“Boba has helped raise Taiwan’s profile as a rich, food-focused culture, and it has the potential to inspire curiosity and interest in all things Taiwan–its people, history, traditions, landmarks, and beauty.”
It’s National Boba Day! To celebrate the occasion, we sat down with Olivia Chen, co-founder of Twrl Milk Tea—a Bay Area based beverage company that’s developed the world’s first canned milk tea made with pea milk and single-origin, non-GMO, organic tea—to ask her about her experience starting her company, her passion for sharing Taiwanese culture through her work, and her hopes for the future of Twrl.
In May, Twrl will be launching their newest product, Ube Milk Tea. This latest addition to their product line sources its ingredients straight from farms in Taiwan, paying homage to and celebrating the birth country of Boba Milk Tea — exclusive pre-ordering starts next month!
“My parents are immigrants from Taiwan and Pauline’s are from Hong Kong. Our parents are seeing the American Dream through the achievements of their daughters. We are sharing their stories including struggles as immigrants, our own experiences and being vocal about our presence and importance in society in the past, present and in the future. As AAPI founders, we want to overturn expectations and redefine what it means to run an American heritage brand.”
Read the full interview below.
1) What's the story behind Twrl Milk Tea?
Pauline and myself are long-time friends, moms, and daughters of immigrants passionate about producing the most refreshingly delicious artisanal plant-based milk tea and perfectly chewy boba toppings. We’re inspired by our Taiwanese and Chinese heritage and our values of health, innovation, and sustainability.
Twrl Milk Tea was born in Pauline’s kitchen here in the Bay Area. When the pandemic hit, everyone started to question life and priorities. We both separately felt a calling to do something we were truly passionate about — when Pauline asked me to partner with her on Twrl Milk Tea, I didn’t hesitate.
We spent over a year sourcing the highest quality ingredients—tea from single origin, fair trade, small family-owned farms. We’re proud of the award-winning milk teas we’ve created. Our tea leaves, once brewed, become compost for local farmers. The pea milk in our product is grown using 4x less carbon emissions than dairy milk, 85% less water than almond milk, and less fertilizer than oat and soy milk combined. We were the first in the tea category to use nitro infusion, giving our milk teas a smooth texture without added fats or creamers.
2) As a proud Taiwanese American, what does it mean to you to be able to share your love of boba with the world?
Working on Twrl has allowed me to connect my two worlds; my love for Taiwan and my Taiwanese roots and me as Taiwanese American. Growing up, I never felt quite like my other classmates; my family holidays didn’t quite look like the ones on TV. At Thanksgiving, it was turkey, fried rice, egg rolls and always tea. Bringing Twrl Milk Tea to life has allowed me to show this other side of me, the proud Taiwanese American that loves sharing the Chinese traditions I grew up with and the Boba Milk Tea culture that I love.
Both Pauline and I dream of growing Twrl Milk Tea into a heritage brand that exists in every fridge and pantry and will live for generations to come. Growing up, I didn’t see brands with founders that looked like us or that understood the cultural importance of our food. We’re excited about the future, and joke and wonder which of our kids will take over Twrl Milk Tea.
Creating a brand like Twrl Milk Tea that embraces our heritage and combines our backgrounds as Chinese/Taiwanese Americans is something we are extremely proud of. The best part is seeing the reactions of our parents. They are our biggest cheerleaders. My parents are immigrants from Taiwan and Pauline’s are from Hong Kong. Our parents are seeing the American Dream through the achievements of their daughters. We are sharing their stories including struggles as immigrants, our own experiences and being vocal about our presence and importance in society in the past, presently and in the future.
As AAPI founders, we want to overturn expectations and redefine what it means to run an American heritage brand. We are ushering a new generation of Boba Milk Tea with a craft non-dairy climate-friendly milk tea + boba toppings that aren't too sweet and brewed with loose leaf fair-trade single origin tea.
3) Milk tea was invented in Taiwan and has grown to be one of the most popular drinks today. What do you think is milk tea/boba's role in promoting the story of Taiwan?
It’s so amazing how the love of boba has spilled beyond Asians and Asian Americans to become popular globally. It’s the perfect culinary ambassador–a drink you can chew is such a uniquely Taiwanese delight. Boba has helped raise Taiwan’s profile as a rich, food-focused culture, and it has the potential to inspire curiosity and interest in all things Taiwan–its people, history, traditions, landmarks, and beauty.
For our newest flavor launching in June, we source our Ube from a Taiwanese multi-generational farm in Chia Yi 嘉義縣. Our Mulberry Tea Leaf is from a third generational Taiwanese father-son owned farm in Miaoli 苗栗縣. This new release pays homage and celebrates the birth country of Bubble / Boba Milk Tea. I am excited to be producing and sourcing from Taiwan for an authentic milk tea that supports local Taiwanese farmers. We’re ushering a new generation of Milk Tea and Boba Milk Tea drinkers with an authentic craft non-dairy climate-friendly milk tea + boba toppings that isn’t too sweet made with loose leaf fair-trade single origin tea. Consumers are looking for great-tasting, convenient, easy to grab-n-go drinks that focus on premium ingredients, low sugar, and less calories.
4) Which product(s) in the Twrl lineup are you most proud of?
Picking the flavor I’m most proud of is like picking a favorite child – I love all 3 of our original flavors for different reasons!
Our Taiwan Style Black Milk Tea is truly an homage to the first modern boba black milk tea that was created in Taiwan back in the 1980’s. We took this inspiration and searched nearly 6 months for just the right black tea and found a single-origin dragonwell black tea with cinnamon and chocolate notes. This is our classic, our original, and one that I will always love.
The inspiration for our Hojicha Roasted Green Milk Tea came from Pauline’s trip to Japan. Travel has always been a big part of her life, and she first discovered Hojicha tea in Japan over 15 years ago. The sweet, earthy, nutty aroma was so distinctive and delicious! She never forgot this flavor and when she started Twrl, she knew Twrl’s Hojicha Roasted Green Milk Tea had to be one of the 3 launch flavors. Hojicha has also been our customer favorite and has sold out quite a few times!
We call our Jasmine Pu’erh Milk Tea “supreme” because that’s what it is — a superpowered plant-based milk tea made from a fermented single-origin pu’erh tea. This tea is grown from wild, zero-intervention trees in one of the most remote tea growing regions in the world. The giant buds from these 300-year old wild trees are carefully and slowly pile-fermented to bring out a deep rich sweetness. This result is a super charged tea with 3x more antioxidants than a regular cup of green tea. We then infuse it with pure Jasmine oil (no fake flavoring!) to create a complex, smooth and uniquely floral Jasmine Pu’erh Milk Tea.
To make naming a favorite product even more difficult, we just launched 2 new boba toppings that are the perfect pairing for our milk teas.
Our Brown Sugar Boba is the instant version of your favorite tapioca boba with just the right amount of sweetness, texture and perfect QQ.
Our dye-free Jelly Boba is delicious with a subtle lychee flavor. It’s made with konjac (a root vegetable) and is a low calorie boba topping. It has just the right amount of chewiness and best of all, it's ready to eat — no cooking required!
We will also be launching a new caffeine-free Ube Milk Tea flavor in June 2023 with exclusive pre-ordering in May 2023 on www.twrlmilktea.com!
Our Ube Milk Tea is inspired by our founder, Pauline Ang’s upbringing in Hawaii where Ube pancakes and ice creams were part of her childhood treats. A quest to bring Ube Milk Tea to a convenient grab’n’go can led us to the beautiful countryside of Taiwan where our co-founder Olivia Chen's family is from and where our nutritious Ube (oo-bae) is farmed and harvested by multi-generational farmers known for their famous Ube. Carefully brewed with single sourced loose leaf organic Taiwanese mulberry leaf tea — great for heart health and known to lower inflammation and oxidative stress — to create a better-for-you, caffeine-free Ube treat for the whole family!
✨ Fun Fact: Our organic mulberry tea is made using upcycled tea leaves! Run by a third generation father/son team in Taiwan, our mulberry farm uses only the bottom 90% of their tea plants for silkworm feed. The top 10% (the tender baby tea leaves), normally wasted, is being used to brew our Ube Milk Tea!
5) What's the "next big thing" for Twrl Milk Tea?
For 2023, we hope to triple in revenue through our new products and our expanded distribution. We’re launching 27 Bristol Meyers, Central Market and Woodland Market locations and online on Weee. We are twrling in excitement and NEED your help.
To keep our plant-based Twrl Milk Tea and Twrl Boba Toppings on shelf and online, Twrl needs to twrl off the shelves and into your fridge and pantry. So, shop in stores or online. Tell your friends and family.
Your purchase, your support speaks volumes. Your purchasing power shows retailers that a Taiwanese and Chinese American heritage inspired brand is what consumers want to see on shelf.
Let’s show Retail Buyers that representation matters. We care about who is behind the flavor profiles, who is the creator behind the company and who are the people sharing the cultures of food we all grew up with.