How a Taiwan Bubble Tea Maker Reached a Paris Sustainability Final -- with Rice and Four Returning Species

TAICHUNG CITY, Taiwan, Nov. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- In a rice field in Chishang, Taitung, that had fallen quiet under conventional farming, the crested serpent eagle came back after five years. So did the pangolin. That recovery has now carried a Taiwanese bubble tea manufacturer onto a sustainability final stage in Paris.

Empire Eagle Food Co., Ltd., parent company of the Boba Empire brand, has been named a finalist in the SIAL For Change 2026 award — the only company from Taiwan's bubble tea industry among 20 finalists chosen from 226 entries worldwide. Of 226 projects submitted, 122 were shortlisted and only 20 reached the finals. Evaluated by the Hyssop CSR consulting team, SIAL For Change is SIAL Paris's first corporate sustainability award — judged not on whether a product tastes good, but on whether a company's supply chain genuinely stands up for the land and the people behind it.

That is a pointed question for an industry now worth billions and growing around 8 percent a year, yet long criticized over single-use packaging, sugar, and plastic waste. Companies that build sustainability into the source of their supply chain, rather than onto the surface of the product, remain rare.

Empire Eagle Food sources its organic black rice from a local Indigenous social enterprise in Chishang, Taitung, whose supply chain delivers verified outcomes: 50 hectares of certified-organic contract farmland, 10 farming households with incomes raised over 10 percent, and the return of four protected species — crested serpent eagle, pangolin, Formosan serow, and Swinhoe's frog — over five years. Empire Eagle Food carries that supply chain onto the world's shelves across 40+ countries.

Its flagship product, Black GABA Rice Matcha Amazake — zero-additive and non-alcoholic — holds the A.A. Taste Award (2 Stars). The company is certified to FSSC 22000, ISO 22000, HACCP and HALAL, with AA1000 governance and a Dun & Bradstreet ESG rating.

"The whole world assumes bubble tea is just a sweet, trendy drink," said Mindy Jen, Brand Marketing Director of Empire Eagle Food. "We wanted to prove it can be a supply chain that leaves the land better than it found it — starting in a single valley in Taiwan. The jury wasn't asking whether our drink tastes good. They asked whether our supply chain holds up. We're proud it did."

Founded in 2002, Empire Eagle Food is a Taiwan-based tea-beverage ingredient manufacturer and parent of Boba Empire, serving 200+ partners across 40+ countries.

Contact: Mindy Jen, Brand Marketing Director, Empire Eagle Food Co., Ltd. | +886 4 2569 4889 | [email protected] 

SOURCE Empire Eagle Food Co., Ltd.