An Asian drink is starting to become a Kent high street staple with vendors telling sceptics: "Don’t be nervous about it - it is fun."

The county is set to boast 16 bubble tea shops by the end of next week, 11 of which opened just this year.

And Canterbury will soon be the beverage's Kent capital with four businesses selling the drink, also known as boba, dotted around the city.

Sev Michaels, who runs Teastones Boba Hippy in Sun Street with son Nick, believes its popularity has surged because children regard it as "their cocktail".

"They look at the menu and they say ‘oh, I’ll have a rose with peach pearls tapioca’ and they find it really exciting," she explained.

"It’s something for them to really enjoy.

"When the kids come they’re so excited as it’s like their cocktail. It’s their drink they make up."

The Canterbury site - which has '70s music posters pasted to its walls and a cardboard cut-out of a Dalek positioned in a corner - is the mother and son's second branch.

Their first, located in Folkestone, was originally run as a tea merchant until Nick suggested adding the bubble variety to the menu.

The drink - thought to have first been made in Taiwan 40 years ago - is traditionally tea-based and contains chewy tapioca "pearls".

Since then it has spread across the globe, becoming popular in the 1990s in the USA, before more recently coming to London.

And now the trend has arrived in Kent.

Cha Lab is due to open in Canterbury on November 2, and will boast flavours like strawberry pudding.

Manager Kim Dam, 30, told KentOnline: “Bubble tea is a popular drink in Asia. It’s not one that has found its ground in Kent in particular, but in London it has.

“Tea and milk is one of the things we as Brits have always loved.

"I think to be creative with this drink is something that Cha Lab can bring to the market.

"We try to use locally sourced and organic goods. In that sense we’re quite different because you’ll see everything is focused on getting the highest quality rather than just, in the nicest possible way, a standard cup of tea that you can get anywhere.”

The county's longest-running boba outlet is Bubbleology, which has been serving drinks at Bluewater for at least six years.

In 2021, 11 new vendors specialising in the beverage opened in the likes of Ramsgate, Gillingham, Herne Bay, Whitsable and Gravesend.

While it started life as a simple milk, tea and tapioca concoction, the refreshment has grown into a drink that can be enjoyed in a variety of flavours including peach, taro or even Yakult.

The other businesses in Canterbury specialising in boba are Mooboo and Ding Tea, a brand-new business opening on November 5.

With competition in the area set to grow, some would think the existing firms might be worried.

But when asked, those running Cha Lab and Teastones Boba Hippy brushed off the concerns.

“We’re not worried about the competition," Ms Dam said.

"If there is a market for this then we hope everybody will do very well, as you might enjoy a drink at Cha Lab one day and then somewhere else.

"It's like how one day you can go to Starbucks and then you later visit Costa - it’s giving customers a variety of options.”

Ms Michaels added: “I’m fine with it because look how many coffee shops there are. So everyone has their own individual way of doing things and for us, because we’re known for our brown sugar, I’m not worried.

“It’s a vibe here and people can sit in, whole families come and sit around a table. If you have your own identity you’re fine.

"Don’t be nervous about it - it is fun."