[IN THE NEWS] Boba Shortage? Not at Sunright

By Andrew Campa, Los Angeles Times

Abby Boeh walked into an Echo Park cafe and ordered her usual: an iced coffee and tea blend with cream and boba.

She had politely declined a manager’s suggestion to try seasonal specials like chai tea with fresh taro.

For Boeh, the boba — black tapioca balls sucked through a giant straw — are a must, delightfully chewy and so filling that they often serve as her lunch.

Yet she may soon have to do without them. A boba shortage is about to hit the nation, throwing aficionados like Boeh into a panic.

“I don’t even want to think about it,” said Boeh, 32.

From a few scattered shops in the San Gabriel Valley in the early 2000s, boba tea has exploded into a nationwide mainstay.

For many fans, grabbing boba is as routine as grabbing a latte. Invented in Taiwan, boba was once known mostly to Asian Americans. Now, boba drinkers are as likely to be white, Latino or Black as Asian. Boba shops are ubiquitous in college towns from Oregon to Nebraska to North Carolina.

That means the pain from the impending shortage will be felt across a wide swath of the United States.

. . .

John Chan, owner of Little Tokyo’s Sunright Tea Studio, said he is well situated because he is part of a chain of 12 shops that can buy in bulk, directly from the factory instead of a wholesaler.

The chain has a three- to four-month supply of boba that should last until the next scheduled shipment in July.

“The seasonal shortage of boba is actually natural because stores buy more,” Chan said of the summer demand. “What’s different this time on top of the shipping is the production shortage.”