Bubble Tea from a Brixton Kitchen: Ning Ma, Jack Gaskin and TeaJoy

Some businesses start in garages or spare bedrooms. TeaJoy began in a restaurant kitchen. During lockdown, Croydon-based founders Ning Ma and Jack Gaskin started developing their bubble tea brand in the kitchen of MamaLan, a restaurant in Brixton. The business launched in 2021.

A simple mission

Bubble tea is a sweet tea drink served with chewy tapioca pearls or bursting fruit “boba”. Ma and Gaskin wanted to make it part of daily life in Britain. Ma describes TeaJoy as a brand designed to bring more joy to everyday moments “with every pop, sip and smile”. Gaskin puts it in similar terms: spreading joy is at the heart of what they do, because bubble tea is fun and makes people smile.

TeaJoy describes itself as a British, female-founded brand. Its founders have travelled in China and Taiwan to learn more about tea culture and the places their teas come from.

Solving a practical problem

The founders spotted a gap. Bubble tea was popular, but Gaskin noticed that mainstream cafés and restaurants struggled to offer it. “One challenge mainstream businesses faced was operational – they couldn’t make bubble tea,” he explained. Traditional bubble tea means brewing tea, cooking tapioca pearls and investing in specialist equipment, which is a lot to ask of a busy coffee shop.

TeaJoy’s answer was a syrup that needs only ice and water. Gaskin says this saves businesses time and equipment costs. The company’s commercial kits mean a drink can be made in about 20 seconds: add water and ice, shake and serve. The kits also come with branded cups, lids, straws and point-of-sale materials. Gaskin adds that because there’s nothing to prepare, the syrups also cut waste.

Quality ingredients

Convenience didn’t mean cutting corners. TeaJoy says its syrups are made with premium jasmine tea and real fruit juice, and its boba contains no artificial colours. The brand’s instant tapioca, which it says is exclusive to TeaJoy, needs no boiling and is made from cassava flour. According to the company, its drinks are vegan and allergen-free.

The brand also creates seasonal specials. For Chinese New Year, it paired pineapple and lychee jasmine tea with strawberry popping boba. Gaskin explains that pineapple cake is a festive favourite, lychee is one of Asia’s most popular fruit tea flavours, and red stands for good fortune, hence the strawberry pearls.

At home and on the high street

TeaJoy sells to two markets. For home use, it offers no-cook DIY kits, including classic and brown sugar milk tea, fruit tea and matcha versions, each making four drinks. TeaJoy’s website reports more than 800 UK locations and 2.5 million bubble teas sold, as checked in October 2026.

The timing has been good. In 2024, big names including Costa, Black Sheep Coffee, Primark’s cafés and TGI Fridays added bubble tea to their menus. The global bubble tea market has been forecast to pass £2 billion by 2028.

Award-winning growth

In 2025, TeaJoy was named London Startup of the Year in the Food and Drink category at the UK StartUp Awards. Judges praised its innovation, rapid growth and its approach to bringing ready-to-drink bubble tea to the UK. The win put the business through to the national final. Ma said the award celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit the brand had had since day one, adding that what began as a dream had become reality.

The founders also announced plans to launch canned bubble teas to reach more everyday shoppers, and the company now lists ready-to-drink cans alongside its kits.

The lesson

TeaJoy didn’t invent bubble tea. Its founders found a barrier stopping ordinary businesses from selling it, and removed it. For any small business, that’s a useful approach: look at what customers already love, then ask what’s stopping more people from getting it. And for Croydon readers, it’s proof that a brand with national reach can grow from a borrowed kitchen just up the road.