It's taken the world by storm.

它席捲了全球。

It's exciting.

真令人興奮。

Cheers.

乾杯。

Two men on a mission to make better boba, which is milk tea with tapioca pearls.

兩位男士致力做出更好喝的波霸，也就是奶茶加珍珠。

But what exactly is boba, and what's with all the hype?

但究竟何謂波霸，為何它能爆紅？

[How boba came to be]

[波霸的名稱是怎麼來的]

Invented in the 80s, boba is a popular beverage that originates from Taiwan.

發明於 80 年代，波霸是一種起源於台灣的熱門飲料。

Still, the West is just beginning to understand it.

儘管如此，西方人才正開始要了解它。

The New York Times famously called it the blobs in your tea and promptly issued an apology after all the backlash.

紐約時報稱其為「茶中水滴」而引發熱議，並在遭反彈後立即發布道歉。

Both of these tea shops in Taiwan claim they were the first to invent boba in the '80s.

這兩間台灣的飲料店都宣稱他們於 80 年代首先發明了波霸。

As the story goes, someone working at the shop decided to put tapioca pearls into tea on a whim, and liked it.

據說有個店員一時興起決定把珍珠放進茶，且發現自己很喜歡這個組合。

[Side note: The addition of brown sugar in later recipes is what made them look like this.]

[附註：在日後的食譜中加入了黑糖，為現今珍珠是咖啡色的原因。]

But tapioca isn't indigenous to Asia.

但是樹薯粉並非亞洲當地的產物。

It's a starch derived from the cassava root, a tuber native to South America.

它是一種取自木薯根的澱粉，產於南美洲的根莖類。

It came to Asia in the 19th century via Portuguese traders.

它在 19 世紀透過葡萄牙商人傳進亞洲。

And it thrived in Taiwan because Taiwan has a similar subtropical climate to parts of South America.

並在台灣蓬勃發展，因為台灣和部分南美洲區都屬於亞熱帶氣候。

Modern boba pearls are made by combining tapioca starch with brown sugar water.

現今的波霸是由樹薯澱粉和黑糖水混合而成。

They're then submerged in a mix of tea and non-dairy milk creamer.

波霸會與茶和奶精浸泡在一起。

But where did the word "boba" come from?

但是「波霸」這詞是源於哪裡呢？

It's actually slang in Chinese for "big boobs," and came to be associated with the drink in 1988, when a southern Taiwanese tea shop named their tapioca drinks after Hong Kong sex symbol Amy Yip.

波霸其實是中文「大胸部」的意思，而在 1988 年時與飲料產生連結，當時，南台灣的一家飲料店以香港的性感代表葉子楣為珍珠奶茶命名。

Her nickname?

她的綽號是？

Boba.

波霸。

Today, the drink is all over Asia, and has quite a following in the States, mostly in California and New York, where there are significant Taiwanese-American populations.

現今，波霸奶茶傳遍全亞洲，在美國也有一些珍奶擁護者，大多分佈在有許多台裔美國人的加州和紐約。

There's a regional divide in what the different coasts call the beverage.

不同的沿海區域對於這種飲料有不同的名稱。

But vernacular aside, those starchy, gooey pearls have become an important symbol of Asian-American culture.

但撇除名稱不說，軟黏的澱粉珍珠變成亞裔美國人一項重要的文化象徵。

♪We call it boba, you might call it bubble tea.♪

[我稱它做波霸，你可能稱它為珍奶。]

♪Fill up a stamp card, might get a couple free.♪

[集滿集點卡可以免費獲得一杯。]

♪It's Chinese culture to stay with a cup of tea.♪

[中華文化與茶密不可分。]

♪We updated...♪

[我們改良...]

Google search trends over the last five years shows a huge increase in searches for the drink across the United States.

Google 搜尋趨勢顯示，過去五年在美國各地搜尋珍珠奶茶的數據大幅增加。

And the global market is expected to balloon to 3 billion USD by 2023.

而全球市場預期在 2023 年激增至 30 億美元。

And three decades since its invention, it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon.

以珍奶發明 30 年後的趨勢來說，熱潮似乎不會在近期內消退。

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如果你喜歡這部影片，訂閱 Goldthread 頻道獲取更多美食相關的影片。