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If you visit Taiwan or Hong
Kong you can't help but notice the unique Boba tea shops on every
corner. Boba Tea to Taiwan is what coffee or soda is to the U.S. One
would think Boba Tea is the national drink by its popularity.
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| Just like in Taiwan, Boba Tea shops are
popping up all over the world. One Taiwan based company
has over 450 locations while in the Philippines another
person owns over 100 within 1.5 years. |
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The U.S. is also now feeling the growth. Hundreds of locations
serve Boba Tea in California alone. You may be wondering,
"What is Boba Tea and how did this all begin"?
Boba Tea originated in Taiwan in the early
1980's at a small tea stand.
Elementary school children would look forward to buying a
cup of refreshing tea after a long, hard day of work and play.
Tea stands were set up in front of the schools and would compete
for business with the best selling tea. One concession owner
became popular with her tea when she started adding different
fruit flavoring to her tea. Because of the sweet and cool
taste, children loved the taste. Soon, other concessions heard
about the "unique" and popular tea, so they started to add
flavoring to their teas. When adding flavor, the tea and flavoring
needed to be shaken well for a good all around taste. This
formed Bobas in the drink, which came to be known as "Boba
Tea."
In 1983 Liu Han-Chieh introduced Taiwan to tapioca pearls.
The new fad was to add tapioca pearls into a favorite drink.
Most of the time tapioca pearls were served in cold infused
tea. After the tea and flavor were shaken well, it topped
tapioca pearls that were sitting on the bottom of a clear
cup. The tapioca pearls also looked like Bobas, thus also
became to known as "Boba Tea." Bobas floated on the top
your drink and bottom of your drink.
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Boba tea is also known as boba drink,
pearl tea drink, boba ice tea, boba, boba nai cha, zhen
zhou nai cha, pearl milk tea, pearl ice tea, black pearl
tea, tapioca ball drink, BBT, PT, pearl shake, QQ (which
means chewy in Taiwanese) and possibly many others.
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| Boba drinks are usually cool, refreshing, and a sweet drink
with tapioca pearls sitting on the bottom of a clear cup.
Sometimes the drink is made with fresh fruits, milk, and crushed
ice to create a healthy milk shake. You can also find drinks
that are made of powdered flavoring, creamer, water, and crushed
ice. And if you like it like the Asians do, the cool drink
usually includes a healthy tea, infused by a flavoring. |
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Tapioca pearls are black, but can sometimes be found to be
white or transparent. Depending on the ingredients of the
pearl, the color varies. I've been told that the white and
translucent pearls are made of tapioca starch in it's
natural form. The black pearl includes tapioca starch,
sometimes cassava
root, brown sugar and caramel which add the black color.
The consistency of tapioca pearls are somewhere between jell-o
and chewing gum. In fact, many people think it's somewhat of
a 'gummy bear' texture. Nonetheless, the way the tapioca
feels when you chew it is absolutely unique. The tapioca
pearls used in Boba tea are the size of a marble. The
tapioca pearls are also
known as the "boba" in the Boba tea drink.
This is because it is described
as having the same texture as the female breasts.
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A clear cup with black
tapioca balls on the bottom can easily identify
Boba tea drinks. Another obvious trait is a huge fat straw.
The fat straw is needed so that the tapioca pearls can be
sucked up with the Boba tea drink and eaten. Boba Tea's appearance
definitely makes it unique.
One thing is for certain. Boba Tea is not a fad. It's a
trend. This drink is addictive. If you've had a good
one before then you know what we're talking about. |
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Boba Tea Flavor Powders
