A TRIO of Tavistock youngsters have turned entrepreneurs to launch their own business serving bubble tea, and were doing a roaring trade at Tavistock Country Garden Show recently.

The business is the brainchild of best friends Lily-Mae Piper and Dibeh Alaoui, both 11, who joined forces with Dibeh’s little sister Betty-Lou, nine, to set up the business.

They were inspired to start selling bubble tea – a colourful drink which originates in Taiwan – after going to an Anime Convention in Plymouth, an event around the popular Japanese comics, and finding that no one was serving food or drink.

Dibeh said: ‘There was no food or drink and we all though that next year we would have a stall. We decided we would do it as soon as we could here. Because Lily-Mae and I are besties, we decided to call it “Best-Tea Bubbles”. We have been working on it since February.’

Mums Lisa Piper and Mia Alaoui were with the girls on the stall in Bedford Square, but stressed that it was their daughters who were running the show and managing the business. 

‘All their packaging is recyclable and compostable and they sourced all the products and came up with a business plan,’ said Lisa. ‘They have got everything together and they have have brought out a Facebook page and have been here selling today and at the Miss Ivy Street Festival last night.’

Their tea is a mixture of decaffeinated green and black tea, which is then coloured with a syrup mixture and sweet ‘popples’ sweet-like bubbles that go pop in the mouth - added to the drink.

Their customers choose the different flavours, with the juxtaposition of contrasting colours adding to the visual appeal of the drink. The girls have an incentive to get their business to succeed, said Mia, as they will only be able to take money out when it makes a profit.