Home in a Cup — Discovering the Heart of BobaLab
- Ruth Baines
- Sep 13, 2025
- 4 min read
Hello and welcome to the BoutiqueBiz Chronicles.
My name is Ruth, a local business guru and aspiring journalist. Our story today celebrates a teacher turned Boba maker, living in Ōtautahi Christchurch, who uses her teacher skills to build relationships and create a space that feels like home for those far from theirs.
As I walked into BobaLab on a Tuesday afternoon to interview Hannah Chen, the owner of BobaLab, I was instantly hit with the joy of a connected community — families, even three generations together, enjoying Boba. I sat at the only empty table and waited for Hannah to be available, soaking in the laughter and love on every smiling face. When Hannah finished making the orders in the lab, we began our interview.
Hannah grew up in Ōtautahi Christchurch after moving from Taiwan, and went through ESOL in school. She later studied teaching as a way of giving back to the community that helped her settle in New Zealand. She earned a bachelor’s and master’s in teaching, and taught English in Japan and New Zealand.
Hannah has such a wonderful heart for her students that when her international students in Christchurch started bugging her, saying there were no good bubble tea shops in the city, they told her: “Teacher Hannah, why don’t you go and open a good bubble tea shop?” She replied, “Oh nah, I’m just teaching, get back to work.” For two to three years they kept suggesting it, until one day she thought, “Yeah, how hard can it be? I just make some bubble tea, cook some Boba and that’s it! My students can be happy. So I said, ok, let’s go do it!”
And so began the journey of BobaLab. Late nights after long days of teaching, Hannah and her friend began to learn to make bubble tea — late-evening runs to the store for ingredients, figuring out quantities and ratios of syrups and teas. A trip to Taiwan led her to source four teas — Jasmine, Assam, Oolong, and Tieguanyin. She found a Boba roller in Tainan and had it patented.
The process of naming your new venture is never an easy task. Hannah didn’t want to go down the well known line of “cha” — meaning tea, when naming her new bubble tea business. She decided to go with Lab to represent her journey of experimenting and creating the drinks. “Lab refers to experiments, innovations, creativity, being precise and I thought it would work perfectly with what I wanted to do.” Once the name was decided Hannah then created the menu basing it on the periodic table. T = Tea, F = Fruit, M = Milk.
Something I have always admired is the fusion of cultures. Hannah wanted her store to have a blended feel of Christchurch culture and Taiwanese culture, so she commissioned an artist to illustrate Christchurch landmarks in the style of Rollickin Gelato. Throughout, she has placed Boba pearls and characters to show the creation stages of BobaLab.
Hannah is full-time at BobaLab now but still teaches at a refugee centre, so sometimes if you go in you might see Wawa, the owner of Koharu, who shares the space with BobaLab.
BobaLab opened in September 2019, just months before COVID-19, having only been open for six months when lockdown hit Hannah had to adapt quickly, relying on community support and takeaway orders once restrictions eased.
I had a chance to chat with a customer who has been going to BobaLab since almost day one. She explained that,“Most bubble tea is milk tea or tea. I like the soda ones — Berry Nebula and Space Mojito. The ones I get aren’t like normal bubble tea, I’m not a tea drinker. I think bubble tea is the only way I drink tea. It’s just a different flavour. The pearls, as well as being handmade, are a different texture. I think they are more consistent here, whereas other places can be inconsistent.”
Once the Berry Nebula was ready and the customer left, Hannah told me how the community created through BobaLab has been one of her absolute favourite parts of the business. “One of the things that just makes me really happy to be here is to see customers dating and then getting married. We catered their wedding with bubble tea. They got pregnant and then had their first baby, who is now four years old, and the second one is eight months now. It’s just so cool to see them dating, getting married and now coming back with their whole family. That’s just so amazing.”
I asked Hannah what she thought set BobaLab apart. “The community — we have a family feel. We support our community with vouchers when they run fundraisers. We sometimes run Boba workshops in high schools. I love getting to share Taiwanese culture. Our ingredients are handmade and we don’t use preservatives in our drinks.”
If you ever find yourself in Ōtautahi Christchurch I highly recommend popping in to see Hannah at BobaLab to try one of her exceptional handcrafted bubble teas. She is always excited to meet people who visit the shop. Hannah has created a daily drink for each day of the week that is 50% off so that customers can try new drinks without feeling light pocketed when leaving — my favourite on the list is Thai tea, I fully believe this is the best place to get Thai tea. My all time favourite drinks aren’t on this list but I believe they are fully worth the price any day of the week. These are Space Mojito, Mango Tree and Passion Bomb. When you go or if you have been to BobaLab let me know what your favourite bubble tea from BobaLab is.
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