Bubble Tea

Bubble tea is a mixture of iced or hot sweetened tea, milk, and often other flavorings.The distinctive characterstics of bubble tea are the black gummy balls made of tapioca (or, more commonly in East Asia, yam starch), called "pearls" or "boba" that sit at the bottom of the cup.The pearls are larger than those found in tapioca pudding, with a diameter of at least 6 millimeters, but smaller ones are occasionally used. They are generally transluscent brown with a darker brown center, although pearls of other colors have also recently become available.

The original bubble tea consisted of a hot chinese black tea, tapoica pearls, condensed milk, and honey. As this drink became more popular, variations were created. Initially iced versions with a hint of peach or plum flavoring began to appear, then more fruit flavors were added until the tea was removed entirely in favor of real fruits. Today you can find shops entirely devoted to bubble tea, similar to juice bars of the early 1990's. They usually contain beautifully colored pearls that accent whatever fruit juice is used, in addition to brightly colored oversize straws for sucking up the pearls.

The mixtures that make up bubble tea vary. Some examples of flavors are strawberry, passion fruit, chocolate, and coconut, and may be added in the form of powder, fruit juice, pulp, or syrup to hot black or green tea, which is shaken in a cocktail shaker or mixed in blender with ice until chilled. The mixture is usually combined with milk and cooked tapioca pearls.

Some cafes that serve bubble tea use a machine to seal the top of the cup with plastic cellophane, which a drinker pierces with a straw. Other cafes still use plastic dome-shaped lids.

Source: Wikipedia

The tapioca pearls are made from the cassava root. The balls are prepared by boiling for 25 minutes, until they are cooked thoroughly but have not lost pliancy, then cooled for 25 minutes. After cooking they last about 7 hours. The pearls have little taste, and are usually soaked in sugar or honey solutions.

(Source: Wikipedia)

In September 2004, while defending a US$18 billion weapon purchase plan, the ROC Ministry of National Defense used bubble tea as an example of the overall cost of the proposed purchase. The Ministry stated that the total cost of the weapons systems would be equivalent to the money saved if all Taiwanese people had one fewer pearl milk tea per week, over a period of twenty years.

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An alternative to the traditional tapioca balls is coconut jelly or konjac jelly. The jelly is served in small cubes or rectangular strips, and has a pliant, chewy consistency. They may be ordered 'half and half,' in a drink with half pearls and half jelly. There are also other jellies such as lychee jelly, coffee jelly, and rainbow jelly, a fruit mixture.

Another alternative is called pearl sago (milk) tea. It is used for canned varieties in which pearl sago is used instead of tapioca.

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When ordering, customers may be asked whether they want 'pearls' or 'boba' in their drinks, and both terms refer to the tapioca balls. The tapioca pearls require an hour for preparation, and they expand considerably when cooked. After they are cooked through but before they become too soft, the pearls are drained and poured into a sugar water solution, and are ready for use.

Some cafes use a non-dairy milk substitute instead of milk, which adds a distinct flavour and consistency to the drink. One possible reason for using milk substitute is lactose intolerance, although a more likely explanation is that powdered substitutes are cheaper and more convenient than regular milk.

As time has moved on new generations of bubble drinks have came into being, such as, the 'Snow Bubble.' This 'Snow Bubble' drink is a slushie-like drink where you choose one of many fruit flavours and it is mixed in with shaved ice to make a smooth refreshing drink, after that the boba balls can be added from their assorted types, black boba which are the original, coloured, lychee bubbles, and rainbow boba those some of the many that are offered today.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Bubble tea is available at small dedicated cafes and some restaurants. Most bubble tea shops serve a variety of drinks, including coffee, juices, fruit smoothies, and fruit freezes, which are sometimes also called bubble tea, though they do not contain any tea ingredients. These drinks can include flavors less familiar to non-Asians, such as taro, honeydew, or lychee, as well as the more familiar chocolate, Ovaltine, Milo (in Australia), Horlicks (in England), or strawberry. Hot bubble tea with pearls are also common, though coconut or konjac jelly are usually not added to hot drinks. In addition to tapioca (pearls), jellies such as coconut jelly, apple, etc, and puddings can be added to each drink.

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There are two shops that claim to be the first creator of Bubble Tea. One is Liu Han Chie, who worked in Chun Shui Tang teahouse, Taichung City in the early 1980s, and experimented with cold milk tea by adding fruit, syrup, candied yams, and tapioca balls. Although the drink was not popular at first, a Japanese television show generated interest among businessmen. The drink became well-known in most parts of East and Southeast Asia during the 1990s.

An alternative origin is the Hanlin Teahouse in Tainan City, owned by Tu tsong He. Hanlin Bubble tea is made by adding traditional white fenyuan, which have an appearance of pearls, supposedly resulting in the so-called "pearl tea." Shortly after, Hanlin changed the white fenyuan to the black, as it is today.

In the late 1990s, bubble tea began to gain popularity in the major North American cities with large Asian populations, especially those on the West Coast and East Coast. The trend in the United States started in the city of San Gabriel, California and quickly spread throughout Southern California.[citation needed] The beverage has received much attention from mainstream American media, including covers on National Public Radio show Morning Edition and the Los Angeles Times. Bubble tea has spread internationally through Chinatowns and other overseas Asian communities.

In the U.S., franchises such as Quickly and Lollicup are expanding into suburban areas, particularly those with large Asian populations. Bubble tea can also be found in major European cities such as London and Paris.

Bubble tea is also gaining in mass popularity on the Canadian west coast, more particularly in Vancouver, British Columbia where there is a high concentration of Asian immigrants and descendants. Small independently-owned restaurants that sell bubble tea are very popular in Vancouver suburbs such as Burnaby and Richmond, where the drink is catching on with various ethnic groups. Such bubble tea shops are generally a fixture of Chinese pop culture with this shop having two televisions playing Chinese programs, and a large selection of Chinese magazines.

Austin, Texas has also been a center of Bubble tea business, largely due to the high Asian American population of the University of Texas. Evidence of this is seen in the fact that there are seven places that serve bubble tea within a mile of the UT campus.

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A reference to bubble tea was made on the Canadian television show Radio Free Roscoe in the episode "Lil' and Grace" when Robbie brings Travis bubble tea during lunch. Travis mentions that the drink was popular at his old school in Hong Kong and identifies the flavor of his drink to be lychee.

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The Chinese name for bubble tea translates to "Pearl milk tea". When tea is shaken, a thin layer of bubbles forms on the surface. Because of the foaming process, any tea that is shaken during preparation can be called bubble tea. "Foam black tea"; or bubble black tea) and "foam green tea"; or bubble green tea) are also common drinks made by shaking sweetened tea. After pearl milk tea was brought to non-Asian countries, it was given the name "bubble tea." Since the most notable difference between bubble tea and other tea is the tapioca at the bottom of the drink, some assumed that the "bubble" in "bubble tea" referred to the tapioca. The pearls in "pearl milk tea," however, do refer to the tapioca "pearls."

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A reference to bubble tea was also made on an episode on the American television show Grounded For Life in the episode "Who Are You?" when Sean tries to bond with his son Jimmy, by accompanying him to various activities his son enjoys, including his after school hang out, the Bubble Tea shop.

(Source: Wikipedia)