What is bubble tea?

Bubble tea at Zephyr Tea House Cafe in Richmond, BC.

Yesterday I wrote about having lunch with Mijune at the Zephyr Tea House Café, this Taiwanese-style bubble tea place in Richmond. Several people wrote me and asked: What the hell is bubble tea?

Good question.

Here’s what a place called the Bubble Tea Café says: “Bubble tea is a drink made from a blend of tea and natural flavors served over sweet and chewy pearls. These pearls are also known as ‘bobas’ and are made from tapioca starch and taste faintly like caramel-flavored Jell-O.”

I don’t know. That doesn’t sound too appetizing, does it? Tapioca starch that tastes like caramel-flavored Jell-O? Yuck.

Wikipedia says bubble tea is “a Taiwanese tea drink that originated from tea shops in Taichung, Taiwan during the 1980s. Drink recipes may vary, but most bubble teas contain a tea base mixed with fruit (or fruit syrup) and/or milk. Ice-blended versions of the drinks, similar to slushies, are also available, usually in fruit flavors.”

Mijune says there’s a real dilemma in finding the best bubble tea places in Richmond (and there are dozens and dozens of them). At places like Zephyr Tea House Café, the drinks are made with house brewed black and green teas, “but they have a very limited amount of fresh milk and fresh fruit flavors. It’s such a double standard.”

Yet she acknowledges that at true Asian places powdered milk and powdered fruit flavors are “expected and normal. And some drinks just work better and at times even taste better with the artificial powders.”

But you never know until you try them. To read more about her thoughts on bubble teas (and the Zephyr Tea House Café) check out her blog here.