when was bubble tea invented

Bubble tea was invented in the 1980s in Taiwan. There are two main origin stories: One credits Lin Hsiu Hui, a product development manager at Chun Shui Tang teahouse in Taichung, who in 1988 mixed sweetened tapioca pudding (fen yuan) with iced tea, creating the first bubble tea. The other credits Tu Tsong He of the Hanlin Tea Room in Tainan, who in 1986 added tapioca balls to green tea inspired by a traditional Taiwanese snack. Despite disputes over the exact inventor, bubble tea officially launched and gained popularity in Taiwan in the mid to late 1980s, particularly around 1987–1988.