New Beverage Showdown 23 - Semi-finals: BUBLUV

Speaker 1 [00:14] Up next we have Diana Ark Chen, who is the founder and CEO of BUBLUV. Come on up. How are you? Grab any more of the mics. And just please keep an eye on your timer. It's already on.

Speaker 2 [00:31] So I fell in love with bubble tea in college and used to drink it every week until I found out how unhealthy it could be for you. So if you don't know what bubble tea is, it's also called boba, and it's a tea-based drink that was invented in Taiwan and it's typically mixed with milk or fruit and. A chewy topping like tapioca pearls, and 116 ounce cup of regular bubble tea has over 400 calories and over 50 g of sugar, which is basically like drinking 3 cans of Coke or eating 12 sugar cubes. So I decided to create a healthier version and developed the first ready to drink, better for you boba alternative with no artificial ingredients, no added sugar, and less than 50 calories a bottle. And I would say we took this traditionally sugary dessert drink and transformed it into something that's slightly sweet and refreshing and can be enjoyed on a more everyday basis and overall it's just a fun and delicious way to support your overall health because it's a source of antioxidants with loose leaf from loose leaf tea and has fun jelly like pearls inside for for fun texture. And we do fill a gap in the ready to drink boba space. There are a handful of competitors out there, but they're very indulgent, and no one can tell the health benefits that bubble of bubble tea has. Additionally, we're not just a niche cultural drink that for boba lovers. We do have potential to appeal to the mainstream health conscious and curious consumer. So we have had early traction uh with consumers uh basically before we launched in April, um, our product went viral on TikTok and we were able to generate a 28,000 person waitlist and then within a month and a half of launch we generated 1800 of revenue with no ad spend so this just goes to show that it's not niche, it has mainstream potential and we're also part of a large and growing category. Um, so with that said, I, please try Bub Love. It's in the fridge, and thank you so much.

Speaker 1 [02:37] Well done. I like boba. I like bubble tea, uh, but I like the taste more than I like anything else. Jackie, how do these products taste?

Speaker 3 [02:48] I am also a huge fan of boba tea, um, and I was really excited to see this product because there hasn't been a lot of innovation in this space, um, so far I think we've seen a lot of canned, high sugar, lots of ingredients, um, but this one, it's simple ingredients. Uh, I think the tea was really nice. It was really light. I like that they have options that are, you know, vegan, um, while also having a whole milk for, you know, traditional boba enjoyers, um, but the, the boba itself was a little bit of a different texture than I am used to, um, it might not be an issue for someone that's never had boba before, but that's just one thing I would note.

Speaker 1 [03:26] Brittany, you had a big smile on your face when I. Mention how much I like boba. I assume you do as well. Uh,

Speaker 4 [03:31] same. I fell in love with bubble tea in college and I think it's so delicious, but also then learned how high calorie count it is later on. So I was really excited to try this beverage, um, to Jackie's point, like loved the tea flavor. Um, the jelly-like filled pearls were a little bit different than the tapioca balls that we're used to traditionally, um, but it was a great flavor.

Speaker 1 [03:53] You know, Alison, uh, given that, uh, we had two of our judges say that the bobo was a little off, I mean, do you think people are willing to make that slight sacrifice for a better for you product?

Speaker 5 [04:04] I think when she mentioned how much sugar was in it, that's kind of mind blowing. So I think yes, but I think there could be some formulation work to get it a little bit texture closer to what we're traditionally used to, which tapioca is not super, super high in sugar. So I think if, if she can maybe do a little bit of work there, I think the market's ready for this. I've, I'm a huge bubba fan as well and so, and I think the name and the packaging, everything's really, really right for this brand and so I think if it's just that little thing, it could really take off.

Speaker 1 [04:35] David Allison mentioned the market's ready for this, but is the market big enough for it to be a big brand?

Speaker 6 [04:41] Um, I'm, I'm not familiar with the bubble tea market, so I don't know.

Speaker 1 [04:46] I guess would you wanna buy this product having

Speaker 6 [04:48] taste? Yeah, I mean, it's, uh, the, the packaging is amazing. The details on the packaging, um, it, it does bring me in. Uh, I know bubble tea is a thing. I'm not a consumer, um, but yeah, I mean, I, I, I, I've seen it, um, on social, so yeah, it's a thing.

Speaker 1 [05:05] There you go.