By Emelia Gaines, Staff Writer
Consumer Reports have found concerning amounts of lead in popular bubble tea drinks from varying brands such as Gong Cha, Kung Fu Tea, WuFuYuan, and even Trader Joe’s Instant Boba Kits.
Bubble tea is a trending drink that is popularly drunk around the world, especially in highly populated or tourist areas. Many boba shops have emerged, and people carrying cups filled with the beverage and little tapioca pearls have become hard to miss while walking through busy streets in your local towns. Originating in Taiwan in the 1980’s, boba tea has spread globally because of a significant surge in popularity in the 2000’s to 2010’s when social media began promoting the beverage to audiences worldwide.
Bubble Tea commonly consists of a black tea combined with milk or creamer, some sort of sweetener or flavoring, and chewy tapioca pearls. Those pearls are where the concern lies. Recently, Consumer Reports have found concerning amounts of lead in those little gooey pearls that many individuals enjoy as a delectable treat. As of 2024, there were around 6,635 bubble tea shops around the country according to IbisWorld, and that number is expected to double by 2028. Despite the thousands of bubble tea shops around the world, companies have begun creating kits where you can make the boba drinks at home. As the treat gains popularity, health professionals have taken measures to make sure it is safe to consume.
The boba pearls are primarily created with tapioca starch that is derived from cassava root, as well as water, and sometimes brown sugar or molasses. The cassava root is where the main problem lies. Recent tests by Consumer Reports (CR) have revealed that foods containing cassava have tested for very high levels of lead, some as much as 2000% over the threshold for acceptable daily intake. The good news is that none of the boba tested contained this extreme amount of lead, but it did however contain over 50% of the level of concern, meaning that it should not be included in your daily diet, but may be included as an occasional treat. CR tested the boba from two bubble tea shops (Gong Cha and Kung Fu Tea), and two packaged boba kit brands (Trader Joe’s and WuFuYuan), and concluded that none of the samples contained amounts of arsenic, cadmium, or mercury that could impose health risks, but the levels of lead stood out. While the occasional treat will not cause much harm to your health, prolonged or daily exposure to lead is not safe and small amounts add up and could cause adverse health effects, that is why you should minimize your exposure to products containing lead whenever possible.
Trader Joe’s has since taken measures to remove the product from their shelves and discontinued it; while the WuFuYuan have stated that they will take more precautions to ensure the safety of their products. Gong Cha and Kung Fu Tea have not since reached out about the findings of this study.
While avoiding the consumption of these lead-containing products, we may not always know what to avoid. Having one serving of bubble tea occasionally would not put you at risk, but lead could be found in a variety of foods and your daily exposure could add up. In order to avoid the adverse health effects lead might have, you can implement certain nutrients such as calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, and Vitamin C into your diet to help decrease the harm that some heavy metals do to your body.