Talk:Tapioca pearl

Straight from the Marketing Department?

This "article" may have been inspired by a package insert from the product...Why does it exist, and is it Wiki quality?--75.164.155.194 (talk) 04:55, 23 July 2016 (UTC)

Yes, this seems to be the case, and the tone seems to be that of a cookbook, or a story (and does not go with the Manual of Style). The article should probably be rewritten to a more neutral tone.--learnergenius (talk) 01:11, 29 July 2016 (UTC)

Appropriate tag(s)

This page definitely needs a lot of work, but I don't know what tags are appropriate. I'm putting a general cleanup one, but feel free to delete it and replace with a more appropriate one.--learnergenius (talk) 03:37, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Broken links

The reference citation #15, "The Nature of Tapioca Pearls" is a broken link. The linked page may have moved or removed altogether. The citation should be updated or removed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Digorydoo (talk • contribs) 11:14, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

History section is not about history

To me, the history section seems unorganized (a lot of random facts) and unscientific, and it relies on a lot of mediocre sources. In my opinion it deserves a rewrite. Nonoesimposible (talk) 19:42, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 20 August 2022

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) – robertsky (talk) 17:02, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

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Tapioca balls → Tapioca pearlsTapioca pearls – The primary topic and most common name is tapioca pearls. Google Books results show 4710 results for "tapioca pearls" vs 1720 results for "tapioca balls". Google News results show 5,140 results for "tapioca pearls" vs 1730 for "tapioca balls". Full search results show 1,580,000 results for "tapioca pearls" vs 215,000 for "tapioca balls". Google Ngram results show "tapioca pearls" appears 3-4 times more often than "tapioca balls". OjdvQ9fNJWl (talk) 16:20, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

• Rather than raw Google results (which are pretty indiscriminate), it would help if you gave examples of recent, reliable English-language sources (such as newspapers, media sites, published books, etc.) preferring "tapioca pearls" over "tapioca balls". Fredlesaltique (talk) 12:50, 21 August 2022 (UTC)
• Support: Per NGRAMs Mike Cline (talk) 15:46, 21 August 2022 (UTC)
• Support ngrams are pretty dang persuasive Red Slash 19:27, 24 August 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Wiki Education assignment: Writing 1 TR

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 24 August 2022 and 16 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Eve1617 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Eve1617 (talk) 03:23, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

波 = bubble?

The article claims "In Chinese, the word boba, 波霸, is a combination of a word for bubble and a word for big, which, when found together, is slang for "big breasts" or "buxom lady". When used to describe the drink, the characters 波霸奶茶 directly translate to boba milk tea, and loosely to bubble milk tea. This translation is commonly used by English speakers and refers to the variant with 6 mm (1⁄4 in) tapioca pearls".

I don't think 波 translates to as bubble, rather it means wave or a slang word for breast. The source for this ("Bubble Tea: 25 Things You Didn't Know | Eat This Not That". Eat This Not That.) is also self conflicting as in the other part it says "Most people think the name "bubble tea" refers to the round, bubble-like tapioca pearls at the bottom of your cup, but it actually refers to the bubble foam on top of the drink.".

I recommend removing this part completely. 192.41.114.224 (talk) 23:12, 6 February 2025 (UTC)

Locations/States aren't correct

Towards the end of the Popularity section, the article talks about Jack In The Box and Baskin-Robins adding pearls to 200 locations across 17 states in the US. In the cited source, it talks about a completely different chain Gong Cha opening new locations, not Jack In The Box or Baskin-Robins adding boba to their menus.

I don't know whether to mention Gong Cha in the correct context or scrap the sentence altogether, so I decided to remove it for now. Feel free to add to it if you see fit. Skototropism (talk) 18:19, 24 April 2025 (UTC)

"Making jelly-like desserts from starch and using them in dessert dishes and drinks originated from Island Southeast Asia. "

This claim is not supported by any listed period of origin in the article. And it is untrue that such jelly-like deserts originated from maritime SEA. In China alone, deserts like grass jelly, Guilinggao and Aiyu all have histories spanning centuries at least. Aiyu from the 1800s, Guilingao from the Song during the 1200s, and since Guilinggao is an innovation derived from Grass jelly, grass jelly itself is older than 800 years. Not to mention a whole series of other starch jelly food from China alone as well. Aixauh (talk) 13:11, 30 August 2025 (UTC)