Boba tea, also known as bubble tea, is taking over TikTok — and the hearts of young people. You may have seen videos of mom-and-daughter boba tea dates, the autistic, nonverbal teen who loves boba tea or this tween's boba-themed birthday party. Even toddlers seem to love boba tea.

The Rise of Boba Tea

Created in Taiwan, boba tea is a milky, sugary, iced black tea featuring tapioca “pearls” and any number of flavored syrups, fruit blends and other fun toppings. The beverage made its way to the United States in the ’90s, when it was embraced by young Asian Americans. Decades later, American tweens of all backgrounds are now hooked, thanks in part, as Bloomberg notes, to its popularity among TikTokers and its association with Korean pop stars like Blackpink. Boba tea shops have became the go-to after-school hangout for many, in addition to being a tween birthday party destination of choice.

Why Do Kids Love Boba Tea?

“My daughter has been into bubble tea since she was about 7 or 8 years old,” says Megan Kinch, an electrician and mom of Esther, 11, in Toronto, Canada. Kinch herself has been familiar with boba tea since the trend hit Toronto in the early 2000s.

Should Parents Worry about the Caffeine and Sugar in Boba Tea?

Kinch isn’t concerned about the amount of caffeine in the bubble tea. “It’s way healthier than [soda] and it’s not like an energy drink or a Panera lemonade with its near-toxic levels of caffeine,” she says. “I think it’s appropriate for tweens to experiment with tea and sugar drinks.”

LaToya Jordan, a New York-based writer and mom of Billie, 11, says her daughter has been into boba since she was 10, “when her friends introduced her to boba after school one day.” It helps that there's an abundance of boba tea shops where they live. “I really like the tapioca pearls,” says Billie. “A lot of my friends also like boba. We get boba for lunch sometimes.”

Writer Kate Wehr of Montana remembers ordering boba tea with the traditional chewy tapioca pearls when she was in college. But it’s the newer "popping boba" — pearls that burst when consumed — that have “really taken off with the kids” her daughter Rebekha, 12, hangs out with.

Dr. Anh Le, a pediatrician at One Medical in California, tells Yahoo Life that boba tea has minimal health benefits. She encourages parents to think of boba as more of a “treat” food — though she admits it’s one of her favorite drinks when she wants to enjoy a sweet treat herself.

“High-sugar drinks are unhealthy for kids as it can lead to excess weight gain and subsequently increase risk for heart disease, fatty liver and diabetes,” Le explains. “It can also increase the risk of dental cavities.” She compares a 16-ounce serving of boba tea — which contains nearly 40 grams of sugar — to an equivalent amount of soda (52 grams) or orange juice (about 42 grams of sugar). Because the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 8 ounces of juice a day for kids between the ages of 7 and 18, boba tea intake should be similarly restricted since it contains a similar amount of sugar.

“Depending on the type of tea used, the amount of caffeine in an 8-ounce boba tea drink can vary from 30 mg to 50 mg,” she says. Your older kid will get the maximum amount of caffeine with just one standard-sized 16-ounce drink. “I would recommend [reducing] the caffeine amount to as little as possible.”

But, as a parent, Kinch believes that the concern around what kids consume is overblown. “Younger people are drinking less alcohol than ever before, and very young people seem on trend," she says. "I think any kind of moral panic around kids drinking tea with tapioca balls in it is very much misplaced.”

Consider the Context

Kinch sees Esther’s love of bubble tea as an extension of expressing herself — like when she puts bubble tea and cat sushi stickers on her laptop or occasionally goes to get bubble tea on her own or with a friend. “It’s a way of being independent and having her own tastes and expertise," Kinch says.