Hot beverage business Drink Me Chai is set to launch the first ever ‘bubble tea’ drink concept in UK retail.

Tchewy , bubble tea was first introduced in Taiwan 15 years ago, and .

Now Kent-based Drink Me Chai, which sells its eponymous hot beverage brand through retailers including Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s, has developed Bubblefroot, a milk drink based on the the ‘bubble tea’ trend.

Available in cookies & cream, strawberry shortcake and mango & passion fruit flavours, twill be sold as a flavoured powder that is blended with milk. Fruit-flavoured tapioca balls are added to the drink, which comes with a supersized straw to allow the consumer to suck up the balls .

Bubblefroot will be launched into foodservice at the beginning of next year, but the company was also developing a grab-and-go retail product, said Drink Me Chai founder Amanda Hamilton, adding that the format of the drink was yet to be determined.

Assad Khan, founder of London-based bubble tea cafe chain Bubbleolgy, described the Bubblefroot milk drink as an interesting concept.

“However, for us what’s of more interest is whether anyone can crack creating an authentic, premium branded bubble tea RTD product,” he told The Grocer

Drink Me Chai this week expanded its range with a green tea variant that was rolled out to Waitrose stores.

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