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Tobe Milk Hits Fredericton

David Armstrong , , , , ,
Brown sugar running through milk tea with a tapioca pearl base. (David Armstrong/STU Journalism).

The bubble tea trend has been growing exponentially around the world. Starting as a drink available in night markets on the streets of Taiwan, bubble tea made its way across Asia and into North America as immigration rose. With more Taiwanese people coming to America, more bubble tea shops began popping up in major American cities, eventually becoming one of the hottest drink trends in the west. At first it was just major cities, but over time it has spread into smaller North American markets, even including Fredericton, New Brunswick!

Betty Lee’s storefront on a sunny day. (David Armstrong/STU Journalism).

In the heart of downtown Fredericton, Betty Lee’s is a small bubble tea and lunch café that was founded in 2017. The interior has minimal seating, but a very relaxing ambience to enjoy one-on-one time with friends, dates, or even groups of four. The menu has many food and drink options. For food, it is mostly lunch and snack focused with options such as spring rolls, pork roll sandwiches, wontons, noodles, rice dishes, and more. They pride themselves on having quality lunch options, but their bubble tea menu is the feature attraction.

The food and drink menu at Betty Lee’s. (David Armstrong/STU Journalism).

The owner of the café takes great pride in her work, using all local ingredients. When starting Betty Lee’s, she imported the vast majority of her ingredients from Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan. This was the cheapest option and worked well to create a good product, until the pandemic struck in 2020.

Vietnamese café owner in front of the Tobe Milk sign. (David Armstrong/STU Journalism).

Due to Covid-19, the shipments of the type of sugar required and other essential ingredients were unable to be ordered in the quantities necessary for the business. Instead of giving up, she adapted by using all local ingredients. She now claims that the product is much better than it was in the beginning because of the transition from importing ingredients to getting them fresh from New Brunswick.

The view sitting inside Betty Lee’s. (David Armstrong/STU Journalism).

The bubble tea menu at Betty Lee’s features milk based and fruit based options. The most popular bubble tea is called Tobe milk, which is sweetened milk with tapioca pearls and a sweet sour cream foam on top. The owner claims that the main two reasons that her bubble tea is the best is because she spends countless hours every day making the drinks from scratch with local ingredients to provide customers with a fresh product, and because she uses high quality sugar for every drink, giving it sweetness while being a refreshing, natural beverage.

Betty Lee’s neon Tobe Milk sign inside the café. (David Armstrong/STU Journalism).

Even though Fredericton’s Queen Street has many options for creative drinks and quick lunches, Betty Lee’s will always remain a top competitor because of the high quality options made fresh everyday and the caliber of service upon stepping through the door.