The closure of bubble tea shops islandwide has left many without their sweet fix.
Some have resorted to buying tapioca pearls and DIY-ing bubble tea at home.
One woman clearly had the same idea, but had a rather unfortunate experience with the pearls she bought.
Website stated shelf life of six months
Samantha Rachel took to Facebook on Apr. 29 to share the mishap.
The website had stated that the shelf life of the pearls was six months, and thinking that she could share the pearls with friends and family, Rachel bought them in bulk.
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
She purchased one carton of pearls, containing six packets weighing 3.2kg each. This amounts to nearly 20kg of pearls.
Here the pearls are in all their glory.
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
Expiry date did not match that on the website
However, upon receiving the pearls on Apr. 28, Samantha said that the expiry date printed on the packaging was May 20 — only three weeks after her purchase.
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
Although she had originally planned to keep only one packet for herself and gift the rest to friends and family, 3.2kg is still a pretty huge amount of pearls, as evident from this picture.
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
She told Mothership that one packet was practically the size of her child's torso.
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
As it was "impossible" to finish such a large quantity of pearls in such a short period of time, she contacted the seller.
Here are some screenshots of their conversation.
Rachel had originally mistook the expiry date for May 5, and questioned how they could finish the pearls in only a week, but the seller merely responded with a blasé,
"Yes our customer consume the pearl within three days."
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
Seller says "Ok"
When questioned further, the seller added that they do not "ask customer their reason" for the quantity they purchase, as long as the product is edible before expiring.
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
Despite a relatively long message from the customer, the seller simply responded with an "Ok".
Photo from Samantha Rachel / FB
Perhaps the pearls have been sitting on the shelf for the past five months?
Mothership has contacted Acorn Distribution and will update the story when they reply.
Top photo from Samantha Rachel / FB