FOOD & DRINK
tea
101 Story by Linh Lee Photos by Linh Lee & Josie Luong Design by Shoshanah Davis
Delicious? Chewy? Yummy? Bubbly? Yep, it's bubble tea. According to The Daily Meal, bubble tea was created in Taiwan in the 1980s and has now become one of the most popular drinks in the world. Whether you’re seasoned or new to the boba world, it’s time to learn what exactly goes into this drink. First of all, what is bubble tea? “Bubble tea is simply flavored tea [or] milk tea with yummy toppings such as boba, egg pudding, grass jelly, lychee jelly or fruits,” says Josie Luong, a boba lover and sophomore majoring in biochemistry. Bubble tea is a sweet drink that contains tea, milk and chewy tapioca balls. It's usually served cold and has a few other names such as boba tea, pearl tea, tapioca tea or just boba. Initially, bubble tea topping used to be only the pearl tapioca and black tapioca balls. However, as bubble tea becomes more well-known, people have a lot more options, such as popping boba (gel-like balls filled with juice), egg pudding (a smooth, thick and jelly-like dessert made out of milk and sugar), fruit-flavored jelly and many more. The milk used in bubble tea can be half and half, fresh milk, non-dairy milk or condensed milk. For tea, any tea with strong flavor would do the job. With many of the stores that sell bubble tea, it seems that the most common tea flavors are green tea, black tea, oolong tea and jasmine tea. There is another type of bubble tea that is also quite popular, which is ice blended. Sugar Thai is one of the few places in Ellensburg that serve ice blended bubble tea. Dani Perez, a server at Sugar Thai, says that for their 'milkshake,' they use powder, sugar syrup, cream or coconut milk to blend with ice and then add boba in.
