Boba pearls aren't made from rabbit poop, despite unpleasant video

Claim: A video authentically showed that the boba used in popular milk and fruit tea drinks are made from rabbit droppings. Rating: In July 2026, a video (archived) circulated online that social media users claimed showed that the boba used in popular milk and fruit tea drinks were made from rabbit droppings. For example, one Facebook user posted a video of a rabbit defecating into a cup of milk tea. The video then cut to the user themselves looking shocked while holding a similar milk tea. The user wrote, "so that's where it comes from…" referring to the small, black boba in the drinks. Social media users on Instagram (archived), TikTok (archived) and Reddit (archived) also posted videos of themselves or others reacting to the clip of the rabbit defecating into a cup throughout 2026. Snopes readers wrote in, asking about the video. The clip that showed the rabbit defecating into a cup of boba tea was fake, as we will lay out below. It came from an Instagram page that posted (archived) it on Jan. 13, 2026. The full video also included clips of a woman serving the alleged rabbit poop boba to a customer in a store. The account had posted other videos generated or edited using artificial intelligence that appeared to feature the same woman selling rabbit droppings as boba or chocolate snacks. While rabbit droppings might resemble boba in terms of their round shape and dark color, boba is not made from rabbit poop. Rather, the chewy, black "bubbles" that customers can add to fruit or milk teas are made from a collection of starches (mostly tapioca from the cassava plant), brown sugar and water. We contacted the Instagram account that first posted the fake video to ask why and how they created it and await a reply. Misshapen hands show video is fake The video showed several signs that its creator made or edited it using AI. For example, the initial clip of the rabbit defecating into the boba tea showed the animal dropping black, glassy pellets. However, according to BUNS, an adoption shelter and independent non-profit corporation dedicated to the care and welfare of rabbits and guinea pigs, that is not what normal rabbit poop looks like. The pellets that the rabbit in the fake video dropped did not resemble any of the variety of pellets in BUNS' "Guide to Bunny Poops." The next two clips in the video showed a person placing a cup of boba tea into a machine that placed a sticker lid over the cup. The thumb of the person holding the cup appeared to shorten between clips. Assuming the two clips were supposed to show the same person and the same hand, that would not be the case in an authentic video. (@moonieme1, accessed via Instagram, illustrated by Snopes) We found three other instances of misshapen hands throughout the rest of the video, a classic sign of the use of AI. In one clip, a woman placing a cup of milk tea into a paper bag appeared to be missing the third joint on four fingers (lower left on the image below). The same woman appeared to have three joints on those same fingers later in the video, though they at one point appeared unnaturally distorted (right on the image below.) The woman's left hand also appeared momentarily distorted during another clip (upper left in the image below). (@moonieme1, accessed via Instagram, illustrated by Snopes) Real boba was invented in Taiwan National Geographic reported that bubble tea, also called boba tea, originated in Taiwan in the 1980s. The bubbles, or boba, are made from a mix of starches, brown sugar and water that gets rolled into small balls and boiled until they turn "gummy, chewy and glossy." From there, the boba is served with milk or fruit teas. The BBC reported that boba tea typically contains "black tea, milk, some type of sweetener like sugar, ice and the famous 'bubbles', which are tapioca pearls." Since the drink became somewhat of a global phenomenon, the report said, boba tea has evolved to where some versions now contain fruit juices, syrups, powders, jellies and popping bubbles of various flavors. Despite its growing popularity, boba is a frequent target of fake comparisons to animal feces. In 2021, Snopes reported on fake photos that claimed to show boba came from sheep or goat droppings. For further reading, Snopes previously investigated whether Quaker instant strawberries and cream oatmeal contains beaver butt secretions or whether McDonald's apple pies contain an ingredient derived from human hair.