New Delhi, Dec. 24 -- India, the world's tea-drinking heartland and home to sprawling tea estates, is witnessing a shift in consumer tastes as its youngest consumers embrace Southeast Asian variants like boba and matcha.

Boba tea, which originated in Taiwan, is a cold, milk-based beverage featuring tapioca pearls, while matcha is finely ground green tea powder, most commonly consumed as an iced latte. The hype around these beverages is not new, but their increasing appeal in India has even compelled the 13-decade-old Wagh Bakri to reinvent itself.

"If you look at the younger audience, they are not as excited about traditional hot teas. So the need was to launch newer variants of tea, like bubble teas and iced teas," said Sanjay Singhal,...