Has anyone had Bubble Tea?

[Lemon Meringue]

I tried some the other day. I think I liked it...I'm not sure. It's kinda funky stuff.

 

[souLnation2002]

Thats that funky coloured drink with those bean thingies in em, rite?

i haven't actually tried em yet....




so... how was it?

 

[ghetofabu]

Insert confused look on face----->

 

[bono-vox]

neevr heard of it

 

[souLnation2002]

Bubble Tea
by Jacqueline M. Newman
Chinese Tea
Winter Volume: 1999 Issue: 6(4)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Hot in the world of tea and teenagers, are bubble teas and the tea houses that serve these teas of the nineties. The love of bubbles is not new, but what are these black bubbles?

They are made from cassava after the root is peeled and grated, and the juice extracted. This is a complex process that yields a tapioca flour later compressed into brown or white cakes. When left In powdered form, it is used as a thickener. When round, they are known as tapioca pearls, and if boiled, can be found floating in sweet drinks. When cooked and cooled in thin rectangular sheets, they are known as grass jelly, and as such, used in some dim sum foods. Poured and set thicker and cut in cubes, they are used in a Malaysian dessert called ABC. As balls for bubble tea, they are the size of a fresh large green pea. They expand when cooked, and these days, most come from Taiwan.

Bubble tea beverages can be found in cities on both coasts of the United States, in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. In the Toronto suburb of Markham, there is a Bubble Tea House that sells nine drinks made with black tea, ten made with green tea, and a dozen others they simply call milk tea.

The first place to have Bubble Tea on the East coast was Ten Ren Tea and Ginseng Company, only selling it in their Flushing store. One of the newest places in New York to sell these teas is the Saint's Alp Teahouse in Chinatown, one of a chain of almost fifty eateries in Asian countries. Several restaurants in Queens serve bubble and hot teas. One is a Cantonese-style rice, noodle, and barbecued meat eatery called Tasty Pavilion, another a fusion facility called ABC Hong Kong Chinese-American Restaurant. At Saints Alp, the menu advises "nutritional Pearl Tapioca" is a unique beadlike formula "extracted from sweet potato, cassava root and brown sugar." Ten Ren's and supermarket packages lists almost the same ingredients.

Some call bubble tea a "Chinese cola," others "the item that requires rewriting of tea history." One person actually dubbed them "the McChildren's drink of the decade." No matter, sample the bubbles that Liu Han-Chieh brought to Taiwan in 1983 made for you or buy the dried balls at a Chinese supermarket and cook your own. If black bubbles are not for you, try tea in a can; some of them have another popular bubble of the moment, made from carbonation.

 

[Giant Lemon]

I've had bubble tea! It's definitely weird. I liked the drink part, but the bubbles kind of disturbed me. It's kind of like eating bizarely flavored jello.

 

[meegannie]

I had almond bubble tea a few weeks ago. It was really, really good.

 

[Lemon Meringue]

I had peach bubble tea. I didn't know what the blueberry looking things on the bottom were. I was too to ask. I figured you could eat them since they gave me such a big fat straw. The "bubbles" are big tapioca pearls. More experimenting needs to be done.

I'm glad to hear others have tried it.

 

[Kristie]

bubble tea beverages can be found in cities on both coasts of the United states...
and in west lafayette, IN.
I've never had it though, but it looks interesting

 

[Walkron]

Sounds great but I'll stick to bubble gum

no pun intended

 

[foray]

I love Bubble Tea. Watch out for those 'pearls' though--some study in Taiwan says that they are harmful in the long term. I forgot the details.


foray

 

[theSoulfulMofo]

Actually...

It's known round here as BOBA!!

Lychee Cooler w/ Boba

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I love Bubble Tea. Watch out for those 'pearls' though--some study in Taiwan says that they are harmful in the long term. I forgot the details.


foray

We're not getting anything more on this, are we?

*wants to try it, but is now afraid

 

[Lemon Meringue]

I love Bubble Tea. Watch out for those 'pearls' though--some study in Taiwan says that they are harmful in the long term. I forgot the details.


foray

That is scary. Since it is just tapioca, what could be harmful? Too much sugar or something?




edit because I can't type.

 

[adamswildhoney]

neevr heard of it

mee either!

 

[ouizy]

I have had it once here in China Town.

kinda weird.

kinda liked it.

I got the honeydew melon milk tea...

 

[mmmBono]

absofuckinglutely LOVE it

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

It's great yes, but I've had enough, methinks. It was a huge fad in this region for the past eighteen months, with outlets springing up everywhere. Then it died out. I still have some occasionally but not as much as before.

P.S. I don't know about pearls being harmful, but I love those.

 

[Lemon Meringue]

I think it's one of those things you should have once in a while so you don't get sick of it.

 

[bono-vox]

We dont have it in Ireland we drink ordinary non bubble normal flavoured tea.


BUT we have a teabag factory in belfast and everyday i see the tea bags wizzing past on the converyor belt!!!!!


___________
Its the highlight of my day

 

[christiana]

I love bubble tea. I love to have a cup of these after school. It's became a regular drink for us I think...

My favourite is coconut + 'pearls'
and together with a piece of toast

 

[anitram]

I hate it with a passion.

Those bubbles are slimy - in fact, they taste like somebody left bits of licorice to soak in water overnight. Ick.

 

[Mrs. Edge]

I have a friend who is obsessed with everything Asian. One day he took me out for bubble tea, and when I asked what the bubbles were made of, he said "frog eyes" and I believed him! (well, if he eats chicken feet at dim sum, it wan't a long shot...)...of course, he then told me what they were.

I really enjoyed the tea part, but the bubbles....I really don't like the texture. They do taste like eyes to me!

 

[Lemon Meringue]

I have a friend who is obsessed with everything Asian. One day he took me out for bubble tea, and when I asked what the bubbles were made of, he said "frog eyes" and I believed him! (well, if he eats chicken feet at dim sum, it wan't a long shot...)...of course, he then told me what they were.

Yeah, I haven't figured out why they even put them in there. Can you order it without them? What is their purpose, anyway?

 

[ouizy]

Yeah - I could nopt really stomach tem...

I spit them out all over chinatown and left a trail........ ... ... ....


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[dizzy]

I tried bubble tea years ago when I was still in Asia. They came in all funky colors and flavors. Pretty good, but those big straws are a safety hazard. You can choke on the damn tapioca balls.