Bubble Tea

[Pan]

Does anyone drink hot bubble tea?

Of course! My favorite is taro green milk tea - hot in cold weather, iced in hot weather.

[newsbabe]

If you want to make this at home, do you use just regular tapioca that you find at the supermarket? Or does it have to be some special Asian tapioca?

[SteveW]

Where is the best place(s) to drink bubble tea in the Toronto-area? Meaning an establishment using quality teas, & fresh fruits(no powder stuff).

-Steve

[jpr54_]

Capital Teas at 3196 Yonge Street sells good tea and may also have bubble tea-

There is interesting article on bubble tea in March 2004 Fresh Cup magazine-

www.freshcup.com

You may also want to check yahoo group teamail-frequently asked questions-or post there your question there as well-

Joanne

Edited March 22, 2004 by jpr54_ (log)

[wagyuboy]

I remember reading an article recently about a bar here in NYC that serves bubble tea martinis, which sounds interesting.

[phaelon56]

For all you Bubble tea enthusiasts... there's a lively discussion currently taking place in the

Wash DC & DelMarVA Forum Bubble tea thread

[fido dido]

As an Asian myself and a lover of mochi, tapioca, and sago, I detest bubble tea bubbles. I agree with the comments previous about them adding a textural dimension to drinks, but like some other commentators, I find the sheer size of the bubbles to be a con. Every time I try to take a sip of my drink, I slurp up five or six bubbles. This is a problem if you really are thirsty and end up being too full of bubbles to continue with the liquid part of your drink. Much more refreshing and easy to swallow (literally) are the tapioca and sago mentioned above, but even better are nata de coco (coconut meat or jelly, I'm not sure exactly what it translates to) and grass jelly. Both are smaller than bubbles but larger than tapioca, and very light and easy to digest. Try them out if you see them on the menu. As for favorite bubble tea flavors, Saint's Alp in Hong Kong makes a lovely honey and strawberry tea....and of course, I order it with nata de coco. :)

Edited April 27, 2004 by fido dido (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

Just had my first bubble tea. The guy at the shop (a former IT guy who was looking for something to do a couple of years ago) said that when he and his partner opened there were only five shops in the DFW area, and now there are aboput 20. I'll have to go back once to try the Durian Smoothie, but that's probably it for me.

[tryska]

i love bubble tea. or at least the bubble tea from the place i get it. the tapioca balls taste sorta caramelly to me.

[Mystic]

Yep, in Vancouver, bubble tea is extremely popular and quite common. Flavours and quality definitely range from place to place.

Watermelon kicks ass!

[JohnnyH]

I love the stuff. For anyone in NYC looking to try it, the Saint's Alp Tea House on 3rd Avenue & 11th Street is the place to go. Cold taro with tapioca can't be beat when it's hot out.

[hshiau]

I do love the stuff...and you can get it hot or cold. In the summer, I like plain cold black tea with pearls. In the winter, hot almond black tea with pearl. I try to avoid these places because this stuff can be pretty fattening. This coming from the guy that had 2 venti caramel macchiato's (what did I just say?) today.

Edited July 24, 2004 by hshiau (log)

[elfin]

Had bubble juices/sodas in Japan in 1990-could not read the can and thought it was peach juice. Was I surprised when I took that last swig and got a mucous-like glob -I thought it had gone bad or a foreighn substance. It was a clear, flavorless and gelatinous. Never ever thought the trend would make it to the states-(also thought canned coffee would never make it here either).

[tryska]

i'm a black milk tea bubble lover.

[spaghetttti]

Bubbles are very popular here in Indonesia, not only in teas, coffees but even some icy blended fruit drinks and smoothies. I really like them.

However, I was completely caught off guard when my niece brought this over:

Vile, vile too sweet raspberry flavored bottled water with little agar-agar bubbles. Why do they come up with this stuff?

Edited October 3, 2004 by spaghetttti (log)

[MHesse]

Many years ago, a cargo ship tied up along the docks of the Hudson River to unload its shipment: holds full of tapioca pearls destined for a pudding packaging company located in the Brooklyn.

Unfortunately a fire broke out aboard ship before the cargo could be unloaded. Fire trucks and boats responded quickly to the scene of the conflagration and the fire was quickly extinguished.

The combination of the heat of the fire and the water used to contain it was sufficient to cook the pearls into the largest tapioca pudding ever. As the pearls swelled the ship was torn asunder and sank to the bottom of the river, never to be seen again. Fish caught in the river were the sweetest they had ever been.

[wattacetti]

This drink is from Taiwan, specifically Tainan.

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Unfortunate, but true.

All the great chefs go to Taiwan with Chiang back in 1950 and 50 years later the island exports bubble tea to the world.

[peter_nyc]

For bubble tea in NYC, the buck stops at Ten Ren in chinatown.

[car85]

I absoloutely love bubble tea. The taste, the feel, it's just an overall great drink. Although the bubbles have quite the calory count as someone mentioned on here, it is still nice to have drinks made from real fruits with out all the preserves or additives and are palatable.

My favourite part has to be when you see a bunch of the dark bubbles coming up the straw and you anticipate the fun to come.

I like the dark colour of the balls. It makes the drink very eye appealing. And shouldnt all foods and beverages be that way as well as tasting good?

[Mayhaw Man]

The New Orleans Times Picayune had a feature in the business section today on bubble teas and bubble tea shops.

I have to admit to an aversion to drinks with chunks of anything in it, but in the interest of research, I am going to go by and try one of these things again when I am in the city on Wednesday.

Any favorite flavors that might be a good place to start?

[tryska]

yay black milk bubble tea! my favorite afternoon drink. *sigh*

there's no bubble tea places within walking distance here at the new job. :(

[Pan]

There's a good bubble tea place in Flushing, Queens that puts white tapioca balls into their teas.

[jpr54_]

There's a good bubble tea place in Flushing, Queens that puts white tapioca balls into their teas.

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what is name of this place?

[Pan]

I forget. I think it's the one right on the corner of Main and Prince. I like their black sesame milk tea.

[Phatlouie07]

ten ren's my favorite place to get bubble tea while i'm in chinatown...melon green tea bubble tea is very delicious..bubble tea's been popular not only in places like japan or what not, but also in southeast asian countries like the philippines.