Words and photo by Tristan Ovington

There was a festive spirit in the bubble tea shop, CUPP, recently. We caught up with one of the owners, Roberta Herridge, who explained more.

“National Boba Tea (bubble tea) Day on April 30th for CUPP Salisbury and other CUPP stores all around the country was an amazing, fun-filled day,” explains Roberta.

“People embraced the celebrations. We gave out 100 free bubble teas to the first 100 customers and had 25% off for the rest of the day, and we had games and surprises for customers all day.

“A massive queue of customers was waiting before we even opened our door, and we all had a great time.”
Roberta then reflected on the tourists that enjoyed her cafe. “Because we are centrally located, on the way to the beautiful cathedral, we see a lot of tourists from all over the world who travelled here to visit Salisbury and surrounding areas.

“We had customers from Spain, France, Portugal, Brazil, America, the Czech Republic, and Mexico. We enjoy making them feel welcome in the city and talking to them about their home countries and travels to support tourism in Salisbury.

Regarding those who may feel bubble tea is a trend for young people, Roberta says: “Our main customers are young people, although we have more and more regular customers who are adults (30-40%). Some people mistakenly believe that all drinks are ‘very sugary’ and ‘sickly sweet’, which is untrue.

“You can customise your drink and we have many sugar, tea, and dairy-free options. For example, a man in his 80s came in when we did a Chinese new year special called Tiger Milk Tea, and he tried bubble tea for the first time in his life because he was born in the year of the tiger and was curious to try it. He seemed to enjoy it”
So what does the future hold? “CUPP has very exciting plans for the future to add exciting new products and special edition drinks.

“We look forward to having new summer special drinks and welcoming back the Mo-tea-to series, which consists of refreshing lime juice, mint, and green jasmine tea, absolutely delicious and served with lychee-popping bubbles! Watch this space.”