade almond or grass jelly.
