March 28, 2005

Bubbling Up

What is this bubble tea? Bubble
tea, also known as; pearl tea, boba, momi, QQ and any number of other names is
looking to be far more of a trend than a fad. Old news to anyone hanging out
anywhere near an Asian community the fun drink made with nearly anything found
in a tea or coffee shop seems about to go very mainstream.

Legend has it that a teashop owner named
Liu Han-Chieh invented the drink in 1983 and it took hold quickly in its native
Taiwan. The general idea is to add large cooked (but not mushy) tapioca pearls
to tea and coffee drinks. For those who find the idea of tapioca revolting this
is very different from what you probably associate with tapioca. The relatively
flavorless pearls are chewy and fun to look at. It comes in a myriad of forms
ranging from an otherwise traditional iced tea infusion to something akin to a
fruit smoothie. Even coffee gets into the game sometimes. The beads sit on the
bottom of the drink and are sucked up through the signature large straws one
always gets with the drinks. Bubble tea comes in a variety of eye catching
pastel colors and has the added bonus to shop keepers that it is an easy
addition to most coffee, tea or smoothie menus but is a royal pain to make at
home and without the aforementioned fat straw it isn’t worth having.

There are hundreds of locations selling bubble tea on the west coast and
it is fairly easy to get on quick trips to Chinatown in New York but it remains
a little hard to find in Chicago. I can’t imagine it will be long before
someone like Starbucks has it on the menu but it is well worth the hunt if you
haven’t tried it.

Contributed By JT Barnhart

Bubble Tea links
http://www.bobafind.com/

http://www.bubbletea.com
http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/BubbleTea.htm
Bloggers Who Love Bubble Tea

Article categories: Food & Drink