Google celebrates Taiwanese bubble tea with this interactive doodle

The interactive doodle designed by Google's Sophie Diao and Celine You features Taiwan’s indigenous Formosan Mountain Dog and a crew of familiar doodle characters.

Google Doodle is celebrating bubble tea, the popular Taiwanese drink, to mark its anniversary of being introduced as a new emoji on this day in 2020. Also known as boba tea and pearl milk tea, it started as a local treat in Taiwan but is a global hit today. Google explained the origins of the drink and said its history dates back to the 17th century. Today, it is among the most sought-after drinks because of its new flavours, additions, and mixtures with endless combinations.

Bubble tea also known as boba tea and pearl milk tea, started as a local treat in Taiwan but is a global hit today. (Google)

“Bubble tea has its roots in traditional Taiwanese tea culture which dates back as early as the 17th century. However, it wasn’t until the 1980s that bubble tea as we know it today was invented. As waves of Taiwanese immigrants over the past few decades brought this drink overseas, innovation on the original bubble tea continues,” the doodle’s details read. The bubbles inside the boba tea are chewy gelatinous candies made of tapioca balls or fruit jelly.

The interactive doodle designed by Google's Sophie Diao and Celine You features Taiwan’s indigenous Formosan Mountain Dog and a crew of familiar doodle characters. The doodle gives the users a chance to make bubble tea themselves using its ingredients in an interactive game-play. Google said, “Many traditional Asian tea rooms have also jumped on the bandwagon to give the drink their own twist including countries such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea, etc.”

Google Doodles, the temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages, commemorate ‘major’ holidays, festivals, cuisines, and the lives of famous artists, pioneers, and scientists.