What's The Difference Between Milk Tea And Bubble Tea?

Americans love their trendy drinks, whether it's pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks or kombucha. There's just something about a drink with an unusual flavor or texture that we really seem to enjoy. But there's one type of drink that U.S. residents have been going crazy over for nearly 20 years now: Bubble tea. Or is it milk tea? Are those two interchangeable?

It turns out that nope, they are not interchangeable at all; bubble tea and milk tea mean two different things. When you boil it down, though, one is simply a specific type of the other. Bubble tea originated in Taiwan, but milk tea can refer to a variety of forms from a variety of different cultures, including India, Thailand, Myanmar, and even Mongolia. The fact that the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably is due to confusion around the fact that bubble tea is sometimes also called "Taiwan milk tea."

It's important to note that milk tea isn't one drink; instead, it refers to any tea made with milk. Many cultures, especially Asian ones, have their own versions of this. Chai is the drink of choice in India (don't call it "chai tea"; you're just saying "tea" twice since "chai" is the Hindi word for tea), where milk in tea is standard. Thai iced tea is a beverage you can find on pretty much any American Thai restaurant menu, traditionally made with Ceylon black tea, milk, and sugar (and which sometimes has spices like star anise and cardamom added to the mix). Though you won't generally find it in restaurants in the U.S., suutei tsai is a Mongolian tea made with milk and salt, and Myanmar has a variety known as laphet yay or Burmese milk tea, which involves strong black tea and a combination of evaporated milk and condensed milk. 

Colloquially, bubble tea is sometimes called "Taiwan milk tea." But bubble tea is its own variation and isn't interchangeable with all the other forms of milk tea around the world. 

Bubble tea, also known as boba tea, originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. We don't actually know specifically how it was created, as there are competing claims as to its origins. What we do know is that from there, it spread around the world, becoming more and more popular. While it does involve tea and milk (hence the name-based confusion), it gets its name from the signature tapioca balls that settle to the bottom of the drink — and which you can suck directly up its oversized straw. Bubble tea's other unique feature among milk teas is its tendency to feature toppings like aloe vera, grass jelly, and red bean.

So yes, bubble tea is milk tea — but milk tea isn't bubble tea. It's a real square is a rectangle; a rectangle isn't necessarily a square situation. But whether you're drinking bubble tea or another kind of milk tea, you're going to be having a delicious afternoon.