Tea with Tapioca, Its Fun, Its Cool -- The Bubble Tea Craze
May 21 '01 (Updated May 24 '02)
The Bottom Line Bubble Tea has been in America for only a few years, what to do when it arrives at a cafe near you.
There are other names for this unique tea novelty, “sago milk tea”, “black pearl tea”, “bubble tea”, “QQ”, “pearl ice tea”, “boba tea”, “pearl milk tea”, “zan zyu naai caa”. They all refer to the same thing -- sweetened tea containing gumball sized black tapioca balls that you suck up using a fat straw. Cities with large Asian populations will have restaurants and cafes serving up these fun, and popular drinks.
This tea drink originated in Taiwan in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s. It was originally sold like an iced tea, unadorned. Over the years, people began adding variations to it, like mixing passion fruit juice to black tea and shaking it in a cocktail shaker to froth it a little. Eventually, someone hit on the idea of adding tapioca pearls as a bit of novelty, and the idea spread like wildfire all over Asia. In the late 1990’s, the drink, perfected, arrived in North America in big cities like San Francisco, New York, and Vancouver.
Tea is usually served in a fountain glass containing a quarter glass full of gumball sized black tapioca balls. These tapioca balls have a chewy, gummy quality to them with a slightly smoky, somewhat neutral taste – that is when the pearls are prepared fresh. A fountain glass, or clear plastic cup is used because presentation is just as important as the drink flavors itself. You want to see the black little gumdrops at the bottom of the glass slightly shaded by the colorful tea drink.
There are an endless variety of flavor combinations you can use. Black tea, or green tea flavored with fruit juices or syrups. Besides fruit, other popular flavors include milk tea, almond milk tea, taro, coconut, and coffee. Note that milk tea is usually sweetened with creamer and sugar just like most coffee. I usually like green tea flavored with strawberry, or some other light fruit flavor.
There are various recipes to making this refreshment. However, it is time consuming and a bit labor intensive. This is because one has to prepare fresh black tapioca pearls, and only FRESH pearls will do otherwise they will lose their soft gummy texture. And freshly brewed tea is a must.
A rough recipe for strawberry green tea, one adds strawberry syrup to a cocktail shaker mixed with simple syrup, green tea, and some ice (optional if warm tea is desired). Shake the mixture and pour into a glass containing a quarter-full of tapioca pearls. Serve with a fat straw. Please refer to http://www.tenren.com/bubteapow.html for detailed recipes.
As for recommended places to sample bubble tea, there are many. In New York, I can recommend two café chains, Saint’s Alp Teahouse, and Ten Ren. I like Ten Ren a little better because they are a teashop first and foremost. The quality of the tea used in their drinks is full flavored and excellent, and the tapioca pearls are prepared just right. Ten Ren is located in many cities across the United States, and a drink cost $3.00.
Notes:
Ten Ren locations in NYC:
1) Near 75 Mott Street, Manhattan
2) 5817 8th Ave, Brooklyn.
3) 135-18 Roosevelt Ave, Queens.
See http://www.tenren.com/unstatstorlo.html for other locations.
Saint’s Alp locations in NYC:
1) 51 Mott Street, Manhattan.
2) 39 Third Ave (9th + 10th st), Manhattan.
3) One in Sunset Park Brooklyn is... I do not know the exact address. It is several blocks from the “N” train 8th Av. stop.
There are many websites devoted to pearl tea, here are three
http://www.geocities.com/kananelj
http://www.bubbleteaonline.com
http://www.tenren.com/tapbubtea.html
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keywords: saint alps saints alp ten ren bubble tea tapioca new york ny nyc green tea cafe east pearl cafe east village
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