Boba.

You probably know it as bubble tea.

Well, the Taiwanese drink is traditionally made of black tea, milk, and boba, those iconic tapioca balls.

Well, more coffee and juice shops in the U.S. are introducing the pearls to their drinks.

Joleen Kent met the entrepreneurs helping to bring the boba boom to the U.S.

In Hayward, California.

So this is it.

Our U.S. boba factory.

Cool.

At America's first boba factory.

It smells so good.

Really?

You like it?

Yeah.

That's a brown sugar smell.

I suited up to see what's behind the bubble tea boom across the country.

Boba's been in the United States for a long time, and yet production here within the U.S. is still really challenging.

For boba, you don't have it here.

The only way we can do it is to start everything from scratch.

U.S.

Boba Company was founded by entrepreneurs David Phan, Andrew Chow, and Bing Chen.

They make the iconic chewy balls that make up so many boba drinks here, instead of importing them from Asia.

Here, the balls that start as tapioca starch get flavored, mixed, and rolled in a tumbler till they're just the right size to fit into those iconic wide straws.

Oh, there's a big ball.

Oh, I see the big ball.

Oh, no!

Boba maker in training over here.

See, this is not good.

So you want to make sure every single boba is the same size so it cooks at the same rate.

Exactly.

From there, the tapioca balls are sorted into batches, enough for 10,000 cups each.

Thank you.

Xiexie.

Can I take it home?

Why did you start this and go into the boba business more than a decade ago?

The quick answer is I want a free boba.

Andrew Chow is also one half of Boba Guys, the national bubble tea chain he co-founded with fellow Taiwanese-American Chen.

I think a lot of founders start a company as a reflection of some hidden or overt part of their identity.

There was maybe a part of us that was like, can we make our culture cool or mainstream or accessible?

This is where the next level of magic happens.

We're in one of our stores right now.

We're going to boil the boba, and you're going to pour that in.

All of it?

There it is.

So we're looking for the equivalent of al dente for boba.

Yeah.

Do you want to learn a term?

You probably know the term.

QQ.

Oh, OK.

What does QQ mean?

The chewiness factor?

Yeah.

I guess I know this from my Taiwanese background.

Boba first emerged in the 1980s out of tea shops in Taiwan.

All right, we are in Jiuquan.

Chow and Chen traveled there to trace the drink's origins.

Now, Boba Guys is one of a growing number of companies that's helped bubble tea become a $2.6 billion business in the US alone.

I drink boba like every day.

I'm addicted.

Maybe that's it.

Maybe I don't love it.

Maybe I'm just addicted.

According to Yelp, the number of boba cafes across the country has skyrocketed almost 50% over the last few years.

The taste and the palate of Americans are changing.

Just much more international kind of awareness.

And I think that has helped the boba industry.

What makes a good boba order?

Despite how complex people think it is, it's just boba, milk, tea, and some type of sweetener.

Now we're getting into it.

We're going to make boba.

Here we go.

So one scoop.

Boba first.

Yep, boba first.

I've been drinking this stuff my entire life.

It's the first time I've ever made it.

There you go.

It's a little foamy.

How is the texture?

This is so good.

Good?

Now, Starbucks is jumping on the bandwagon, saying it'll add pearls inspired by East Asian beverages to some summer drinks.

We think there's a larger kind of collision course down the road with other cafe styles.

Coffee?

Maybe coffee, maybe smoothies.

Do you worry at all with boba becoming so popular that maybe it won't be so closely linked to its Taiwanese roots?

That is always going to be a worry.

My thing is this.

People are learning about Taiwanese culture more than ever before.

I think if that's the reason why something becomes mainstream, I think I'm all for it.

For CBS Mornings, Jolynn Kent, Hayward, California.

It's good.

I'll say it's good.

What do you think?

Strawberry, jasmine.

Caught me by surprise, those little jelly bean things.

Yeah, they do.

They come up and they get you.

Yeah, but I like it.

It's good.

Yeah.

I really do.

It's got a little caffeine in it.

Give you a little kick.

A little bit of kick.

It's a great alternative to coffee and tea.

I'd maybe do it with a spoon.

Can you do that?

Yeah, I'm sure you could.

Yeah, people don't recommend it?

Yeah, my kids love this stuff.

I see these things all over the place, but I've actually never tried it.

You know it's big when Starbucks is like, all right, let's do it too.

We're in.