Another day, another influencer accused of using their fame and fortune for capital gain. YouTube star Emma Chamberlain recently opened up a coffee shop in Los Angeles, CA, which became an overnight sensation for its trendy aesthetic, with one item in particular stirring things up – a plastic to-go cup with a rounded bottom.
“The plastic cups at the Chamberlain Coffee Shop are so on brand for her cool-girl persona,” TikTok user @nicolepneubauer wrote in the text overlay of a video featuring only her face. “I legit would buy them if she made them into glass. Emma is quite simply THAT girl. I said what I said.”
The simple video went viral on Feb. 2., 2025, with 422.8K views and 6,035 comments. However, TikTok user @fortun8tecoffeeco posted a stitch video pointing out that the shape of the cups Chamberlain Coffee uses aren’t anything new or innovative.
Emma Chamberlain’s coffee shop faces backlash over cup design
They explained that this style of cup is often referred to as a “boba cup,” and that the influencer-owned coffee shop was whitewashing and appropriating the product.
@fortun8tecoffeeco Can we just be conscious consumers for one second, we need to bring back those deinfluencing videos stat! #deinfluencing #consciousconsumer #colonizer ♬ original sound – fortun8tecoffeeco
“Can we just be conscious consumers for one second, we need to bring back those deinfluencing videos stat!” the caption of the video states. The coffee cart owner’s words seem to resonate across the internet, with the video, posted on Feb. 15., 2025, racking up over 6.6M views, 528.8K likes, 18.5K saves, and 3,208 comments.
“Its a plastic cup why are we trying to cancel emma,” wrote TikTok user @tonypotato in the comments.
“One girl made one video saying they were cool. people will disagree but I don’t think it’s that deep,” added TikTok user @emoryhudgins.
Is Chamberlain Coffee ‘Colombusizing’ boba cups?
“There’s this term on Twitter that was cycling around years ago called Colombusization,” @fortun8tecoffeeco’s viral video starts. “When POC (people of color) use things that have existed for the longest time – in this case those cups that are round at the bottom, you see them all the time at Boba shops – and then Emma Chamberlain started using it in her coffee shop and now all these white people are just like, ‘these cups are so cute and amazing’.”
“The comments of Asians are like, ‘you mean bubble cups’ and I’m gonna put a bet on it now that like, they’re gonna get so famous, other coffee shops are going to start using them and then those prices are going to skyrocket,” they continue.
“Now all these mom and pop Boba shops and Asian shops that use those cups are going to be struggling to afford those cups.”
@fortun8tecoffeeco visits Chamberlain Coffee
“Didn’t lose any sleep at all from any of those ignorant comments,” they wrote in the caption of a video of them sleeping, with a text overlay that reads, “How I slept the night after inciting discourse over a white creator’s coffee shop and plastic cup while educating how it will affect a minority group in the United States.”
“I need a break from educating the people on how capitalism can hurt small POC-owned businesses so here is me setting up which usually takes me about an hour because sh*t is heavyyy,” they wrote in the caption of another video showing a behind-the-scenes look at setting up a mobile coffee cart in two minutes.
In an ironic twist, @fortun8tecoffeeco and a friend decided to check out Chamberlain Coffee for themselves. An additional video shows the coffee cart owner throwing on a silver wig and a black hat, declaring, “I may be a petty person but I am also a petty unbiased person,” while tasting the coffee products, while a similar video shows their companion pulling out a “pink piece of hair” from their coffee drink.
What is a Boba Cup?
According to National Geographic, boba tea (also known as bubble tea) “emerged in the 1980s out of Taiwan’s traditional tea shops” when competing establishments were looking for new, innovative ways to set themselves apart. Some started adding tapioca balls to their teas, and the craze took off.
Boba tea is served in a few different ways, such as a tall plastic cup with domed lids, or sealed with a thin sheet of plastic at the top, along with the style Chamberlain Coffee has adopted, with its rounded bottom. While we can trace the history of boba tea back to a specific place and time, it’s unclear who invented the plastic cup style causing such a stir.
“I *think* the most important feature is a smooth feeling plastic with no hard edges,| wrote Reddit user u/robot_ankles, when trying to decide what kind of cup to buy for themselves. “Bubble tea time is as much ceremony as it is consuming a drink. Having a comfy huggable cup is important.”
‘It’s just a plastic cup’ vs. ‘This is appropriation‘
However, other Reddit threads feel differently about the rounded boba cup. “The round ones usually don’t fit in my vehicles cup holders properly,” remarked u/JJolene710, in a different thread about boba cups, whereas u/ShopAtRoss21 preferred cups that were “Sealed round bottom. Makes me feel demure.”
TikTok user @walmartsydneysweeney called out the influencer’s cup choice using the “Baby Tate” trending audio clip. Text overlay on the video reads, “*Everyone praising Chamberlain Coffee’s plastic cup design*” followed by “Chamberlain Coffee” and then “Asian owned boba shops that have had these cups.
Similarly, TikTok user @kassi_beltran‘s text overlay reads, “The ‘Emma Chamberlain’ cups are so cool, I hope other coffee shops take notes,” while a voice over says, “I love you but you don’t know what you’re talking about,” implying that whoever thinks this clearly hasn’t had boba before.
What puzzled TikTok user @mz_pupluv the most was the fact that this kind of whitewashing felt too obvious to have so many “boba girlies” thinking it was a new idea. She elaborated on the idea of Colombusization, comparing it to the frequency at which Black culture is appropriated by white people.
“When this happens to us,” she starts, “It’s usually stuff that they’ve never like, seen, touched base with, or are fully aware that it came from the black community.
“With this though, there is a Boba shop in every major city, damn near on every other corner,” she continues. “Half of y’all be going to Boba shops damn near on a weekly basis.”
@mz_pupluv admits that there surely are areas in the world devoid of boba shops, and that there are also people and communities who may not have any exposure to Asian culture at all. Still, she’s thrown for a loop given how much “girlies love boba,” and that they wouldn’t recognize the shape of the cup Chamberlain uses as such.
Yet in the comments, many boba fans alleged they’d never seen these kinds of cups.
“I’ve been to a TON of boba shops across 4 states and have NEVER had boba in one of those cups,” replied TikTok user @basicchey. “I did however go to a coffee shop in north Idaho last week that used these cups for their coffee.”
“I’ve definitely never seen these rounded bottom cups,” added TikTok user @briannaboobear. “I have NO IDEA WHY THEY WOULD BE SO IN LOVE WITH THIS CUP! I’m a mom of 3 little kids, that cup would last 2 seconds upright.”
The Daily Dot reached out to @fortun8tecoffeeco via TikTok DM and email for comment.
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