How Long Does Bubble Tea Keep? Shelf Life and Storage

Every TeaJoy bubble tea can and kit has a shelf life of 24 months from production. Keep a kit somewhere cool and dry, out of the sun, until you open it. What happens after that depends on the product: a can is chilled, shaken and drunk, a home kit sachet is one portion to use straight away, and the syrup bottle and boba tub in our fruit café kits keep for 30 days once opened, with the boba in the fridge.

Shelf life counts from the day a pack is made, not the day it reaches you, so go by the date printed on the pack.

Shelf life and storage at a glance

Product	Shelf life	Before opening	Once opened
Cans: Peach & Mango and Passionfruit & Strawberry, 330ml	24 months from production	"Chill and shake well before serving. Best before: see base of can."	Add the attached paper straw and drink it chilled
Home kits: Fruit Tea Kit, Milk Tea Kit, Matcha Bubble Tea Kit	24 months from production	"Store in a cool dry place, away from the sun"	"Once opened, consume immediately." Each sachet is one portion.
Fruit café kits: 1.2kg tea syrup bottle	24 months from production	"Store in a cool dry place, away from the sun"	"Store away from the sun, use within 30 days"
Fruit café kits: 1.1kg popping boba tub	24 months from production	"Store in a cool dry place, away from the sun"	Store at 0 to 7°C and use within 30 days, so in the fridge
Classic Milk Tea café kit: tea powder and instant tapioca sachets	24 months from production	"Store in a cool dry place, away from the sun"	"Once opened, consume immediately"

Cans: the date is on the base

Turn a TeaJoy can over and the best before date is on the base, as the printed side says: "Best before: see base of can."

The same line tells you the one thing to do before you drink it: "Chill and shake well before serving." Nothing needs adding. Each can already holds its popping boba, 10% of what is inside, and a paper straw comes attached, so a can goes from the fridge to your hand with only a shake in between. Both flavours are in our bubble tea cans collection.

Weighing a can against a drink from a bubble tea shop? What is in a TeaJoy can is set out in canned bubble tea vs bubble tea shops.

Our cans next to Manhua Cha's

Manhua Cha also sells bubble tea in cans, and when we checked its own website on 30 September 2026, it said its cans "stay fresh for up to 14 days when kept refrigerated".

What each brand states, 30 September 2026	TeaJoy can	Manhua Cha can
Size	330ml	500ml or 700ml
Shelf life	24 months from production	"up to 14 days when kept refrigerated"
Chilling	"Chill and shake well before serving"	"Must be kept refrigerated"

Manhua Cha says its drinks are "Always made fresh", and its cans hold more than ours, so they suit a drink you mean to finish within a fortnight. Ours suit a pack you keep in for later. For more brands, see our comparison of UK bubble tea brands.

Home kits: eight sealed sachets, one drink at a time

Each of our home kits makes four drinks from eight sealed sachets, one tea sachet and one boba sachet per drink. In the Fruit Tea Kit that means four 50g fruit tea syrups and four 50g popping boba. The Milk Tea Kit holds four 18g tea powders and four 50g instant tapioca, and the Matcha Bubble Tea Kit has two 20g matcha powders, two 50g strawberry tea syrups and four 50g popping boba.

The pack prints the storage rule in two halves. Before you open it: "Store in a cool dry place, away from the sun." After: "Once opened, consume immediately." A kitchen cupboard away from a sunny window covers the first half. The second is why each drink has its own two sachets: open them as you make that drink and the rest stay sealed. The box carries its own date as well, on the panel marked "BEST BEFORE", next to "MADE IN TAIWAN".

The kit pack adds one more line: "All products made with natural colours, which may fade over time. This does not affect taste or freshness." So if a box you have had for a while looks a shade paler than the photo, the pack has already said why, and that the taste is unchanged.

The four steps for each kit, and how the fruit, milk and matcha kits differ, are in how to make bubble tea at home without special equipment. Still choosing between the three? Our guide to the best bubble tea kits puts them side by side.

Café kits: the 30 day rule for syrup and boba

Our fruit tea commercial kits, Mango & Passionfruit, Passionfruit & Strawberry and Strawberry & Mango, hold their tea and boba in bulk rather than in sachets: a 1.2kg bottle of tea syrup and a 1.1kg tub of popping boba, each enough for 20 drinks. Once opened, the box says to use both within 30 days, so a fresh box gives a café 30 days to pour its 20 drinks.

The Classic Milk Tea Bubble Tea Kit works like the home kits: ten 18g classic tea powder sachets and ten 50g instant tapioca sachets, one of each per drink, so there is no 30 day clock to keep track of. If that clock decides which kit to start with, fruit tea or milk tea: which commercial kit should a café start with sets the two side by side.

The kits are on our commercial kits page, and trade terms for cafés and shops are on our wholesale page.

An opened-product log for your team

Copy this onto a card by the fridge. The rules in it are the box's own.

Opened-product log	Syrup bottle, fruit café kits	Boba tub, fruit café kits	Sachets, Classic Milk Tea café kit
Opening date	Write it on the bottle	Write it on the tub	Not needed: one sachet, one drink
The pack's rule once opened	"Store away from the sun, use within 30 days"	Store at 0 to 7°C, use within 30 days	"Once opened, consume immediately"
Where it is stored	Away from the sun	The fridge, at 0 to 7°C	Unopened, in a cool dry place away from the sun
Use by	Opening date plus 30 days	Opening date plus 30 days	Straight away, in the drink it was opened for
Clean utensil	The clean measuring cup from the box	The clean ladle from the box	Clean stirring utensil
First in, first out	Oldest stock first	Oldest stock first	Oldest box first

So a bottle or tub opened on 1 October is used by 31 October.

Questions people ask

Does bubble tea go off?

TeaJoy cans and kits have a shelf life of 24 months from production. Once opened, a home kit sachet is used straight away, and the syrup and boba in our fruit café kits are used within 30 days.

Where is the best before date on a TeaJoy can?

On the base. The can prints "Best before: see base of can".

Does popping boba need the fridge?

Home kit boba sachets stay in a cool dry cupboard until you open one for a drink. The 1.1kg boba tub in our fruit café kits goes in the fridge once opened: the box says to store it at 0 to 7°C and use it within 30 days.

Something to keep in for later

A kit or a four-pack of cans is an easy thing to keep in for a night in, or for a present you need at short notice. Every can and kit is in The TeaJoy Range, and when you sign up to our emails you get 15% off your entire order.