A tea shop with a difference is celebrating this weekend with a buy one get one free offer!
Bamboba, just off Letterkenny’s Station Roundabout, sells tea, but not your everyday brew. Bubble Tea is a discovery drink that originated in Taiwan in the 80s. The Asian sensation reached Ireland in recent years and finally made its way to Letterkenny.
Malaysian sisters Cindy Yee Look and Wai Yee Look, owners of Bamboo Foods, are self-confessed ‘bubble tea crazy’. When the opportunity came to diversify their business during Covid, they decide to develop their passion and share the craze with the town.
“We are just some Bubble/Boba tea craving super lovers who want to drink it every day. It’s just that simple!,” Cindy and Abbie told Donegal Daily.
“National Bubble Tea Day is around the corner. It is on the 30th April. We will be celebrating it with some free treats. We are celebrating the day with Buy 1 Get 1 Free Campaign – Free selection options are Baby Lotus / Baby Berry / Baby Tiger / Cheeky Baby from 30th April – 1st May.”
Bamboba Bubble Tea Shop Letterkenny
The sweet and refreshing drink is so trendy due to the endless colours, flavours and toppings that can be added.
Back in their home city of Ipoh, Cindy and Abbie would always stop by their local street market after school to grab a “Tiger Lane” – Cindy’s favourite or a “Black Diamond” – Abbie’s favourite. Their family moved to Ireland in 2006, but the cravings never went away. That led the sisters to fly over to Taiwan to learn how to make Bubble tea from scratch from the families who have perfected the tradition.
Bamboo Foods already has a name for delicious, authentic Asian cuisine, having been crowned the best Chinese takeaway in the country in 2020. The pandemic forced a change for the restaurant, but a fruitful one at that.
“Covid-19 had a big effect on our dine-in restaurant back then, when Covid was very severe and sitting in was prohibited/ limited. We had a big dine-in area with no customers, so we decided to use up the space we have at Bamboo Foods and save up the cost like any entrepreneur would do during Covid-19.”
Bamboba – a play on the words ‘Bamboo’ and ‘Boba’ – opened on 23rd March 2022.
The Bamboo Foods and Bamboba Team
The team have loved seeing customers’ reactions. Abbie said: “We have many different groups of customers. For instance, customers like students, who have had bubble tea before would come back to us saying ‘They are addicted!’. Other customers like first-time customers would try it and come back to us saying ‘It is so different from what they have ever had before, and is delicious’. Moreover, many corporate staff had paid a visit to our shop after work to grab some of our bubble tea and also said to us that our drinks are ‘so relaxing’.”
Bubble tea, from natural origins, refers to tapioca pearl. After it has been cooked it becomes ‘boba’ which later consumers have referred to as ‘bubble’ as it looks and chews like a round shaped bubble ball. The tapioca boba has been developed over the years to incorporate different flavours, even to pop!
Bamboba Bubble Tea Shop was added to Bamboo Foods this year
Despite their wide-ranging menu, Abbie said there are some clear favourites at Bamboba: “Currently, our ‘Sunset Brightness’ and ‘Dirty Lotus’ are the best sellers. The name ‘Sunset Brightness’ came from when we were carving the drink, the yellow and orange layer created a nice blended layer in the drink along with some lemon and lime slices and refreshing mint leaf, bringing us to a nice passion fruit flavour sparkling popping mojito. It reminds us to take a rest and be chill and enjoy the sunset.
“‘Dirty Lotus’ on the other hand, is also one of the super winners among our Top-10 Best Sellers. So, What is ‘Dirty Lotus’? Assumably, everybody has had ‘Lotus Biscoff Biscuit’, the drink base is Biscoff biscuit milk blend with tapioca boba at the bottom of the cup, topped with cream and biscoff biscuit crush. It is creamy and tasty.”
The Top-10 is as follows:
- No. 1 Sunset Brightness
- No. 2 Dirty Lotus
- No. 3 Sparkling Grapeness
- No. 4 Forest Dreamy
- No. 5 Tiger Lane
- No. 6 Very Strawberry Milk Tea
- No. 7 Peachy Kiki
- No. 8 Black Diamond
- No. 9 Magnificent Sago
- No. 10 Original Milk Tea
This weekend is the perfect day to try a boba tea with a friend. All day Saturday and Sunday, enjoy a Buy 1 Get 1 Free deal on the flavours: Baby Lotus / Baby Berry / Baby Tiger / Cheeky Baby from 30th April – 1st May.
Bamboba is open from 1:00pm – 9:00pm (seven days a week). Follow their Facebook page: /www.facebook.com/bamboba.tea and Instagram: www.instagram.com/bamboba.tea
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