I Tried to Quit Bubble Tea. Then I Started Drinking It Again.

Last week, my cousin dropped her medical checkup report into our family group chat.

She added three crying emojis.

She's 25.

She works in an office, drinks bubble tea at least once a day, and on busy overtime days, two cups isn't unusual.

This time, her checkup showed that she'd gained almost 20 pounds compared with last year.

Her blood sugar was also getting close to the warning range.

The doctor's advice was surprisingly simple:

"Young lady, maybe cut back on the bubble tea. Your blood sugar isn't coming down."

My cousin replied almost immediately:

"If I can't drink bubble tea anymore, what's the point of being alive?"

Everyone laughed.

I laughed too.

But honestly, it also made me think.

Because she wasn't really joking.

---

"Just One Cup"

If you have never been obsessed with bubble tea, imagine this.

It's 3 p.m.

You've been staring at a computer screen for hours.

You're tired.

You're bored.

You still have another three hours of work ahead of you.

Then someone in the office says:

"I'm ordering bubble tea. Anyone want one?"

Suddenly, life feels a little better.

One cup.

That's all.

It's not smoking.

It's not drinking alcohol.

It's not some dramatic bad habit.

It's just tea.

Or at least, that's what we tell ourselves.

My cousin's usual cup costs around 15 yuan, roughly two dollars.

That doesn't sound like much.

But if you buy one almost every day, you're spending several hundred yuan a month.

Over a year, that's thousands of yuan.

And that's before we even talk about what's actually going into your body.

---

My Office Has the Same Problem

My cousin isn't the only one.

Several people in my office have exactly the same habit.

One coworker announced last year that she was finally going to quit.

I even changed her name in our bubble-tea group chat to:

"Bubble Tea Detox Challenge."

She lasted three days.

On the fourth day, she quietly ordered another cup.

When I asked her what happened, she said:

"If I don't have one in the afternoon, I feel like I'm going to stop functioning."

We laughed.

But again, there was some truth behind the joke.

At some point, a little treat can quietly turn into something you feel you need.

And that's when I started wondering:

How many of our daily habits are actually choices anymore?

---

Everyone Has an Opinion

My mother-in-law has a very simple opinion:

"Don't drink those things from outside. They're full of artificial flavoring, and they put sugar in them like it's free."

My husband has the opposite attitude.

He says:

"It's fine. One cup once in a while isn't going to kill you. It's only a problem if you're drinking it constantly."

Honestly?

I think I'm somewhere in the middle.

And then there's me.

I'm not exactly innocent.

I used to drink about three cups a week.

Then my own health checkup came back.

For the next two months, I completely stopped.

No bubble tea.

No excuses.

I felt very proud of myself.

Then, slowly, I started drinking it again.

Now I usually order the "sugar-free" version.

It makes me feel slightly less guilty.

But then another thought comes to mind:

Does "sugar-free" actually mean what I think it means?

I honestly don't know.

And maybe that's part of the problem.

We often choose the option that sounds healthier because it makes us feel better about the choice we're already making.

---

Why Is It So Hard to Quit?

This is the part I find interesting.

If someone tells us that eating vegetables is good for us, we understand.

If someone tells us that exercising is good for us, we understand.

If someone tells us that drinking too much sugary stuff isn't great for our health, we understand that too.

So why is changing the habit so difficult?

Maybe because we're not really addicted to the drink itself.

Maybe we're addicted to the little moment attached to it.

The afternoon break.

The sweetness.

The feeling of being rewarded after finishing a difficult task.

The conversation with coworkers while waiting for the delivery.

The tiny bit of happiness that arrives in a plastic cup.

That's probably why simply saying "Just stop drinking it" doesn't work very well.

You're not just removing a drink.

You're removing a ritual.

---

The Problem With "I'll Quit Tomorrow"

I think many of us have habits like this.

We know they're not ideal.

We tell ourselves we'll change.

Then tomorrow comes.

We're tired.

We're stressed.

We deserve a little treat.

So we make an exception.

Then another one.

And another.

Eventually, the exception becomes the routine again.

That's exactly what happened to me.

I didn't decide one morning:

"I'm going back to drinking bubble tea three times a week."

It happened one cup at a time.

And maybe that's how most habits work.

They don't come back dramatically.

They sneak back into our lives quietly.

---

I'm Not Saying Bubble Tea Is Evil

To be clear, I'm not trying to turn this into a lecture about bubble tea.

I'm still drinking it.

I'm just more aware of how often I drink it now.

Maybe the goal isn't always to completely eliminate every little pleasure from our lives.

Maybe it's about noticing when something that was supposed to be an occasional treat has quietly become part of our daily routine.

Because there is a difference between:

"I want a bubble tea."

and

"I can't get through the afternoon without one."

The first is a preference.

The second makes me stop and think.

---

So, Be Honest With Me...

How often do you drink bubble tea, sweet coffee, soda, energy drinks, or other sugary drinks?

Once a week?

Every day?

Or have you actually managed to quit?

And if you quit, how did you do it?

Did you replace it with something else?

Did you slowly cut back?

Or did you just go cold turkey?

And here's the question I'm really curious about:

Have you ever had a health scare that made you quit a habit—only to find yourself doing it again months later?

Because if you've managed to stay away from bubble tea completely, I genuinely want to know your secret.

And if you're still drinking it while feeling slightly guilty about it...

Well, welcome to the club.

I'll probably be ordering another "sugar-free" one next week too.