Claim: Video claims boba pearls are made from rabbit droppings.
Rating: Fake
A video circulating online in July 2026 purported to show that the boba pearls in popular milk and fruit teas are actually made from rabbit droppings. The video depicted a rabbit defecating into a cup, followed by footage of a person looking shocked while holding a similar cup of tea, implying the droppings were the boba.
This video, shared across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit, caused concern among boba tea drinkers. However, the footage is fabricated.
The clip originated from an Instagram account that posted it in January 2026. The full video included scenes of a woman serving the purported “rabbit poop boba” to a customer and other AI-generated or edited videos featuring the same woman selling what was falsely presented as rabbit droppings or snacks.
While rabbit droppings are round and dark, resembling boba in appearance, they are not the ingredient used. Boba pearls are primarily made from starches, such as tapioca from the cassava plant, combined with brown sugar and water.
Evidence suggests the video was created or manipulated using artificial intelligence. The droppings shown by the rabbit in the video do not match the typical appearance of rabbit feces, according to resources on rabbit care. Additionally, inconsistencies in the depiction of hands in the video, such as distorted or missing finger joints, are common indicators of AI manipulation.
Bubble tea, including the boba pearls, originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. The pearls are a mixture of starches, brown sugar, and water, rolled into balls and boiled until they achieve a chewy, glossy texture. Despite its global popularity, boba has been the subject of similar misinformation campaigns, with previous false claims suggesting it was made from sheep or goat droppings.