Maybe it’s all that boba that’s been floating around in frothy milk teas. Or maybe it’s a nod to nostalgia and the creamy tapioca pudding of childhood memories. Maybe it’s a little of both. Whatever ...

The cassava root is poisonous to humans when eaten raw, but its sticky, elastic starch, tapioca, has an idealised texture. How did it end up in tea? Bubble tea was invented in Taiwan in the mid-1980s.