Bubble teas fall under two categories: tiger milk tea without milk and milk teas. Both varieties come with a choice of black, green, or oolong tea as the base.

Nowadays, bubble tea is most commonly served cold. Today, there are some cafés that specialize in bubble tea production. While some cafés may serve bubble tea in a glass, most Taiwanese bubble tea shops serve the drink in a plastic cup and use a machine to seal the top of the cup with heated plastic cellophane. Due to its popularity, bubble tea has inspired a variety of bubble tea flavored snacks such as bubble tea ice cream and bubble tea candy. The high increase of bubble tea demand and its related industry can provide opportunities for possible market expansion. Bubble tea comes in many variations which usually consist of black tea, green tea, oolong tea, and sometimes white tea. Other varieties of the drink include blended tea drinks.

These variations are often either blended using ice cream, or are smoothies that contain both tea and fruit. The pearls vary in color according to the ingredients mixed in with the tapioca. Most pearls are black from brown sugar. Jelly comes in different shapes: small cubes, stars, or rectangular strips, and flavors such as coconut jelly, konjac, lychee, grass jelly, mango, coffee and green tea. Some shops offer milk or cheese foam on top of the drink, giving the drink a consistency similar to that of whipped cream, and a saltier flavor profile.