Bubble Tea
When I first heard of bubble tea I thought it was a neat and cute term to describe a beverage, but I did not have a clue what it was. When I heard that it was a delicious beverage that consisted of flavored tea with tapioca balls (or tapioca pearls) at the bottom I was curious yet skeptic of this wonderful joy in a cup with a fat straw even when I never was much of a tea drinker. When I finally tried it for the first time, which was a little less than a year ago, I was amazed on how the flavor blended with the tapioca. It was passion fruit flavored and it reminded me of fruit punch and as for the tapioca it reminded me of gummy worms in ball shape. The bubble tea was so amazing I thought to myself “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!”
Bubble tea not only has the flavor, it has the milk and tea in it if you prefer. It usually served cold and with the fat straws (or if you want to be politically correct you could say wide straw, but honestly fat straw sounds so much better) otherwise it would not give you nearly a great experience of sucking up the surprisingly amazing tapioca pearls. There are also healthy alternatives to bubble tea such as adding fruit and/or crushed ice to make it into a smoothie.1
Bubble tea is Asian inspired and although it is associated a lot with Japanese culture it actually originated in Taiwan in the 1980s.1 It supposedly became a hit in Japan after premiering in a Japanese television show.2 The term bubble tea actually derived from the bubbles that appear after shaking the tea not from the tapioca balls.2 The term bubble tea from the ‘bubbles’ served at the bottom is another common misconception (refer to sources). Bubble tea has other names such as ‘boba tea’ and can be simply called bubble drink or boba drink. 2 There is also tapioca milk tea (but bubble tea is so much more fun to say)!
Bubble tea stands can be found in places that serve authentic Japanese food particularly in the cities like Boston that has quite a few bubble tea stands that will make bubble tea right before your eyes. They would also have a huge variety of flavors such as the sweet and classic strawberry to the unusual lychee. I came across this one bubble tea stand that must have had at least 30 different flavors of bubble tea along with 3 different choices of tea, which must be over 100 combinations of bubble tea!!
So it’s a hot day, you’re thirsty- for something unusual- and cool then you may want to try bubble tea. Even if you are not a super huge fan of tea the flavor and coolness of the drink is refreshing and it will make you happier by ten-folds yet it will make you feel like you have been sheltered as you suck in the mixture of flavors and pearls of delectable tapioca that makes the absolute wonderfulness of bubble tea!
Deliciousness
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