Founded in 2006 in Taipei, Taiwan, by the Tang brothers, BlackBall started with a discovery of a local treasure in Guanxi, Taiwan, known as Grass Jelly or ‘Xian Cao’. Grass jelly, which isn’t made from grass at all, is a popular dessert ingredient in China, Taiwan and throughout Southeast Asia. It comes from the plants of Chinese mesona — a member of the mint family — which are then boiled to prepare a liquid that turns into a black gem-like jelly once it has cooled.