The short answer is yes. Bubble tea has caffeine.

Let’s break it down a bit.

The ingredients in your typical bubble tea drink includes tea (tea bag or loose leaf), dairy or creamer, a sweetener, and tapioca pearls. And of course, tea has caffeine. Maybe not as much as what you’d expect in a cup of coffee or an espresso drink though.

But nonetheless, there is a bit of caffeine in bubble tea.

Most Popular Types of Teas Used in Bubble Tea

Black Tea

The most popular tea used in bubble tea is definitely black tea. You’ll typically have strong Assam black tea in your bubble tea in most boba shops. A bubble tea flavor like Black Milk Tea or Hong Kong Milk Tea contains black tea.

Black tea enhances your drink with a robust tea flavor that pairs well with everything else in the drink. It has a strong enough taste that is not subdued by dairy or sweeteners in bubble tea as much as other teas you’ll read about here.

Your typical amount of caffeine in 1 cup of black tea will contain roughly 40-50mg of caffeine. To put this into perspective, a regular cup of coffee will contain about 80-110mg of caffeine.

You can use this comparison to gauge how you’ll feel after drinking bubble tea that includes black tea.

Jasmine Tea

Jasmine tea is often found in bubble tea drinks too. It is found to have lower amounts of caffeine as compared to black tea above.

Your typical caffeine in a cup of jasmine tea will be around 20-30mg of caffeine.

If you’re sensitive to caffeine or do not want to consume much caffeine in your bubble tea drink, this is a great option.

Here are some jasmine tea brands we like using in case you’re interested.

  • Jasmine tea from Stash Tea
  • Jasmine tea from Numi
  • Jasmine tea from Rishi

Oolong Tea

Oolong tea is also low in terms of caffeine. It will usually have very similar caffeine amounts like jasmine tea above.

In general, oolong tea will contain 25-35mg of caffeine. Of course, it will vary based on the brand you’re consuming, the temperature the tea is steeped, and other factors.

Green Tea

Probably a lot of people’s favorite type of tea, including ours.

Green tea also contains caffeine as well, but it’s slow acting like most teas. Which is great for those that do not want to have a fast crash after a jolt of caffeine.

Which coffee can do sometimes.

Green tea generally contains 20-30mg of caffeine. Similar to the caffeine amounts in the above teas.

It has a lighter taste with earthy notes that you cannot get enough of. It’s honestly one of our favorite teas to drink by itself too. You can find the best selling green tea here if you want to try some new brands.

If we’ve answered your question on whether bubble tea, milk tea, or boba has caffeine please consider reading our other articles. Here are some related articles you can find for the best tea brands.

  • Best Black Tea
  • Best Oolong Tea
  • Best Jasmine Tea

Nigel Gildon editor:Nigel Gildon is the editor of Chef Wayne’s Big Mamou: Chef Wayne’s Big Mamou. He has worked in the publishing industry for many years and has a passion for helping new authors get their work into the hands of readers. 63 Liberty Street * Springfield, MA 01003

This post was last modified on 12/29/2023 9:47 am