MANILA, PHILIPPINES — There’s a new Google Doodle in town and this one celebrates the almost universal popularity of milk tea or bubble tea.
To say that Filipinos love milk tea is an understatement. With its cool, refreshing taste, coupled with fun, delightful sinkers such as chewy pearls, pudding, jelly, or even ice cream, the Philippines has officially embraced the beverage as an everyday feel-good staple.
One of the proponents of the craze in Metro Manila is Serenitea, which opened its first branch in San Juan in December 2008. Since then, many local and international chains popped up including Chatime, Gong Cha, Tiger Sugar, and more, giving Filipinos their own spin on the beloved beverage.
In 2019, the Philippines ranked second among the countries with the most milk tea drinkers in Southeast Asia. A food delivery survey found that Filipinos consume an average of five cups of milk tea in a month. That’s significantly greater than Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam’s average of three cups in a month per drinker.
It’s not just the Philippines. The world has fallen so in love with this Taiwanese concoction that the market is now worth $2.02 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach $3.39 billion by 2027.
Google is celebrating the beloved drink with a fun, interactive Doodle that allows you to create your own milk tea concoctions and run your own shop.
In this interactive Doodle, you are playing as a dog who runs a milk tea cart. It’s a rainy day and you’re pushing your milk tea cart and setting up shop. It’s the perfect day for a cup of milk tea as the sweet drink and the sinkers are sure to cheer you up in such gloomy weather.
Create yummy customized drinks for five different customers by combining the ingredients – black/white pearls, tea, and sweet syrup – in specific amounts. Tap on your mouse or screen until you fill along the dashed line. Once the cup is filled with all three ingredients, it’s ready to serve.
This will be done four more times to serve the other customers. Your served drink is also given a star rating based on how precisely you fill the cup per ingredient.
Celebrate your love for milk tea and check out the Doodle now on Google Search!
