Bubble Tea (aka boboa tea, pearl tea, pearl drink, tapioca drink)

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Bubble Tea (aka boboa tea, pearl tea, pearl drink, tapioca drink)

Written by bizarreXpressions.com

Friday, 05 March 2010 15:37

Bubble tea drink (aka boboa tea, pearl tea, pearl drink, tapioca drink) is a popular fruit smoothie drink mixed in with tea and chewy tapioca balls and drink through a big straw (like the straws you get a Panera Bread). Bubble tea can be found in some Asian restaurants such as Thai and Vietnamese, and tea houses, for approximately $3 a cup.

My favorite are the ones found in Bubble tea houses/shops in cities like Chinatown, NYC. I got hooked onto bubble tea several years ago when I went to NYC. I think I got the mango one. There are interesting varieties of flavors, that you don't find in typical American drinks, such as taro, durian, coffee-tea, etc and since statistically, most Asians are lactose intolerant, the shops usually create them with non-dairy milk/creamer. The chewy tapioca are fun to eat, (just be careful not to choke on them when sipping through the straw) and sometimes I would shoot the tapioca out of the straw to see how far I could shoot it.

I wanted to save money and a trip to NYC, by creating my own Bubble Tea. Believe it or not, it was the 1st time making tea a few years ago, and I didn't know what I was doing and put all 2-4 packets in a pot full of water, thinking it all went together because they were in the same packet. I never made tea before because I never liked hot tea, but having some mixed in a fruit smoothie makes a refreshing drink, more fruitier than just iced tea.

I made the tea and cooked tapioca (found in Asian stores), according to package directions. Then I put some fresh fruit, ice, water, condensed milk, some tea in a blender and blend until smooth. Fruits such as black grapes or berries give a very vibrant flavor. Then I poured the smoothie *on top* of some tapioca in a cup then serve. The mixture is poured on top so the tapioca can sit on the bottom like it typically does, unless you want to mix them up a little to make it "bubbly" and float all over, depending on the thickness of the smoothie if it can float. You can also look up recipes for "bubble tea syrup" which is added for taste and sweetening.

The photo shown is using a smaller instant 5-min tapioca that can fit through small straws, but you can get big bubble tea straws in the Asian stores for regular sized, longer to cook, tapioca balls. Another tip: the 5 minute tapiocas are much easier to cook than the regular ones. In fact, I haven't learned to successfully cook the regular tapiocas yet.

That's it.. enjoy!

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