Bubble tea has a bad reputation.
For such a delightful beverage, people tend to look at it as a pathway to diabetes. It’s not exactly wrong since they usually contain copious amounts of syrups.
But one Singaporean brand that’s been turning it into a healthier treat is Bliss Nest Capsules (BNC).
How? By incorporating traditional bird’s nest into the Gen-Z-crazed drink.
Revamping a traditional delicacy
I know what you’re thinking, this has to be some sort of marketing ploy, right? That’s what I first thought too when I came across them on Instagram. Can you really get the health benefits of bird’s nest by drinking it this way?
According to its founder, Wang Jun Han, this is very much possible.
“We did the test by soaking the bird’s nest with coffee, tea, as well as sparkling water [for] over one hour [then] sent them for lab tests. The results show those bird’s nests still contain amino acids and sialic acids,” he shared.
For context, Cleveland Clinic stated that amino acid helps to break down food, grow and repair tissues, and boost your immune system. On the other hand, Science Direct reported that sialic acid helps in the improvement of brain development.
So it seems that consumers of BNC’s bubble tea drinks would be getting these health benefits. The combination of the two is still quite odd, though.
Bird’s nest is more favoured by the older generations, while youths don’t gravitate much to them. This is an observation that another bird’s nest brand, NestBloom, echoed to us just months before.
This is exactly why Jun Han felt the need to revamp the way Singaporeans consume the traditional delicacy.
Adding a new twist
Speaking candidly, the founder explained that he’s been in the bird’s nest industry for about a decade. BNC used to only be a production factory that cleaned and traded bird’s nests.
However, as time passed, he noticed that the appreciation for this traditional treat began declining. The younger generations found its natural taste boring and its preparation a bit of a hassle. Demand slowly dropped as well.
So his team came up with bird’s nest bubble tea to cater to the modern crowd.
The R&D took nearly three years where they explored the market and learnt what customers liked and what their consumption behaviour was like. “We changed the menu four times and the recipes more than 10 times before we felt ready for the market,” Jun Han disclosed.
It was during their final test round at Takashimaya Food Fair 2023 that he was finally satisfied with the product. The reception was so good that it gave them the confidence to open a physical store in the bustling ViVocity Mall.
Like other bubble tea brands, BNC also offers consumers the ability to customise their own bird’s nest drinks:
- Choose your preferred bird’s nest flavour and size (50g or 75g). There are different concoctions targeting different benefits like Classic, Youth, Beauty, Rejuvenation, etc. All of these are served in small capsules.
- Opt for your choice of beverage flavours, such as Jasmine Milk Tea, Brown Sugar Green Tea, Pink Lemon Sparkling, Americano, and Wolfberry Lychee Tea (which is their bestseller).
The bird’s nests are packaged in convenient-to-use capsules. Each of these capsules contains full pieces of bird’s nest which you can add to your drink by yourself. So if you’re someone who prefers to consume them separately, that’s still an available option.
Conveniently packed capsules
All of BNC’s bird’s nests are imported from their factory back in Kalimantan, Indonesia. Jun Han shared that they only use the “Guan Yan” variety for desserts and Fresh Brew bird’s nests that are ready to eat.
These instant bird’s nests are cooked using the traditional double boiling method before being sealed in capsules. As they’re fresh, the capsules can only last for 10 days when kept in chill storage. Hence, it’s advisable to consume it as soon as possible.
To address sceptics, BNC has a dedicated team on-site at their stores to clean the bird’s nests in front of customers. This is true for all five of its locations around Singapore.
They also sell the regular dry bird’s nest. This used to be the company’s main revenue stream where they supplied to overseas markets including China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Jun Han shared with us that they generally sell about 150 bird’s nest bubble tea drinks (from S$8.20) on a daily basis. Some customers also go for their conveniently-packed fresh cooked bird’s nest capsules, which start from S$30.
“Our initial target market was working professionals who want to consume bird’s nests yet have no time to prepare,” Jun Han said. This is because it typically takes hours before you’re able to taste the labours of your effort.
Most bird’s nests need to be soaked in water for four to six hours before they can be steamed for another couple of hours.
Considering that most professionals work a nine-to-five job, it’s not surprising that the demand for traditional bird’s nest has gone down. So the brand’s effort to introduce it to younger audiences might just be what’s needed to boost it again.
Broadening the industry’s horizon
It won’t be easy for Jun Han to do this alone, of course.
A few other industry players have also been coming up with ways to modernise the delicacy. For example, NestBloom turns them into beautiful flowers that dissolve in water.
Doing so also provides non-health-conscious bubble tea lovers with a healthier alternative. And maybe you’ll feel less guilty if you crave bubble tea from them, who knows?
But perhaps the way forward might be to have more research published on its health benefits. Many existing ones have been claims in the traditional medicine field which are valid. However, this might not sway the more modern science-based crowds.
In the long run, BNC hopes to export its bird’s nest bubble teas to other countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. With how strong the bubble tea culture is in some of these regions, there’s an opportunity for BNC to fill a niche market gap.
- Learn more about Bliss Nest Capsules here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Singaporean startups here.
Featured Image Credit: Bliss Nest Capsules