Bubble Tea or Boba ChaWhat exactly is bubble tea and it's history? Well it's very, very popular in many Asian countries and it's rapidly catching on in the West. It has been around since the 1980's when it first became popular amongst schoolchildren in Taiwan. It gets its name from the bubbles created by shaking the tea when making it. The strangest aspect of this tea is that it contains 'balls'! Well to be exact it contains round lumps of tapioca. The balls sit in the bottom of the drink and so you get an effect like bubbles on the top from shaking and bubbles on the bottom from the tapioca. 
The thought of a drink with strange lumps in the bottom is difficult for some to accept, but once you try this cool drink it's difficult not to become hooked.
The tapioca balls or pearls as they are also known came about as a result of competition between the tea makers to come up with new and more exciting drinks. The tea can be hot or cold and made with many different flavors. The tea is commonly milky, fruity, sweet and cold with pearls in the bottom. Although the cold fruity drinks are very popular a hot, milky, sweet, black tea with tapioca pearls is also a classic and popular bubble tea recipe. The choice of different flavors is endless and some popular ones include avocado, coconut and strawberry, green tea and passion fruit. Whichever tea you choose you can be sure of one thing and that is you'll be coming back for more! Look out for a bubble teashop near you soon as the Asian craze is coming west and its heading for a town near you soon! In case it appears in one of its aliases it's useful to know it goes under the names of bubble tea, boba cha, tapioca pearl tea, pearl milk tea, pearl shake, pearl ice tea and boba ice tea. It can be great fun to try making your own drinks at home. Why not invite all your friends round for a bubble tea party? You can impress your family and friends with a cool drink with tapioca pearls and come up with some great new recipes! You can buy everything you need including the fat straws, long glasses and even complete kits including the tapioca pearls. |