Boba Fans Are Freaking Out Over Trader Joe's New Offering

Boba tea has been around in the U.S. since the 90s and the first boba tea shops popped up around Los Angeles by the early 2000s (via Eater). The milky tea with tapioca pearls has since catapulted into popularity thanks to boba tea chains across the country and a certain music video by the Fung Brothers' that took the internet by a storm in 2013 (via YouTube). But it's perhaps the sweet tea's taste that explains the $2.4 billion valuation given by Allied Market Research to the global boba tea market in 2019, which is projected to reach $4.3 billion by 2027. It also perhaps explains why supermarkets like Trader Joe's have been upping the ante on their boba tea offerings.

Some of the best frozen desserts that Trader Joe's offers are ones that are filled with tapioca pearls — take the non-dairy Trader Joe's black tea and boba frozen dessert that got rave reviews as soon as it was introduced earlier this year. Only months after the chain introduced its newest non-dairy boba-filled frozen dessert, news of a new boba offering making the rounds of the supermarket chain has taken the internet by storm. According to Instagram account @traderjoeslist, there is a new brown sugar-flavored instant boba kit available.

According to Instagram account @traderjoeslist, Trader Joe's is selling a new instant boba kit that comes with four pouches of brown sugar and tapioca pearl drink mix as well as four straws to go with it. Priced at $5.49, these boba kits are both vegan and gluten-free. All that the frozen kit asks you to do is heat the drink mix in a microwave or on a stove, add it to a glass with some ice, and pour any milk of your choice on top. All-in-all, a brown sugar boba tea comes together in under a minute with the help of the instant boba kit.

While boba-loving fans said that they were running to their nearest Trader Joe's to grab a kit, a fan vouched, "Just tried them today and they're absolutely delicious!" Even those who aren't too big on boba tea seem to be loving Trader Joe's latest frozen treat. One person wrote, "Just tried them today and they're absolutely delicious!"

Even Redditors seem to be thrilled about the instant boba kit with fans saying that they were already excited by the boba kit, which had far exceeded some expectations. One shopper advised that you may want to tweak the amount of milk you add to the brown sugar and tapioca pearl drink mix so that its sweetness is diluted to your liking. They recommend using unsweetened milk and adding a little more than what the kit suggests.