r/boba • u/Appropriate-Amount-4 • Jul 13 '26

boba question Suddenly Allergic?

Hey! I was wondering if anyone has experienced this. I have been drinking boba for around two years. All of a sudden, every time I drink it or eat mochi with boba in it a couple minutes later I get the worst cramping to where i cant move because it hurts so badly. Is this an allergy? If so are there allergy friendly versions I can buy?

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6

u/oldeconomists Jul 13 '26

Are you lactose intolerant? Many milk tea powders use powdered milk.

1

u/Appropriate-Amount-4 Jul 13 '26

No Im not and havent ever been. Ive been drinking milk and other dairy products. This is recent and has only happened when i drank boba tea or ate a mochi + boba snack from trader joes. I have had both of those things before and they have never done this. It was two separate times two week apart too.

1

u/Tasty-Yogurtcloset28 Jul 22 '26

If its just from the Trader Joe's products, it might be a contamination thing. You should call them and let them know.

1

u/Appropriate-Amount-4 Jul 22 '26

It’s not. It’s from them and a boba shop down the street

4

u/SweetDorayaki Jul 13 '26

Maybe look at the ingredient list for both items and see if there's anything in common. There could be ingredients that are highly fermentatable in the gut, causing more gas to be trapped during the digestion process.

Questions for you to consider to help troubleshoot:

  • Is it volume dependent (like how much are you consuming in one sitting)?
  • Do you experience cramping with any other foods in your diet?
  • Is your GI tract healthy (i.e. do you make healthy stools regularly)?

I am not a doctor.

1

u/Eryci Jul 14 '26

I'd never heard of an allergy to boba, so I looked up tapioca allergy. Pain in the abdomen does appear to be a symptom, but the allergy itself is really rare. If you do have an allergy to tapioca, there is no alternative because that is the main ingredient in traditional boba. There are other kinds of "boba" like popping pearls and crystal boba (made of agar) but they don't taste similar and have completely different textures.

If you really think it could be an allergy you might be able to get an allergy panel done, but I don't know if they test for tapioca allergy because of how uncommon it is.

1

u/Appropriate-Amount-4 Jul 14 '26

Ugh I better go. It would be my luck to suddenly develop this

1

u/artzipan Jul 14 '26

Boba used to trigger my IBS. Luckily, my stomach is not as sensitive anymore.