Episode Details

Sam Lin is the New York-based veteran bubble tea shop owner who you heard from in episode 238 about bubble tea featuring Kristin McCoy-Ward. If you're a bubble tea lover, that episode is definitely worth a listen, Kristen covered everything you'd ever want to know about bubble tea and more.

Related Links:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/bubble-tea-sam-from-quickly-to-coco-running-bubble-tea-shops-for-20-years-in-nyc-ep-245/

Sam talked to me about how he grew up in Taiwan eating tapioca in desserts, before there was even this thing called bubble tea. Consequently, he has some interesting thoughts on who invented bubble tea.

He brought the Quickly bubble tea shop from Taiwan to New York in 2003, and looking back on his first year of running a bubble tea shop, he recalls the trials and tribulations and that he barely survived it. With perseverance and an improved understanding of how to run a bubble tea shop, Sam moved on from Quickly to opening and running Coco bubble tea shops. Sam now owns and operates 22 Coco bubble tea shops in New York, New Jersey and Boston.

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

· Sam's connection to Taiwan

· How Sam grew up eating tapioca before there was bubble tea

· How Sam brought the Quickly bubble tea brand from Taiwan to New York in 2003

· How Sam struggled during the first year of running his first Quickly bubble tea shop and later ran eight Quickly shops

· Which tea shop in Taiwan invented bubble tea

· The outcome of the 10-year lawsuit over who invented bubble tea Chun Shui Tang (tea shop in Taichung, Taiwan) or Hanlin (tea shop in Tainan, Taiwan)

· How Sam got involved in opening and running Coco bubble tea shops and now runs 22 shops in New York, New Jersey and Boston

· What affects the texture of tapioca balls (and makes them too hard or too soft)

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