NextSharkNextShark.com
Latest Newsletter🍵 Kelly Marie Tran in racism studyRead

Article

‘Really delicious’: Bubble tea chain offers up boba tteokbokki drink for April Fool’s

Pearl Tteokbokki
Image: @thistasteful/Instagram
  • “Pearl-Bokki” was featured as a limited edition item on Taiwanese boba chain The Alley’s April Fools’ menu sold at three South Korean locations.

  • The Alley mixed their special “Deerioca” pearls in traditional tteokbokki to make “Pearl-Bokki.”

Asian America Daily - in under 5 minutes

Get our collection of Asian America's most essential stories, to your inbox daily, for free!

Unsure? Check out our Newsletter Archive

Taiwanese boba chain The Alley created a boba tteokbokki drink in celebration of this past April Fools’ weekend.

From April 1st to April 3rd, customers were able to purchase “Pearl-Bokki” for 2,800 won (approximately $2.31) from the popular boba chain’s April Fool’s limited menu available at three South Korean locations: Garosu-gil, Goyang Starfield and Starfield Hanam.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by 더앨리 코리아 (@thealley.kr)

In a video demonstrating the creation of the unique concoction posted to their Instagram page, the chain’s “Deerioca” pearls can be seen being mixed in tteokbokki – a traditional Korean soul food made of chewy rice cakes in a thick and vibrant sweet-spicy gochujang sauce. The tapioca pearls, essentially tapioca starch and sugar, serve to thicken and sweeten the tteokbokki even further. The Alley finally garnishes the drink with slices of fried garlic before machine sealing the drink like a classic boba. 

The chain offers a rather generous description of their new concoction, claiming, “The chewiness of the tapioca pearls paired with the strong flavors of the sauce is really delicious!” 

“Pearl-Bokki,” however, received mixed reactions from members of Facebook community Subtle Asian Traits. While a handful of boba fans were interested in trying the drink, most were taken aback by the absurdity of the combination, wishing the unusual drink was truly an April’s Fool joke.

The Alley is a boba chain founded in Taiwan in 2015 by Mao-ting Chiu and now has over 300 locations across Taiwan, China, Japan, Canada, France, Australia and California.

Support our Journalism with a Contribution

Many people might not know this, but despite our large and loyal following which we are immensely grateful for, NextShark is still a small bootstrapped startup that runs on no outside funding or loans.

Everything you see today is built on the backs of warriors who have sacrificed opportunities to help give Asians all over the world a bigger voice.

However, we still face many trials and tribulations in our industry, from figuring out the most sustainable business model for independent media companies to facing the current COVID-19 pandemic decimating advertising revenues across the board.

We hope you consider making a contribution so we can continue to provide you with quality content that informs, educates and inspires the Asian community. Even a $1 contribution goes a long way.  Thank you for everyone's support. We love you all and can't appreciate you guys enough.

Support NextShark

Mastercard, Visa, Amex, Discover, Paypal