It is a known practice in Thailand to give offerings to spirits at 'spirit houses' or to idols at temple shrines. 

These offerings typically range from red drinks like strawberry fanta to fruit or floral garlands, but it seems that people have now gotten creative with the use of bubble tea.

Temple shrine with bubble tea offerings

On August 18, 2019, a Thai Facebook page Payunbud posted a photo of a temple shrine with an array of bubble tea offerings.

The post quickly went viral, chalking up over 17,000 reactions and 8,600 shares:

Reactions from Thai users

Many commenters were amused by the idea of this "new age" kind of offering, with one user stating that nobody gives red water (a commonly used drink for offerings) anymore now that bubble tea is in trend:

Another made a comment about this being the "bubble tea era":

While others made cheeky comments about the effects of these sugar-laden bubble tea:

"I'm fat now"

"Need to reduce diabetes urgently"

Some also posted photos of other drink and bubble tea offerings at shrines, amidst a more traditional showcase of red drink offerings:

Taiwanese netizens respond

The post has even gone so far as to attract comments and shares from some users who likely from Taiwan, where bubble tea originated.

They marvelled at bubble tea's popularity in Thailand:

"Bubble tea has conquered Thailand"

"Usually when Thai people pray, they'll use red water~ Recently, they've caught up on worldwide trends and started using bubble tea instead."

"Using bubble tea to pray to god! Bubble tea is not just popular in Japan but in Thailand as well, even though there are many other types of drinks sold as well! I personally witnessed long queues for their black sugar milk tea, even though Thailand is not a country that is fond of queuing."

Some day, maybe we'll understand our own obsession with bubble tea.

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Top image via Payunbud on Facebook