How Many Bubble Tea Flavours Should You Offer?

There seems to be an infinite choice of flavours when it comes to bubble tea. But how many you offer will depend on what kind of shop you are running.

Whether you run a small shop in a busy shopping centre, rent a larger unit on the high street, or have added bubble tea to your menu to widen your audience, how many flavours you offer is an important consideration. While bubble tea is simple to make, and the available bubble tea equipment makes the process very efficient, it is important to consider carefully what you add to your menu. So, how many bubble tea flavours should you offer?

First Things First

First of all, it is important to understand what bubble tea is. Combining tea, milk, ice, tapioca and toppings (and just about anything else you can imagine!), bubble tea is a unique and tasty treat that is growing wildly popular in the UK. There is some confusion when it comes to the naming of these products. Bubble Tea? Pearl Tea? Boba? To make it simple for you, we created a blog post, but to summarise here, they're (basically) all the same! Whether you call it boba or bubble tea, the important thing is to understand the bubble tea flavours you're offering.

Size Matters

When deciding how many flavours to offer, you should first ask yourself one question: ‘How big is my establishment?' Necessarily, a smaller shop will probably offer a smaller selection. Likewise, a cafe adding bubble tea to its menu to diversify its offering will offer a narrower selection than a bubble tea shop of the same size.

Here, we have broken down the different types of establishments and how many bubble tea flavours they should offer.

1 – A Small Cafe

Adding boba to your cafe's menu is a great way of bringing in new customers and introducing your existing customers to a new sweet treat. We explored the benefits of this in a previous post, How A Bubble Tea Menu Increases Your Reach, but now we are going to look at how many flavours you should offer.

As a general rule, it is good to start with a small offering of 3-4 bubble tea flavours to keep it simple. This will minimise the capital expenditure and the training and equipment that you need. It is a good idea to start with popular classics before branching out into more adventurous flavours.

2 – Dessert Parlours

An emerging trend is for dessert parlours to add bubble tea to their menu as a sweeter and lighter alternative to milkshakes. As people go to dessert parlours for sweet treats, it is generally a good idea to offer a wider selection, usually 5-10 flavours, depending on the size of your establishment.

Like the cafe, it is a good idea to offer some common staple flavours, but as sweet treats are your thing, you can be more adventurous with your flavour offerings.

3 – Bubble Tea Shops

And finally, bubble tea shops. You will definitely be offering the greatest selection as, well, this is what people are coming for. As a minimum, we suggest 10+ flavours for the smallest of hole-in-the-wall establishments and many more for larger shops.

A dedicated bubble tea shop should offer a broad range of flavours, including a good selection of classics and the wildest flavour combinations you can imagine.

The world of bubble tea is vast and varied, and the flavours you choose to offer can set your establishment apart. Whether you're a small cafe or a dedicated bubble tea shop, it's essential to curate a menu that resonates with your audience and aligns with your brand's identity.

Remember, it's not just about quantity but the quality and uniqueness of the flavours you bring to the table. If you're looking to start or grow your bubble tea venture and need expert guidance on flavours, equipment, or any other aspect, don't hesitate. Contact Taipec today, and let us help you brew success in the ever-evolving bubble tea market in the UK.