Vegan and Allergen-Free Bubble Tea Ingredients

For store owners looking to expand their menu and capture the attention of as many customers as possible, ensuring you have options that cater to specific dietary needs and preferences is key. If you’re a passionate bubble tea customer following a vegan or allergen-restricted diet, it’s important to know which flavours and ingredients are suitable for you! This blog will dive into some of the best vegan and allergen-free bubble tea ingredients. We will refer to Taipec ingredients and discuss any allergens included in the UK and EU's list of 14 major allergens.

Suitability of Key Bubble Tea Ingredients

In this section, we will run through all of the key components of a bubble tea drink, and what allergens or non-vegan suitable ingredients they might have. We'll also cover the best alternatives and solutions, to make sure that anyone and everyone can continue enjoying delicious boba! From tea leaves to toppings, we have got you covered with this comprehensive bubble tea ingredients guide.

Tea Leaves:

Tea leaves, like black or jasmine tea, are vegan-friendly and contain no allergens! This is great news for bubble tea lovers, as tea leaves form the base of almost all of the traditional bubble tea drinks that we know and love.

Milk or Creamer:

For most traditional milk teas, taro or matcha teas, milk or creamer is a crucial component. This is where the creamy, rich texture and visual appearance of the tea comes from. Creamers are often used as an alternative to fresh milk. Regular creamers contain milk as an allergen and are therefore not vegan-friendly.

Luckily, vegan creamer options are available. These are allergen free AND vegan friendly! This is an absolute must-have for any bubble tea store.

Flavour Powders:

Sticking with milk teas for now, flavoured powders are used to give rich, creamy flavour to the milk teas we know and love. From Taro and Matcha to Strawberry and Chocolate, these powders come in a host of exciting flavours. In terms of allergens, almost all of these will have milk as an ingredient, meaning they are unsuitable for those with a milk allergy or for vegans.

However, there are some exceptions. Traditional milk tea is usually made without flavoured powders, instead, the flavour comes from the tea itself and the sweeteners. The same goes for matcha, when using authentic matcha tea as opposed to flavoured powders. These teas can thus be made without milk often on request. Techniques to make these teas vary from store to store, so always ask about allergens before placing an order in any boba shop.

Another alternative to avoid flavoured powders is by choosing fruity teas, which don't use any creamers or powders at all! We'll cover that next.

Flavour Syrups and Sweeteners:

Fruit teas get their sweetness and flavour from fruit flavour syrups. These come in an array of different tropical fruity flavours, and are often allergen free! Additionally, they contain no milk so are vegan friendly. It is, nonetheless, important to check the individual flavour (e.g. Blueberry) for allergens and milk, as ingredients tend to vary, especially from different sources, so always ask and double check when ordering in-store!

As for sweeteners, the two most common types, fructose and cane sugar, are both allergen-free and vegan friendly.

Toppings:

The last key component to discuss is the toppings! We have two standard types of toppings that we will focus on, tapioca and popping balls.

Tapioca pearls are the most iconic topping for boba teas, and are instantly recognisable to bubble tea fans worldwide. Tapioca balls do typically contain sulphites, though often slightly below or above the 10mg/kg or 10 parts-per-million level which triggers the allergen warning. Be sure to check before ordering.

Popping boba / popping balls are another popular type of topping. Popping balls sometimes state that they “may contain” milk, but are otherwise allergen-friendly, and again, vegan-friendly! As always, check in-store to be certain.

Our Commitment to Safety at Taipec

At Taipec we have a dedicated in-house technical team to ensure all products are correctly labelled for allergens and other dietary requirements. We take food safety extremely seriously. Browse our website or get in touch to hear more about specific allergens, ingredients, or for any other bubble tea related enquiries! Thanks for reading our blog on vegan and allergen-free bubble tea ingredients, we hope you find it of use!