Penny-pinching youth transforming China's bubble tea craze

Bubble tea has gained huge popularity in China, coinciding with an economic boom in recent decades that propelled living standards upwards. PHOTO: AFP

HANGZHOU, China (AFP): Sweet, milky and colourful -- bubble tea is wildly popular in China, where people sipping through straws from large plastic cups is a common sight in high streets and shopping malls across the country.

But there's fresh competition brewing in the vast market, characterised by ultra-cheap products that are striking a chord with China's increasingly frugal young consumers.