Where Is Tiger Sugar From? Started on Taichung’s Yizhong Street, It Sparked the Global Brown Sugar Tiger Stripe Boba Craze

Quick Answer

Tiger Sugar is a brown sugar bubble tea brand founded in November 2017 on Yizhong Street in Taichung, Taiwan. Its signature is brown sugar boba milk topped with cream mousse, with brown sugar “tiger stripes” streaking the cup. According to English Wikipedia, about six months after opening, the original Taichung shop went viral on Instagram, selling up to about 1,700 cups in a single day, with queues of up to two hours at peak. Tiger Sugar entered Hong Kong in 2018 and later opened in Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, mainland China, the US and Canada; by 2022 it had about twenty-some stores in the US. It’s one of the brands that drove the global brown sugar boba milk craze.

What Is Tiger Sugar?

Item	Details
Founded	November 2017, Yizhong Street, Taichung, Taiwan
English name	Tiger Sugar
Signature drink	Brown sugar boba milk (brown sugar tiger stripes + cream mousse)
Overseas markets	Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, mainland China, the US, Canada

Tiger Sugar Timeline

Year	Milestone
2017	Original store opens on Yizhong Street, Taichung
2018	Goes viral on social media; enters Hong Kong
2022	About twenty-some stores in the US

How Are the Brown Sugar Tiger Stripes Made?

The stripes come from coating the inside of the cup with thick brown sugar syrup so it streaks down the walls, then pouring in fresh milk, which looks like a tiger’s stripes. For shop methods and SOPs, see How to Make Brown Sugar Boba Milk and What Is Cup Walling? For the ingredient itself, see What Is Brown Sugar Syrup?

3 Lessons for Bubble Tea Businesses

Visuals are marketing: the tiger stripes make customers want to photograph and share, and social buzz brings queues.
One signature drink can carry a brand: Tiger Sugar built its identity around brown sugar milk; for menu planning, see Bubble Tea Menu Design.
Trends drive ingredient demand: overseas demand for brown sugar syrup and brown sugar pearls rose with the craze; see Taiwan Tapioca Pearl Exports.

How Tang Sugar Helps Bubble Tea Brands

Tang Sugar supplies brown sugar syrup, brown sugar powder, tapioca pearls and walling powder, with a single quote for your whole menu and consolidated container shipping. We also offer product customization services to develop brand-exclusive brown sugar or pearl specifications. Contact us or request samples.

Note: This article summarizes public information about the brand’s development. Tang Sugar has no partnership or affiliation with the brands mentioned; brand names and trademarks belong to their respective owners.